The No-licence Question.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11730, 4 December 1905, Page 3

The No-licence Question.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — Ther%-,is- one -aspect 'of the Prohibition question which has not been discussed. Alcohol is used and prescribed by medical men for medicinal purposes.' In a prohibited district, in cases' where it is necessary to administer alcohol,' the doctor prescribes and, thes, chemist supplies. - The result is it would cost 10s for l's worth "of what is required. The working class would be the sufferers, as they have not the opportunity to get what they require from a licensed district. The Prohibition advocates appear to have no thought for anyone but themselves. A celebrated statesman in the House of Commons once closed an eloquent speech against Prohibition with the following remarks : "Wearers of the Blue Ribbon are in the main persons of inferior mental development, and if we may judge by their faces they are not remarkable for intellectual power. Our civilisation produces an abundant undergrowth of feeble bodies with lopsided minds, people whose personal insignificance becomes less unbearable wheu they fancy themselves members of a great organisation. These are the people who become teetotallers. As a' rule they are persons who do not take alcohol because their power of resisting force is so limited that they are compelled to abstain- from partaking of that by which tliat f force- is supplied." This ie aS true to-day as when spoken twenty years since. I am, etc.,

A WORKING MAN.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir; — ;Yaur . -leafling. article . upon the above question that appeared in Saturday's issue of your paper has prompted me to beg the favour of a few remarks ui3on the subiect in your -colirmns. You claim, Mr Editor, that Prohibition is a failure in Mataura and Ashburton. You say that official figures show that there is no diminution of drinking, in those districts." Leaving out of the question the evidence of people in those districts as to the diminution of drunkenness, ' can you supply, from official sources, figures showing the amount of liquor consumed whilst these districts were under License, say, for twelve months, and the amount consumed whilst the same districts - were under No-license for a similar period. If you can show from official authorities that the amount of liquor drunk in the prohibited areas has ben. greater sunder Nollcenae tlian under License, then your assertion that tfiere has been no diminution of drinking in those areas would be* a good reason for not jup-porting No-licens^. Your article .is inconclusive upon this point. What the public want are official figures concerning equal periods of License and No-license in Mataura and Asbburton. Can you give those figures, and prove your assertion? No one doubts the fact that considerable quantities of liquor

go into those districts, but your article certainly Tails in proving your assertion that there has been no diminution of Uriukiug. I notice that you emphasise the need of educating peaple in the paths of temperance by moral suasion. You geem to think that it is the only justifiable means to take to prevent excess in the use of alcoholic liquors, but you overlook entirely the physiological fact that men are permanently and constitutionally different. Many men have an uncontrollable craving for alcoholic liquors; temperament and heredity predispose them to excess. They simply cannot help craving for alcohol. It is useless to try moral suasion upon them whilst you have tl'e open bars to tempt them to indulge tßeir craving for drink. There is but one remedy for such, and that is total prohibition. Professor. Hamilton, Professor of Pathology at the University of Aberdeen, tells us that "the love of alcohol is more or less inherent in- tic v' ''•» '.* t' ••» human species," and wj .-lfo ' "jw tbnt the indulgence of any craving invariably leads to excess. Does it not stand to reason that the best way to deal with alcohoj is to prohibit its use except for medicinal purposes. We see thai it creates an appetite' for" itself and that an individual under its influence is very little' affected by moral suasion. In the course of- your article you quote Mr Edward Walker as authority for the statement that there has been an increase per head in consumption of alcoholic liquors in this' colony during the- last two years, and that in" the face of the?- efforts of Prohibitionists to lessen drinking.' You- also give figures to show that the number of convictions for drunkenness Iras-" inci-eased in this colony' from 4636 in 1895 to 9615 in 1904. Now,- sir, do not your facts prove that- the community is becoming n^ore addicted to the use of alcohol, 1 and this, as you say,. in spite of the efforts of Prohibitionists to lessen the consumption of liquor. Your opinion is that the old Btyle of temperance reform and the regulation of the drink traffic are all that are necessary to lead to a diminution' of drinking, and you go back to a reriod .covering seven years prior to the No-license conditions, claiming that drunkenness decreased 15 per cent, in the colony. Can you prove that that was due mainly to the efforts of temperance advocates? What probably was' the reason for th« decrease was the fact of leas money and employment in the country then than in' recent years. The secretary of the Temperance Alliance for Great Britain.- dp. a letter to a recent number of the New Age, writing of the results of 50 years . of temperance advocacy, claims that in saite of their ecorts-to educate tho people as to the evils of drink, there ia more drunkenness in England now than ever. Tbe moral of such testimony points to the failure of temperance -lodges and moral '• suasion to lessen drinking. The fact is,' as Professor' Hamilton says, that the love of alcohol is inherent in the human race, more' or Tese. And it is evident from the figures you quote from E. E. Walker", 'and the testimony of authorities in; the old countries that there -is' a growing tendency to a ' greater consumption of liquor, both in New Zealand and England. . Why is this so, unless it is by reason of the fact that' alcohol develops an inherent desire in .the race for its consumption. " The only;' national solution of the problem is total Prohibition-. -Regulation is a failure; it does not -prevent drunkenness. As to Prohibition - such as they have- in Mntaura and Ashburton, .of coiirso it is owing fb the law being' imperfect, that liquor drinking is-; found there. Make it an illegal offence- to carry liquor into the district^ then- see' how tho law would work. In conclusion, sTr:Editor, I would again ask- you- to prore that ther-a has been no diminution of drinking in Mataura and Ashburton since '^ProMßitiou was carried. Thanking you in anticipation. — I- am, etc., DOUBTER.' [Our correspondent asks tis for information wh.iph pressure on'otir time and space precludes us from giving-. Our figures were quoted from official sources, 1 including statistics compiled' by the Bey. "Edward^Walker and from, information culled from the New Zealand^' Year Book, where probably "Doubter may' find some- of tho information he seeks.- It is ridiculous to suppose that a correct estimate can be made of the liquor that finds its way into No-license areas, for a' large 'quantity of it is illicitly obtained and distributed. The Eev. Mr Bush, of Raetihi, admitted that in. the Wesleyan Church on Sunday night. We must refer our correspondent to the report of ' the. special commissioner of the Lyttelton Times, who himself saw* drink illicitly sofcL : and whose investigations went to prove that a*Targe quantity was at present consumed in homes wEere previously. -it izas. not to be found. Tho official Year. Book proves -the' fact that the consumption of liquor throughout , tho colony -and tlie number of. convictions for drunkenness have increased", in spite of the efforts of the Prohibitionists, and this suggests to, us, as we have previously stated, that the efforts of the reformers are wrongly directed, and they could accomplish muck more by other methods. — Ed, W.H.] ■: ..s.-«