N.Z. ALLIANCE WANTS PROHIBITION VOTE ON NOVEMBER 27

Wanganui Chronicle, 5 October 1946, Page 6

N.Z. ALLIANCE WANTS PROHIBITION VOTE ON NOVEMBER 27

“I want to tight this battle on the very highest of Christian principles; there would have been no licensing commission if the liquor traffic had been an ordinary trading concern,” declaied Ihe organiser for the New Zealand Alliance, the Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Hamilton), speaking at. a meeting in St. Paul's Hall, Wanganui, which was sponsored by the Wanganui No-Licence League. Christian men and women would have to bring consideration of the prohibition of liquor traffic up to a spiritual plane to defeat brewers; not even State control, basic recommendation in the report of the Select Parliamentary Committee oi Lincensing, would be saiisfactory for the wellbeing of the nation. Mr. Gilbert explained that he had come out of letirement to assist the Alliance to organise a prohibition vote for November 27. “The recommendation made in the majority report of the commission for amended hours of retail sale of liquor depends upon the adoption of the recommendation for public control of breweries and certain hotel bars.” said Mr. Gilbert. •

The necessity for the commission went without question. Anxiety was expressed by many persons at the large increase in expenditure on intoxicating liquor. The Dominions liquor bill last year was £13,000,000. People were told to save food for Britain and when some folk were at their wits’ end to find sufficient sugar with which to carry on, the brewers were getting millions of pounds of it, he declared. There was never any suggestion of beer being rationed. Especially during wartime anxiety had been expressed at the great amount of lawbraking occasioned through the increased consumption of liquor. “I am not condemning the young people because I know what they can do. I have been a padre in two wars and I consider our young people are far too good to become victims of this wretched traffic,” declared Mr. Gilbert. ‘‘There may be fine respectable folk among the ranks of the brewers and the publicans, but we are just going to do what our Masters did—judge the tree by its fruit.

In answer to questions, Mr. Gilbert said all Wanganui could do was to form a body among the churches, organise votes and finance and do whatever was thought necessary to fight the battle. Chairman of the Wanganui NoLicence League, Rev. N. R. Wood, said the forthcoming poll would be one of the most momentous in the country’s history.

“Vote not according to your prejudice, but according to the enlightenment that has come from this meeting,” he said.