LATE CABLE NEWS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12586, 17 October 1911, Page 2

LATE CABLE NEWS.

MAINE AND LIQUOR. AN O¥FICIAJj CABLK. PRO'HIBITiLON REPEALED. Some, question has arisen as to the true position m Maine with regard to the Licensing Poll recently held there. The first cable was 1 a private one to the Trade, saying Prohibition had been repealed by 26 votes. Following this, the Prohibition Alliance received a cable announcing a victory for the Prohibitionists. Since then each side have received cables claiming a win. The cable we print below' is from the United Press Association, which' .lias the exclusive supply of all foreign cable news to the M-hole of the ~nevvspapers of New Zealand, and it may he considered as authentic and official; — ■ . (United Press Association. —Copyright.) NEW YORK, Oct. 6. The State of Maine has repealed prohibition by a .small majority. The issue, was for. a. long time m doubt. I

Apropos of the above cable, the 'files of the American papers receht'ly to hand indicate a wide-spread revolt against the long-standing .reginie of prohibitipn ,i.it the Maine State. From quite unexpected sources there has sprung indisputable evidence as to the failure and futility of prohibition. ' ' • >•' • Sheriff Samuel L, Pearson, a. clergyman, beloved by many 'people because of his benevolence, respected by; many for his xuiselfishness and his 1 advocacy of l-mporajicß, ha? beeh sheriff >of Cumbovi'r.'id coiuiLy two years, elected on an independent • ticket aaid against a strong machine. His election-, was. a • surprise to himself and to his Republicau opponent, ; •.-. . .. . ,: • ' ' ■:..-. Mr Pearson didn't, .liva to complete his two years' term, but the period was memorable m Portland. and , Cumberland county. : He enforced the prohibitory law as it had never been enforced there up to that time. His administration was full of sensations.

; The Rev. Pearson ■■ says : "With the law have we been able to abolish the saloons ? -No ;- drunkenness is. ph\-tlie Jh- : orease,: especially ftmang the young men.". The successor to the Rev.S. Fv < Pearson was Wm. M. Pennell and for two years he sati n his office and argued only Avith the Prohibitionists who' came to- protest against open, saloons. \ The: -second time he ran for sheriff lie, bluntly told the people he had been trying a scheme of; his :own relative to the, prohibitory -law, itnd he thought it had i worked well. He said he had allowed gome saloons .to run wide open under his direction <,aud ihe.had rkept the selling of beer and liquor out of the tenement houses arid the hornet He thought it had worked . quite well, and he would try it again it' elected, but he had become ednviheed that the prohibitory law was a failure, that it made, perjurers out of the. men, 'criminals out of the children; and debauched every one who 1 came m contact with it.

Then ciime the third, election, . and again he won and carried the whole county of Cumbe,rland a.nd every office m it with him. He bi'bught about the overtlu'ow of the, Republican, city government m Portiami, _',«ijd ! heipedi . make, many 'couiilies" ; 'iii' Maine Democratic. As an organiser b.«QiaiT been unequalled m the history of Maine. Hia chiof liquor deputy, John W. Emiery, during all- of these strenuous years lias been an enthusiastic Voi-k©!'. He knows more to-day about the cit- ; (orcement of the prohibitory law m Maine than any other official who ever held office m this county. . Mr Emery- is : a graduate of Bro\yn Uiviversity. He systematised liquor seizing, and made a card index pf every seizure made and every place visited. He has studied conditions, day and jnight; for six years, with hardly a rest or a|| vacation, -ai^d .hej, said; tOr.day.: .<..•,; "After tliesb years of intimate acquuintiince Avith'- tho v«>i;king pf the prohibitory la«V irt this city, 1 believe it to be an iniquitous law and one which Hoes an inestimable amount of harm to the community. Ido not believe it has prevented- a single man. from becoming a drunkard, Who wanted to be a drurukard, and I do believe it has made many mdnand women drunkards who otherwise wouldn't have been drunkards.

"I also believe it has made perjurers by the thousand, created. a contem.pt, ior, law and order, which centuries wilt''npt: eradicate, and 'taught children to commit : crimes, who might otherwise have been honest men and women. ,In short, I can't see a' single redeeming 1 feature m this method of handling the great liquor evil, and 1 I can point out many things which are convincing that it has done much harm. , j • (1 i'XVd.ay there are m Portland, a 'city of* 6o,ooo' people, 32 regular bar-rpbms that would be recognised , , bar-ropins or a'jilpo.'nfi m. ivy- .citjf 'ffa. .the, country. ' i \. u y^Bh\^SjProh|b'itipjuistt'!coin ( es 4 to see Portland. , he ! is sFxp j w'n bnly * one side '^f tho pi'cture r th^ b" right side only, is. shown ihim. , He sees Vvnat he'Mfapfs to see, not Vhe Wnblej.^ut only a part,. andi. goes away ;vyell pleased and 'conyiffced'; Ti'uth.jful men, imen- who want to know the ■truth, ,tfre\ whole, truth, and «cc things as they are, . inyestiga^e conditions themselves or with someone jvho' knows, arid they go away with a different: $tory to tell.' .

"An impaVtial, fair and just; irivestiga*; ! Hop., of Portlind as it is to-dny would jcohyince any one that my statement is jtrue. when,X X .say. tliat prohibition does not prohibit; > it- -a'oft& v much. 'liaVni ; little if 'any good." - : ; • For raany ''years Maine has been the lefl;(3ing;:argum,ent m support of the Pro-: ihibition party-'s contentions, and now, 1 Rafter O;ver fifty years of State prohibition; Maine'v has gone buck, to license.. It has learned -the bitter, lesson that it.iis t better >.to »haiVe» the liquor business' lioehsed, legalised, : and ; regulated than to drive it underground." The result m 3l«Jne will *ih^Vitab]y ' hnye; farH-e-icliing effects upon the coming licensing poll m 'Ne^y Zealand, arid nkny voters \vill be anxious to know why, ■ if Prohibition i'brings with jt , all its advocatesi claim. .Maine should have, revei'ted to licence onco niore??** • -

According' to present arrangement's, H.^.^i Powerful, flagship/ of* the/ 4 U .^*< Itralasinii squadron, will leave Sydney' for England towards the end of the present year.' In the interval.. the flagship,, will visit .Melbourne, and New Zealand. From Sydney the Powerful will go to Colombo, where she will meet, H.M.S. J)rake,, -the new flagship for the .Australasian, station, and , the latter [ yesse.l will, then come on to. Sydney, ( probably calling at Melbourne en route. The Powerful, after leaving Colombo, proceeds Home via the 'Suez' Canal'/ When the last Knglish. mail left, H-.3&5. thake -was still . m. the dockyard, at Portsmouth, the sum of £11,900, having been allotted for her retit, preparatory to going out to Australia. A portion of . the internal machinery has been replaced by new parts, the boilers have been thoroughly, overhauled, and the engines taken to pieces, and it is. understood that >s6nie alterations will tie made m the armament. The Drake has held the reputation of being the fleetest cruiser m the British navy.

In .the, course of hjs : anqual address, the onairman of, the Greymouth Harbor Board said : "TJvo Harbor Board has now completed the preliminary work of repairs to plant, majchineryj, and railway lines, and has • eventtoalj.jr' s^ttl^ddifi^c.uities of land appropriation and'titled.'Active proseQutjpn.pf. the lagoon docks scheme i^ i^W . 'iinflev way, "and as boon as the dredge can be let "into the lagoon operations for the construction of a sheltered ;basiii three "X" type of steamers, will be commenced, and at the same time the northern molo w ;1 ! be repaired and extended. The rew dock will he, equipped with the most modern} cranes, wliich \viH',grea!tiy fH'efftate the handling and despatch of an increasing volume of timber and coal. In this connection I w.puld mention thai an applicati6ii jye ijmde % - the , Government for an extension of "the present wha if 50ft. further down stream, that is, ckvu to the lagoon outlet, did not- meet v/ftii tine Minister's approval, and this . important work lias been delayed pending further representations being marie, witli tiie result that double-banking of steamers has had to be resorted to, with consequent delays and unnecessary ris'ta to shipping.