Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 2571, 24 June 1903, Page 11

Ai.lV ZEALAND ALLI«NCF. ;

The seventeenth annua' meeting of the New Zealand Alliance wtis commenced on the morning of the 3rd m:-t., Mr A. S. (Adams (preside-nt) being in the chair). Mv Adams in the course of his opening remarks said they had no deeiro to boast of superior earneetners or methods— far from it ;—but it had fallen to their lot to carry four electorates for nolicenso in Otago and Southland, to come within tho narrowest margin of carrying two others, and to carry a reduction voto in two other districts, and elect committees in theae districts pledged to the maximum reduction. The No-licenso voto of Otago and Southland was 40,000 odd as against 32,000 for continuance, ho in Otago they had 55 per cent, of the total vote cast for no-license. They had got over the bare majority, and wore halfway towards the three-fifth 3 for the whole of Otago and Southland. Taking- the poll of the colony, i-ho voto for continuance of the liquor traffic amounted to 148,000. a-r.d the vote for no3inse amounted to 151,000 ; so, not. only in Otago, but throughout the colony the movement had turned the corner, and their voto now exceeded that of " the trade." ! The principal clauses in the report presented and adopted wore as follow: — The actual results of the local option poll ate to us indeed full of hopeful encouragement. We have been cheated, as was to be expected, and as we shall always be in every conflict with an unscrupulous traffic. By the corruption or mcompetency of some registrars and returning officers it is estimated that we los'. thousands of votes; but in spite of all we have a lead of 3075 over the LiqvTbr party, and while the hquor vote only increased over the vote of 1893 by 4487. ours had an increase of 30 982. Not only was our increase near'y seven times as tfreat as theirs, but it gave us a majority of i 3075 over the liquor vote of the colony; and, j more significant still, while the license vote ' was smaller ii proportion to the population j than in 1899, ours showed a: crnsidcrable proportionate increase. 2fo-license was earned in five electorates, reduction was carried in nine electorates, and in three we had a larger voto than ww cast for continuance, while in 15 other electorates we hod a bare majority for no-'icense. In all a majority vote for no-license was cast in 34 out of CS electorates. In many cases where reduction or no-license was carried j petitions against the validity of tho poH were lodged, but when it was discovered that after tho invalidating of a poll it would probably be difficult to grant any licenses at all :n an electorate, the petitions in the reduction cases were- dropped. In Ashburton and Mataura the petitions were dismissed. In Chalmers the right of the magistrate appointed to hear the petition wa3 challenged, and the objection was sustained — first by the Supreme Court, and afterwards by the Appeal Court. In the case of Newtown the magistrate (Dr M'Arthur) decided that it ■was necessary to include among the voters those who had cast invalid votes other thaji those specified in section 7 (1) (i) of " The 'Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act, 1895." 'In Bruce the magistrate declared the poll void en grounds which he himself said did not affect the resu't. Whatever the legal mind anight think of these decisions, they aroused great indignatio.. among the people, and the result was shown in the licensing committee elections, when Bruce elected a committee ■pledged to refus« all licenses, and in Newtown

those candidates who opposed the publicans' candidates were called '• the people's candidates," and were elected by a majority of two voters to one. The report then went on to express dissatisfaction at the persistency with which the Government had appointed and retained unsuitable men as local option poll officials, and referred to the action the Temperance party had taken against registrars of electors in several instances. The report continues: There were many cast's where votes cast both for no-license and reduction were wilfully or igrorantly counted for reduction only, and it is probable that in one way or another'the wilfulness and incompetency of polling officials has cost us thousands of \otes. The result of the licensing committee elections was that in many electorates we won victones even gTeater than those of November 25. These victories have an added importance as showing how public : opinion had been affected b> the actions of the [ trade, and the inaction of the Government, ' since the local option po'ls. [ The balance sheet showed a deficiency of £730. * The Rev. P. B. Fraser delivered an address on the position in Bruce. H© advocated petitioning Parliament to set asidethe decision of Mr Cruiekshank, S.M , and ?aid they did not ask the Premier to see that prohibition was a good thing, but rather that he, as a true democrat, should see that the vote of a majority was respected. It wa'i re-olved— "That this convention affirms the right of the electors of Bruce 10. have, tho results of their poll on 25th November, 1902, secured to them, notwithstanding the reversal of the poll on technical grounds ; that it is the duty of the Government to see that the people's vote under act of Parliament be given full effect to, and that the Government lie requested to have legislation passed for the purpose, in accordance with the declaration of Mr Seddon. as reported in the telegraphic news from Wrllmsrton in tho Otapo Daily Times of this date." Mr A. S. Ajfoms read a pajjer on " I/epislativd Needs," whieli ho summarised under three heads: — ' 1, Such amendments of the law as are necessary to secure a clean and efficient poll, and to (safeguard the result. 2. Such amendments as arc necessary to bring c!ub« under the popular vole, aii<l so make no-license urdrr ;i local ' option poll moie ccmplcte'y effsctne. 3. To provide for colonial option Tho minimum of their demands must be — (a) No poll shall !,e declared invalid or void unless it is shown that but for proved UTPgularities the result would have been different; in other words, that the result of tho poll does t ot express the real will of the electors, (b) For a new poll where a first or subsequent poll is declared void, (c) Repeal of sub-section (3) of section 4 of "' The Alcoholic IviquoTß Sale Control Act, 1835." This section reads as follows "No poll shall be ■'•ahd in any district :n which no dertoral poll is taken un'ess one-half of the total number ■ of electors on the roll o! the district shall j have recorded uieir votes " (d) Making any officer committing ox permitting any breach of the law in reference to the conduct of the poll directly responsible, £iid subject to a subatantial penalty. The four demands characterised in the paper as particularly urgent wore unanimously apjj-ri'.-ed to form the basis of a .

bill to come before Parliament during the coming session. Consideration of th© subject of colonial option was deferred till next year. It was agreed that it should be an in-f-truction from the conference to the executive of the alliance to consider the question of whether one eido or other should have to pay expenses of litigation through what was owing to the wrongful action of Government officials, and to confer with the various centres. In tho evening a accial was held, at which there was a fairly numerous attendance. The Alliance re.-umed its sitting next morning, when a number of papers were road. It was resolved — "That the All'anee be requested to obtain reliable information in j regard to no-lioense throughout the colony I and elsewhere." It was moved— "That this convention consider it imperatively necessary that the children in our State schools phould be taught li-e scientific (or physiological) effects of 'alcohol en the humfn syvtern, and wo hfT^bv pledge ourselves to do our utmost to influence our M H R's to make such amendments in our Education Act as will adequately provide for such teaching." — The Chairman suggested that the motion should be forwarded in the form of a recommendation to the Education Department, and after discussion the motion wa^? carried unanimou-ly It was re=olvpd — "That it be a leeommroidation to the Alliance Executive to-con-sider tho quett'on of re«rue work, and that each member of the Alliance be constituted a rescue agent for the reform of individuals who had become- \ictims to the drink habit." In the afternoon a resolution was adopted recommrndu'g the Alii.mro Executive to appoint a representative committee to frame a scheme of organisation to pmbraee every electorate in the ro'ony, thus uniting the whole colonial temperance forces through one systc-m nrfanciallv and generally, under the generalship of the Alliance. This will have the effect of providing x colonial fighting fund, and of treating and dealing with such difficulties ns have arisen in Bruce, Newtown, etc., as colonial questions, fought by the Alliance as colonial questions, and nc- ( by tho individual olectorafes in which fiese difficulties an, p. Under t!us sv'tom the weake-t electorates in Now Zealand will tharo the strength of the Btrontjp^t in the ino-t pr.in tical manner po-aible. A committee was appointed meanwhile for Otago and Southland to eoimult tho electorates in this province with a view to appointing a representative provincial council having one representative, from earh t-lcrtorate. The Yen. Archdeacon Williams havLnsj tcJpjjraphod that ho could not. act as president. Mr A. S. Ada-ms was unanimously elected. A temperance demonstration was held in ;iie evening at which stirring addressee were dehveied by several well known tempcranro adv crate*.

The special Gabdbh Fertilise?, made up by Nimmo awd Blahi will be found to grive excellent Te&nlts when u°ed for Flowers and Vegetables ; also foT Pot Plants, m and out °of greenhouse. It is put tip in 71b bag», at Is 6d each. Ash yonr ttorckeeper for it.