PROHIBITION IN CANADA.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14864, 11 September 1918, Page 6

PROHIBITION IN CANADA.

ADDRESS BY MR J. SBIPSON

A lecture on liquor prohibition was' delivered in. tho Theatre Royal last' night, ttv ,a largo_audience, by Mr James'Simpson, of Toronto; Canada. ' The' cunir was taken by Mr 'fhoinas iNeale, - who said that tho lUayor desirod him to express lus regret that liis absence iroiu 'Nelson provcnled him from occupying cho position cf chairman •that ovening. Mr Nealo said ho- was. jglad that the Prohibition I,'arty had .fallen in with tlio rfeomaio-iiuations oi the National Efficiency Board with regard to the liquor trado. U« gave a list ci some of the positions which Mr .Simpson had occupied in .Canada in .labour, educational and fcomyoranoe organisations, and said he thought it was sa groat privilege for Nelson people to iiavo an opportunity of listening to a '.man'-of-their visitor's great - attainments'.

Mr Simpson expressed;the pleasure it gave, him to travel through New Zea*land, ■ and ' spoke of the fact that, the war had can sod this, country to be more •interested -in Canada to-day than it had ever been before. Canada had derived benefit from the study of Na*.y Zealand's Tjrogresive legislation, and hr> and his Colleagues were now m-iprocatmg by giving testimony ia this country to -j •what.-Canada- .had dono iivthe'.-s-ay ci j wiping out tlie liquor tr.'Vfik-. Canada j and-the I;'.:!tod Sir;;to;; ;h^td -t'^' imiqim | position of hminp; r::;u'!.% /.-^.H-atoi1 !<-'«- i gress duriii-, uio lust decade towards i the prohibition of that tniinc t-hau ar>;y | other two Cirurit-i-K'S or. iiia i'at.-o or cho.! earth. He de^crihnd t-he iTr^pc^so sko ■ and wonderful resources, of Canada, ) whose population of 8,000,000 vras | bound to" be very greatly increased in i the future. It was not until the war broke cut that Canada made'rapid, pro- j gress towards prohibition. Tiis Federal Government had the power to_ prohibit thß manufacture and importation of iiquor, and tho provincial Legislatures had the. power to prohibit itg sale. lie narrated the rise of public feeling in

Canada against- the liquor tra-de, After J the Federal Government closed the dis- i tilleries as a war ineasurG there grcv/ mi an insistent demand for provincial prohibition. Mr Simpscu referred to \ the contests on this -question in the i various provinces, incidentally mentioning that the soldiers gavo & decisive majority vote against liquor ._ To-day ' there were only 90 municipalities m the province of Qxiebec in which liquor was sold. These would go dry on May Ist next year, and then there would b& prohibition from one end of Canad.a to the other. Mr Simpson next spoke of the coming of national ■ prohibition in the United States, to take effect from July Ist next. 'That would bring. 105,000,000 more people under prohibition, and make North America entirely free from the curse of the brewery, the distillery and the pu-blio-house. The reduction of crime ia Canada that followed prohibition was described by the lecturer, who also gave particulars of the way in which some of the brewery jjroperties were being converted into factories for the production of useful goods. Other brev/eries had been devoted to the manufacture of non-intoxi-cating drinis, and now employed mere hands, because more hands were required to fill bottles than were required to fill barrels. The glass bottle blowers were therefore no longer opponents of prohibition. Hotel nccomodatlon was superior under prohilijtion. ■ A voice: Not in New Zealand.

Mr Simpson:-It v<ill be. Through the concentration of effort on the part of hotelkeepers, who no longer required to concern themselves with the sale of intoxicating liquor, hotel .^accommodation in Ontario had vwiitly improved since prohibition. Labour • was the power on thoNorth ...American/- Continent' that had made prohibition possible. Eighty-five per cent, of the voters there were toilers ontheland, in, factories, and in;mines, sa<i4>rombitioii; could not have been secured' unless' by support of these men. MfJSimpson proceeded 'trO discuss the values of dif-. Cerent commodities,. and said that it showed commonsenae to buy such things as clothing, boots and shoes and pianos instead of buying booze. The spending of money on liquor never added to the intellectual or physical power of any community. The bed effects of the consumption of liquor on tho human system wero pictured in vivid language, after which the .speaker condemned the privileges granted to brewers and hotel keepers in Britain and New Zealand. At a time like the present, when they required all the efficiency possible, to have a bar on a steamer that had to pass through danger zones was a crime. '.It was a tremendous shame, too, that Canadian soldiers, leaving a country where prohibition prevailed, should be ■exposed to" the drink temptation m England. It was the determination of the°United'States and.Canada each to match their nation with its magnificent natural setting, and he. wanted to encourage the people of Now Zealand to do the same. What was .-£4,500,000 in faco of the situation in New Zealand? If he were, considering a similar question in North America, -where there '•was a strajght-out yofce, ho would say, •**Not'one--dollar'of;- ocjmgensdtwnv'* Tiiey had not given one-dbliar of compensation -in America, and it had fcetm-proved there that prohibition did not enttfu •fche^ltes ihat ithad*een said wou^ result to iiioso-who 'rbad^Hjen -engaged an. ; the liquor trade. What would New y^ilanders do if they dad not pay this £4,500,0U0? Under-tho us:stiag law a 60 per 'cent, vote was reqiiirai .to carry prohibition—a most und«mceratic proVi«iop When would they got taeu oO per cent, majority? tiad tho J any guarantee that they would got it, this year, next year, or the jw toUojvus No one could say they would In his Tudfincnt-, notwithstanding what haa Sen done in North America it would Liv worth New Zealand's while to pay ,£4,500,000 instead of havmg the greater fiiiancinl loss which would tollav tbo continuance of tno liquor trade to say nothing of tho moral and mtclioctuil loss- As to State control, it had &n-found-wanting" /in "■where-ib had-been .tried, i'ho do egation from Canada had brougat kuntlreds- of letters from maaibws oi ail for reasonable considera,tioii .;ct proposals that would f& -snbmrtted to S^ia a>ho bs\iov.ed-they v;cula be,-on; m later date. The lecturer s -peroration v.-as follov/ed by v/arm nppiaiisu.At times during his address, Liv ftinip--n-) 'Riibjected -■"to. intcmiptiqnSi mostly' .from tho c.zeii of the >".pit; which on cue occiißion ■Jn-ou"ht the chairman to Ins feet, _ buy "the Canadian orator's flow tt -mcisive. Ipn^uaso, and at times l:is eloquence,pcnertfilv commanded tho close axrten■tion of all his hearers, and howsw tre-

quontly,applauded by the iarge majorityof those present. • t . A collection vras taken lip to defray local expenses. , ; On the motion of the Rev. E. D. Patchett, seconded by Mr T. Pettit, it was unanimously resolved, "That this meeting, representative of tho citizens of Nelson, heartily approves of the National Efficiency Board's- recommendations, and that, in the.intercstt of national efficiency, we pledge ourselves to use cnir influence to obtain from Parliament an opportunity to abolish the liquor traffic as constituting, a fjruvo crn:,^ of national inefficiency; :ind that this resolution bo forwarded to toe Acting-Prime Minister and the miN'slior for the district."

A vote of thanks was accorded to the lecturer and tho chairman, on the motion of the Rev. G. H. Gibb, seconded by Mr W. J. Moffatt, both of whom spoke highly of Mr Simpson's speech..