THE NO-LICENSE MOVEMENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 39, 30 September 1911, Page 8

THE NO-LICENSE MOVEMENT.

(Contributed.) The Rev. Tiios. Fee, of Wellington, who is touring the Dominion as ;i lecturer in the interests of the abovementioned movement, lectured at Toko in the Town Flal! on Wednesday or cuing last to a, l air audience, Mr Were occupying tire eJudr. The lecturer explainer that he was not in eonllict with ’the men and women engaged in the liquor tin hie. Some of them were his personal friends, and he himself had a friendly feeling to every one of them; hue he said he was in deadly conflict vita the traffic in which they were engaged. The liquor traffic was the enemy of all and the friend of none, and it was especially , the enemy of those engaged in it- for, to say nothing of its demoralising and degrad- | ing results, which were well known, it was a death dealing traffic to these who handled it. Here Sir Foe quoted figures published in the New Zealand Official Year Book, on the ai.thority of the Registrar-General of Ragland, to the effect that from two*, tylive years of age and upwards brewers died half as fast again as men of similar ages .following other occupations, while publicans died twice as fast between the ages of L’s and 45 years, on the average, as do men, at tiic same age, following other occupations; so that wo would he justified in abolishing the liquor traffic in the interests of those engaged in it. We had no right to tempt men an 1 women to make money at such an awful .sacrifice. But the traffic injured not only those engaged in it, the whole community suffered. It was not only an evil,- hub it was a rapidly growing evil. The lecturer quoted from the annual report of the Commissioner of Police to show that drunkenness was vastly on the increase. in the year 1895 the total number of convictions for drunkenness for New Zealand war. 4558; the total number 1910—fifteen years later—was 11,600; “that is,” said the lecturer, ‘mme than two and a half times as many.” The total number of persons convicted cf drunkenness for the first time in 1910 was 4156. The number convicted for the first time Is v: year was 7056: that is an increase of GO per cent of fresh recruits into the drunkttrs’ ranks in ton years. ' Since the beginning of this century up to the end of the tenth year close on 55,000

separate persons had beef arrested by the police and convicted of drunkenness for the first time, and were tabulated in a column by themselves under the heading, “Not prevnu-'y convicted.” This tile lecturer said showed the,drift of the sober into the ranks pA the drunken, and t: ought to ho remembered that these were by no means all the fresh eases, they were only some of the worst M them.

The facts stated, and which cculd not 1)0 refuted, made it plain that this country had a big problem to solve, and the question that presented itself was, “What is the solution of tin's problem P” ' The lecturer contended that since tho licensing system had failed to protect tho interests of the community that system must he abolished ; and the traffic, which could net )o mended, must, be ended, and society had a perfect right to do this as it had the undoubted right of • selfprotection and self-preservation; and since it had been proved that the sale of licenses to tho 1257 licensees in the Dominion had proved injurious both to the said licensees and to the community at large, the community, as represented by the electors of the country, had a right to refuse to sell any more licenses on any terms or at any price, and in thus refusing they were injuring no one’s rights and they were interfering with no one’s liberty. As far as the publicans’ were concerned, they would still have all tho rights and liberties of their fel-low-citiscns and they had therefore, no just ground of complaint. As for the customers of the publicans, lac community was in no way bound to find them facilities for purchasing alcohol. It had been proved that tho sale of alcohol for beverage purposes had been a curse to all connected with it, and that, not. only to the buyer and seller, but to society at large, it \vas not the intention of the No-liconco party to dictate to anybody what ho should or should not drink; hut if the 'public sale of intoxicants was a menace to the well-being of society, and of that there was no doubt, then society was bound to protect itself, and the interests of tho community far outweighed tho wishes and tho convenience of the individual. it was, therefore, the business of the di inker to get bis drink bow and where he pleased; but it was no part of the duty of tho community, to find him facilities for getting his tipple; tho community had done that, too long at an awful cost of human life and happiness, and of money as well. .Regulation had had a very long trial, and tho results were exceedingly unsatistory. It is, therefore, only fair to give No-license a fair trial. The lecturer then quoted facto and figures that lie held to be absolutely indisputable to prove that No-license had boon a magnificent success wherever it had been tried in this country. Ho began with Clntha, the first electorate in the Dominion to carry No-license, and :r- n ■ followed the evolution of tho movement for the last seventeen years. He quoted Police Court statistics . -.1 the testimony of well-known gentiov n of repute who bad boon opposed to No-license before it came into operation and both figures and testimony 1 . ,u d conclnsirely that No-1 ice use was a boon end a blessing wherever it was in operation in tin's country. i . diminished crime and poverty, and it nia.de for increased happiness and prosper! iy, and that wa.s the reason why ChitlinV nearest neighbours bad joined hands with be in this great i form, and oilier clectoraf.es both North and fdouta were falling into line, and if

this great question were settled by a simple majority the licensed bar would bare been abolished irom the Dominion nine years ago. 4he No-1 icon so vole had a majority over the conlinuanco vote in JDOS by 93,5/1; so that it was evident that the people of New Zealand wore, strongly in favour of the proposed reform. When questions were invited a member of the audience reminded tno lecture; - that Japan was a sober country and he wanted to know whotiier (■lrinking countries/did i- ;. compare favourably with Japan. I • >• lecture replied that a comparison could not bo instituted on this point unless it could be shown that all other tilings were equal, and he held that, all other things being equal, a sober community was much to be preferred to a drunken one. A hearty vote of thanks to the lecturer and also to the chairman brought a very interesting meeting to a close.