"ONE OF THE FOULEST PIECES OF ELECTIONEERING IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS IN NEW ZEALAND."

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17544, 10 April 1919, Page 5

"ONE OF THE FOULEST PIECES OF ELECTIONEERING IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS IN NEW ZEALAND."

(Published by Arrangement). WELLINGTON. April 9

'iliose in touch w»th public affairs in New Zealand ior many years attirra that never in tbo liis^ry oi New Zealand have such disrojyi'Uible tactics been utilised to %ht against Prohibition. The Dr. Yahtitine fake proriamation was bad enough, but cl«wnt citizens will regard the Trade's advertisement and leaflet'on Bolshevism; as even more contemptible. In bhi? <«r>iieslion this morning's Domiuion contains a leading article strongly censuring the Trade lor the m-stiiods -it has employed, and every Vlerrtor will agro© with its condemnation of the Tradss methods. Tiie editorial, reads: — A FOUL SUGGESTION. The. exposure made at the public meeting in the Town Mall last evening of the publication of a leaflet, in which it sought to associate those connected with the Prohibition movement in New Zealand with* the worst Bolshevik excesses in Russia, is calculated to do as much injury to the cause in which the knffet was issued as any single incident in the present campaign. The leaflet itself is one of the foulest pieces of electioneerino; it has been our ill-fortune to come across in public affairs in Xevr Zea^ land. It iiluntly -md grossly states the reported conditions under which the debauching of woman ie permitted in .Russia under Bo&hevik rule, and implies that this was the outcome of th© deliberate efforts of the Bolsheviks to sow discontent, by engineering Prohibition. The misrepresentation of the facts of the situation in Russia does not «>n<wrn us. According to all the evidence available, the Bolsheviks h_a»i as little'to do with the Tsar's edict probvisiting the sale of liquor as did the writer of the leaflet himself. What we do proI test against, and what we are sure every deeent-muided citizen, whether f he be for or against the liquor trade, will protest against is the foul slander that in New Zealand those who are . working in the cause of Prohibition have in view as their goal Bolshevism, the debauching of women and all that anarchy stands for-^-that Prohibition is merely a preliminary step to those vile ends. That there is no I doubt that this suggestion is made, may be gathered from €he closing : sentences of the document in ques- '• tion, which reads as follows: "ißolsheviks have their agents at work in> New Zealand. They are following the 'tactics that proved successful in Russia—Prohibition first, anarchy . afterwards. If you don't wish to help them, vote continuance." If this class of thing is to be tolerated - in public controversy without protest, then decent men and women may well . hesitate to take a share in those public activities which it is" to the interests of all sections of the. community to encourage. One does not need 'to hold the same opinions as tile Prohibitionists to appreciate the merit of their motives."*