THE NO LICENSE CAMPAIGN.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12390, 4 November 1908, Page 4

THE NO LICENSE CAMPAIGN.

■ -.(To the -Editor of "The Colonist.") Sir, — Please allow me just a small space just to say a few words about iio license and -how it may affect our hew County .of Murchison. Some of us seem; to think that just starting this new and important county we. cannot afford to do without the fees from the six houses here, amounting to about £120. In the first place, I, with many others, believe if we can start with these temptations out of the way we will start better than very many counties in New Zealand.: How many poor hard working, men are there making our roads,- felling our bush, mining, etc. , working like slaves and coming to licensed houses and knocking it all down in a few days, often "not. being able -to buy good clothes or pay for their food, having to go back heartless and miserable, and it will be done so long as open bars are left. And what about three of our young men who- during the last three years have been laid in oiir cemetery through '_ drowning. Is not saving life better than saving rates? Now don't let us as working men be hoodwinked any longer by tiose who are : getting all our earnings. , But let us put good clothes on : our own backs, ' paint on her houses, carpets on our own floors, pianos in our own houses, and we can do this ' by helping one another, by striking out the .top line, 0.-cry time. '" I am, etc., •■ WORKING MAN. Murchison, Oct. .30, 1908. (To the Editor of "The Colonist.") ; Sir,— " When "in difficulties abuse the other side. " seems to he the. guiding principle of Ivlr P. G. Gibbs in hi 3 opposition- to what lie assumes to be . the attitude of : the Socialist Institute .on the liquor.ques tion. In his letter of the. SOfchuJt., he says "they (the Socialista) ara opposed to any measure that might materially benefit..; the - worlsers. ' ' Well!' Well! A working class party" opposed to the improvement of .the conditions of its own members ! And he talus of logic ! "" As. Dominie Sampson would say," Pio-di-gious !" Let us see. The natiooal sections of •the International Socialist Party have fought for years for tbo shorter working day, -the, minimum •' wage," thY compulsory medical inspection of school children, the public provision of meals.for necessitous children, the right to work, the improvement of the .housing conditious of the: workers, international arbitration a,3 a means of abolishing war, etc.; in : fact' to. quote EL M.- HyndmaD, .the i Grand Old Man of Biitish Socialism, "All the praotical pplliatives; of present day industrial anarchy were thst pushed to the frorh by Social Democrats. " And , we do not wisb to "benefit the workers?" : Can our critic name any political, party, teetotal or other, that possesses so radical a programme of. ameliorative' proposals? No. Practically every measure which- is being exploited for political purposes in the present election campaign by those who -pose as protectors of society against a, "ruinous Socialism' ' has. been stolen from our programme. Socialises do not oppose no- license as ar niaasure purely of temperance reform; but on the other hand ; many, if not all, Socialists do look upon t.be::public ownership ...of " the. liquor supply as a superior measure. | It is only ■ when nO license ndvocates, lgoorant- of pohtioal economy, claim that no license would abolish unemployment and poverty, ..that wo interpose to prevent our fellow workers from being' deluded. : We know that poverty is worst where drunfcen ness is least, and that the worker is poor because he is robbed ; because^ ■on account of the private ownership of|the meansof wealth: production, -; he : onlyreceiyeß »'. small fraction of the wetlfch his labour produces. , vNosblution of tbe social problem cau- be sound that ignores, thia. fact. ., We snk, earnestly, fervently, the bPt.t < uni3nfc of the condition. of^ our' class, but at the sam?. time we bring all proposed reforms to the same touchstone— they must be. steps in the direction of Socialism.- It is noi; bocause we hold any foolish idea that -an ignorant and besotted prolftariat is essential to- the spoial revolution — an. absurdity on the face of it— but because no license dees not satisfy this,test, that we do not work for it as our friends, ,'its advocates, think we should. In ooTßrineiim, may I hope that, is common fairness our opponents - will make themselves acquainted with oar objects and mothode— get their Socialism from a Socialist— before' rushing to the attack either in the press or on the platfora. -Thanking you in "antici- , patio n, — I am, 'etc., ARTHUR WHITAKER. Hon. Sec,. Nelsoa Socialist | Institute. _____ I (To the Editor of "The Colonist.") I Sir, — In reply to various correspondents whose letters have appeared in your generous columns, kindly 'find room "for the following. What appears to me to be a needless discussion on what, is used, in the manufacture of beer, has taken place and the reason why it is foreign to the question of licenso or no license is that! however "pure" beer may be, whether brewed in beautiful Nelson or elsewhere . it : manufactures, in its "turn, drunkards, and the drunkards are made of men and women. Thero ■xre no "substitutes" in this case. The next string which is being unnecessarily harped on is that of co'mpeusatiou. In rep3.v to -fcliat we irepeat the fact that the liquor trade 18 not the first that has had to give

way when the good of the community is at stake and all interested in the "trade" have had ample notice, 14 years and more, of what is likely at- any triennial period to take place, and this further advantage has been afforded the "trade', that the figures with ever increasing emphasis of warning hate been displayed every three years. In your issue of today Mr Duncan says:' lst, that no license, by doing away with all control in the trade etc., would _bring about an infinitely worse condition of affairs than at present exists. What a wealth of imagination that man must hare (worthy of a Dante) who can picture results infinitely worse than the state of poverty and misery squalor, disease and . crime that follows as a result of drink under license .and what an admirable example of ! what . Winston Churchill calls "terminological inexactitude" to say that no license would do away with all control. Why, the reverse is the case in the no , license areas. Then take Mr Duncan's third objection, the conditions under which drink would be: drunk, -would be to his mind "somewhat . demoralising"— "these beverages would find their way into the homes of the people." Fancy a brewer saying it is demoralising to ; have beer in the house. What about the really demoralising conditions of the public bar, at which, when going in for a drink recently a parent seeing his two young sons, turned away with the determination to vote that the bars be slosed . To say that the breweries would not be closed is but a half truth, says Mr Duncan. To state as the brewers do in the "Flag of. Freedom" handbill that no license means the closing of the breweries is a whole untruth., we reply — And further the drink manufactured at the local breweries can, by going through certain formalities, be purchased and taken into the houses of those who wish it for home consumption and there partaken of "under conditions not demoralising. In reply to. Mr Duncan's fifth objection we say that in the minds and intentions of thousands who strike out the top line (only) no license is not an- acknowledged step to prohibition. Replying to Mr Pickup's advocacy of State control, in Russia the government in ; 1894 took over the retail trade in spirits and the result has not been a. decrease in the profits from year to year,, but _ a great increase and that means increased drinking. . The ; Gothenburg system, which is much on the lines Mr Pickup suggests, viz, no personal interest in the sale of liquor, and the profits to go to the town treasury, is well known to be-, a failure. It is pleasing to read Mr Boys' candid explanation of how Mr Duncan was led into his engegous error as to compensation being paid in New South Wales. As to trade in Ashburton all will admit that "the commercial traveller is in a good position Ho judge as tp whether business is good in any centre" and let me add £hat I have recently conversed with a commercial traveller who goes jjhrough the length and breadth of the Dominion, and he spoke emphatically of the soundness of and. advance in trade in Ashburton and other no license districts, and especially in Inveroavgill. No .doubt the 'travellers in certain lines do find it needless to call at Ashburton as ofton as formerly, and think business in certain directions is dull. The "trade" tell us business men are selling out and leaving Ashburton. We 'know of one at least, who did so, but he hsid made up his mind previously .to retire from trade and go further north and was enabled to do so yearp sooner than he expected because of the increased success that attended .his business after no license was carried. His sons are now in_ trade .'there, one of them leaving a licensed district and going to Ashburton be.cause of its good ; prospects. I can :mention also people now., settled in vNolson to wKom a friend of theirs, a tailor in Ashburton, wrote saying to this effect: "Be sure and use your vote to give the people of Nelson the same benefits we have received here as a result of no license." Allow me in closing to complimemt R.S. on his common sense letter in your issue of to-day. — I am, etc., i ■ ■ ' ■ . ■ N.A.M.. . ■; Nelson, November 3rd, 1908.. , (To Mm Editor of "The ; Colonist."}."' , L Sir, — I should very much like to deal fully with some of the replies to my former letters, but for the next few days shall be exceptionally busy. T must, however, make a brief reply to Mr H. D. Boys. tn the first place I would point ou -that the increase of book debts — not bad debts, it is tp be noted—in the case of the Oamaru merchant is . quite compatible with a large expension of sound business. „ Plenty of tradespeople in Nelson, I think, will vote for no license quickly enough, if it w}ll lead to an expansion of their business in that style. _ Can Mr Boys be under the impression that book debts and bad debts are one and the same thing? With regard to the commercial travellers I have good Authority for strongly contradicting Mr. Boys' statements. lam well acquainted with a bank inspector who was opposed to no license at the last election and may lie so still for all, I know. None of the no license' districts comes-within his circuit but in: : the course of his work and while travelling about from town to town he' is of course constantly brought into contact with commercial travellers. A few months ago he assured me that though the commercial travellers were not as a rule abstainers and, therefore grumbled at not being able to get their liquor in the nolicense areas, 'they were nevertheless unanimous in testifying to the improvement in trade brought about by the reform.— l am, etc., F. G. GIBBS.

■— ■ ' ■■ ■» *- « — . — (To the Editor of "The Colonist.") Sir,— Kindly allow me space for a tew lines in answer to part of Mr Boys letter in your issue of to-day lak 0 Mr Boys, I was in Ashburton a few . weeks ago, and, having a clear vision, I saw the business places brisk and I was told that since no license has been in, operation there that the people hare had more money to spend in articles for homo use, and that tiiey hoped license would never come hack again, and it is a fact that sewing 'machines are sold much easier than they were when the open bar was in operation. As far as Oamaru is concerned no license has gone there to stay, for the business people know that they do a more solid trade now that there are no open bars. All one has to do to' find out whether those statements are facts is to telegraph to the Mayor and see what he has to say. I trust the electors of this charming city of Nelson will not allow "dust" of 'arty .kind to be thrown in their eyes, but go in for a reform which will benefit everybody, even the brewers and pub- . kcans. — I am, etc., THOMAS JEFCOATE. Nelson, November 3rd, 1908. (To the Editor of "The Colonist.") Sir, — I notice in this morning's issue that Mr H. D. Boys, care of Masonic Hotel, very kindly gives your \ readers an opinion of the j^o license question. This gentleman/ a commercial traveller, states he finds that in both Oamaru and Ashburton no! license is not a success. Considering ! that the firm Mr Boys represents in \ New Zealand, viz, Alf Lawrence and i C0.,- Melbourne, deal chiefly withtho! breweries and supply them with bot- ' tling requisites, such as corks, cap-!, sules, tinfoil .etc., one can quite tin- i derstand why he finds Oamaru and 1 Ashburton not to his liking. Some of your readers may have been influenced by. Mr Boys' statements, but now his connection with the liquor trade is known it must bo admitted he is somewhat biased. — I am, etc., • .„., - C. MILNER. Nelson, November 2nd. -