Address by J. Dixon Ward

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume V, Issue 1470, 31 October 1905, Page 2

Address by J. Dixon Ward

—i » 1 Ip-ikir Meeting' ! Last night Mr, J. l Dixo|i • Wavd ad- -1 addressed perhaps the largest open oir < meeting ever lield ,in a Waihi street. Featureß of the ■ meeting■■■.were the appreciative manner' in which tho , address was listoned to and tWpresencooi a largo number of ladies, ■ A trolley drawn up opposite the National Bank was used as a platform. ' MrTurd refetrod to the challenges said to have been issued to him by .various opponents and dcolinod, He producedtho whole of the cdrreßponclenoo, showing'lhat ho wab anxious to moot of tbo" no-license" party in debate, only stipulating that such opponent should bo the accredited representative of . the Auokland Alliance;' He invited anyone in tbo ■crowd to oomo up and read the correspondence, - Pastor Davies' assertion in a 'rccont address -wat incorrect, inasmuch as •Mr Ward was prepared to P>eet Pastor Davies or anyone else m an official, rpprq- . sentntivo of tbst allinuce. Ono.of his unofficial challengers ! was the Rov. E.H. Tuyior, of Thames; On Saturday la«t, at 1 the cloao 'of bis lecture in that town, he debated the question with .Mr Taylor.. Mr.-Trylor had published an ndvortiaomont in that day's; leiiKGrapii ] ' to the eff.ct that lie had uucoessfiilly re-' fated Mr Ward's arguments. That was a 1 question lie would leave to the people of i the Thames, but he \vould_ venture the opinion that if tbo;. made inquiries they, f would disoovot that Mr Ward bad .simply "wipad the floor" with the Rev. Mr * Taylor, He bad to thank Borae unknown, local friend, "Fair flay," for defending i him in the cplumris of,, the ,Teieo«aph , against the misstatements■, of, Mr, J, T, Brown, which they would remember wire utterly at varianco with what be.(Mr W«d) had said,' . He also, regretted hear- * ing that ahothor unknown friend had fered through protesting againsilmfsrepre: Bentaiions. Mr Brown bad said he was 8 working fur tho cguso of" No License," * but hot for the monoy that was in it,: ; Of e oourso not, but bo took tho money' all the 3 same. So that Mr Brown and Mt \Vard .'really stood on the fame footing. • 1 Mr Brown't* idcaß &b Id the fnbllfica'tion of a lecturet were somewhat .obscure'.' Mr i- Brown hailed from America, and had .no hesitation in eivine: an opinion; on tho

domestic politics of New; Zealand; but Ho cavilled at Mr; .Wbi'd giving an opinion on America. Mr.'Brown's statements'concerning '- American;. tourist, resorts,: were: oomic reading to any ; ; of; common' sense. Mr. Ward bad .been-favoured in the TkLEOßAPHwithfomo attention' from Mr.'John Brown,.'Be with Mr, Brown's first letter in'the correspondence column. 'Mr. Brown,seemed ;tp think ho, had made a Btatemont which; ho would likotopassiuto oblivion. ;fle \cpuldtoll, that gentleman he had no snch'dfißire..Beforo ho finished he wou|d repeat, .reiterate anil emphasise his former _,statement concerning ; the principle'.of .rriajbrifcy.rule, and :• ■• Mr,,; ■ Brown;.;!• was;.;;quite 1 >at ; liberty to use ->bisj^beßt" endeavours! to' show that'Mrl-Ward'',was 'wrong.: Since his last appnarahco boforethemthoy had an eruption of no-license lcojurers, in- ( oluding the talented Ma Harrijob Lee; Ho.'did not like to criticise a lady,' but he must point out that'the Ashburton figures 'she'quoted at Te Aroha were' l absolutely incorrect, as they would they dealt with'Asbburton. Furthermore,the govo 'taenia new recipe for making beer, whioh she might patent, dn it waa at, vftviahoe with the present commercial method. Ho; would;advise- anybody drinking that beer to live next to a chemist. . Mr Field hail complained of his use of American statistics, oblivious of the fabt that the 'teetotallers' stook arguments were drawn from the United States. To please Mr Field, he would speak of NewiZenland, giving the available statistics in support of his utterances. Ashburton was tbo tee,-. Mailers': bright and shining examplo, .It was alleged that the savings banks' returns showed ;o .marvellous increase, "This was untrue in the senseused by hisopponents,--From 1902 to 1904 the deppsitshad shown an increase of 9 per cent, whereas .New; Zealand had registered an inoroa'se of 15 per cent, showing 6 per cent against the No-License era. "■• It was'slipped thai business hud incrcasad, but the railway returns would show an ao.tu&l dtsbreape' in 'the volume.', Bankruptcy had been pronpunoed by his opponents to bo a lost art, but the people of Ashburton still, went bankrupt, and,seemed-to enjoy_it,,/ In tbo years 1901-2 the.amount of'liabilities in bankrnptoy was £1396, whiUt in 1903-4 it had' risen to £2859, showing an increase under no-liopnee'of £1463, Surely this was not an enviable result-fbr.his teetotal friends. The annual,.borough valuations', i showed that decreased,prosperity had followed in tho train of no-licanse, .Under lice'nse in 1902-1903 the inotoased rateable value was Jl4Bp. During the eauib period; under np-license the increase: was £ 979, a distinct check on the progress of the town, His opponents had spread a report that poverty had disappeared, from Ashburton sirco tbe\reign of | no-license.'; It was a stran{>o thing that if each were tho case they should have the Presidont of the Dor-1 oas'Sooiety.refuting this. assertion,' Mrs Friedlanderi-'president'of the Sooiety, had J emphatically > pointed but that thoeooiety was in oohtijiual need: of; financial anp-; port, as during the months ofMay, June, and July of thisyear they had,;more applications for relief than they could supply.) It had been stated that tradbsmen colloctocl their accpunfa with less diffibulty than formorly.: Here, however,; was-another misstatement, In 1902, the last year of lioense, the amount:- sued for' totalled license, the; amount rose to f 8580.; . v ' Ho had booasion to robuk'o, thp.teototal ministers of the Gbbpel for misusing Holy Writ topi'ovo'tbbir case.',' Up io" ( the pro-. j-seht'he bad not repeiyed; a single offer-to ! debftte'lhis queetion f rpm a piirply Biblitial point 'of' 'View!' Theref'spewed: to' bo something ridEmoralising ; , in'-: teetotalism when it caused a --"Dumber■■. of bis elorioal friends to forgot the precept of tho Book thoy had sworn to uphold at their ordination, Toetotalism also soemed to have a disastrous effect upon their arithmetio.\ For, yoari they had been wildly asserting that thousands of people in New Zealand wore perishing annually through strong drink:'. Atthe late.Oaiu'oh of England Synod the Bov. Mr Sniallfleld pui the 'number down, at a thousand, Tho throe- prohibition papers promulgated similar falsehoods. ,In his Federal Hall speech lib had let dajlight into this rn¥ statement,' In tlie early part of the cam v paign it was ou'tomary for theloetotallers tohand'himnpque'tions snob iasthis--'»How oan you support a traffic that kills thousondß of btir people every Year?" , But at last ho bad compelled the teetotallers to ret'aot thVe misstatements., i They now handed hjm the quostion—"What about the 67 whoperißhodfrom ; jntomper'aiice?" They wb\ild;thus, see , how be had. compelled -'the prohibi- j iion faddists •'. to'.''eat' .-.'their.;'bwri ' words, : 'He"'had. shown them that there i were condif ions'precedent in:mosioases of i death from. dbnk,sv : hioh were;thVreal / causo of death, access of albohol ; being' -. meroly:an nleobmpanyihg result. Npwr:ho ; i was happy to'tell, them that .since ho n'iado,'; hiß first spboch in AVaihiho had received: ..') tho -. Qoyernmbiit ';•' the : .year:, f t 1904, which showed the doath^frbija, drink'i |j ha'd shr.unk;from 67;iibj81; ;He ! j |see'total frionija .wbaid (ake"nbt p;bt.jt; • abs- ;, (tamp their '■-. Tberb; was I 'pno'theYi prohibit >! whloh;tlW pppl)nbnt^ ; wodi : but' ; w : hidh; ; they9i^fpbtv, ; i|

if sly grog gellin^whichitbej.police^werß, traaf ioding iflor# v aifflwiH yea? byjbar to «fM with, the (sot being ihtf 4 very large '^ J 4l Dorfcion of the people absolutely refased \td £%y ■ogarel >be prohibition lefw ai,i just' I { sM,< Measure. It was the ingenuity of quite a - / yj* aumbor of persons pitted agairjst the v < "enuity of the police, and noinbers were "1| r 'i bound to win id such a contest. What "/j ™ was true of one Anglo Saxon community i,fi , was trne of anertbor Anglo Saxon com-' > mumty. The experience of America t % would be repeated in New Zoalntid. Here \ ■'< llio speaker gayo a humorous . It\ lion of a gentleman in clerical garb walk- -4 J ingtbo streets of cities in Maine, with * an apparent 1 Biblo under his arm, 4 Fiesontly, at the street corner, he woold meot a friend who wonld seem to closely ', examine the volume, "If you happened ut l to pass them just nt that time," said the , spoaker," you would get a strong whiff of whisky." His friends bad imported one of these Bibles for him, and he would show it to thorn How Mr Waid produced a book, which, touching a hidden epnnp, flew open, revealing a whiskv flask, to the great amusement of the eiowd, Ho would show them that the police re< ' * poitsofthis colony revealed a Bimilar '" ' state of secrecy in the'no-license area*, It was a p't; for the cbubo of truth Jhat theseroporlswere not examined by his, opponents before they uttered their wild and misleading views He would quoto from tho-o reports. Constable Thomas Griffiths' iaid " I haVe been stationed at Balclutha 1 for over ',hieq years. Prohibition hero is an ' utter f nkne The sympathies of tl>o people ' *> are against the pohco in enforoing the 'licensing laws, and they will not assist them, On tho conhary, anyono known to assist tho police is held up to thegiavost odinm." This was prr-oisoly wha ( he (the speaker) had told them must ba the sure result of no lieonse, on tho occasion of his former \ address At that timo he had not »* tho police evidonoe. Police Inspector Pardy said —" As ' regards Clntba, there Is such odium attached to persona giving ovidenoe in these (sly grog) oasss that it is with greatest difficulty that anyono can be got to do so" In another re- < port he says:—" The successful prosecution of sly grog sellers in tho prohibited district is still accompanied by the greatest difficulty owiug to tho sympathy expressed > by the looal residents, and the odium '' attaohed to witnesses for the prosecution > in such cases." Police Commissioner Homo, in commenting oh'jhe question, { said:—" I boldly assort that so long as the ;

Jiqubr law reoiains- astjit presenli-no-rer^} Organisation" : ban / r possibly~.'grapple .with^ihe'quesiion?'^Jplice'.Com- -/i:»f|i 'missione^Tnnbrii'^isiud:^ijlt;,is" only 'S;;|is- - the :adpptipn : of- Babtqrfngoß :: oMbb,pr6-:>i ; 'mifie of a.iiJbney' reward: to pkaonal tpfe : 'v£f£v 'cbmejn'fpriners^bpt^ should: be: resorted Joinextreroß that ip". the, great;mfljoritjr,bf ibstanbes'ean, ; % any evidence whatever be o^|ain^d.' .also said.in;a-subsejpienii report:— year it becomes'more difficult.to ob'tEwiithe '^ic ; S/- t , tioc.essary evideiioo ' ,fo!; jusUfy :prpceqdibga j ;- or obtainva c6nviotfo'n : 'after 1 have '. been /taken, >: to poftioh . : of: _; ; ihe'; 'popuiatibb;';; f.lbqk;- :^:^ \ v^v i upon ; prive ■.'the'm o'',' ityhxicants as: pn;;'unWar^^|S and, •consequently, take a ■'-' delight in ■ : dfef'.vW !i^ : - : .-, fendingtho objbotof thelaw. 1 -!■'ThOßabatiVJ *ss&■ dffloerssid; that the sly: gfog'sel!era ; still the sympathy of tboso opposedfo bibition,,andf this, .■ sympathy v f re'quentlj [fssfi. assumed.-: the tangible -form-; fill- .porjury •;'iioii: save'.'-tbe 1/''sly fgti>g< - ; * Xffi dealer, from obnvictioD.'v'Polioe vCom- t-!tf$~ : ; iniasioppr: : 'Dinnio ! "iaid ?;. V- •; ;evident:ihat liquor has been introduced in- ''%?#'•£ to private hbuseai where it did not previous-; ly exist, and a, pptiaid^rahlo iamountof sly ; grog drinking is indulgediq, which is.diffivV';v'£s ornY to detect bocause of the amount of : . [s, perjury .''committed. 'Travellers. plain of a change for.tbo worse '■ edintho comfort and cleanliness of hotels Jjg>h i;,; Binpo;nb-license;has boeu also said the in the numbenof prosecutions• agiinstdy^!:;^ '■•;., grogjellers -did nut,necessarily ; a decrease of tlie: number"of: persons: en- ; ;';'; v':'■, .; gaged in iliis deplorable and troublesome:, -,'S v' .;■; class of, offence,', bnt rather ;that;.m6re>lr ;K' Bocrecy was; adopted .to -prevent deteo- i'f^-h .tion.';.'v.:'-; '• J

In viow of the foregoing opinions, could ny honest tvoinan or man hold An; other ' onviction than that the prohibition lav - ut Now Zealand largely w»i inoperative, lotwithslamiing the smug Fbarisceism of , he opponents of that most dangoroua suit. Those people, having eyes, failed to ee, and, having oars, refused to hear the icoamulativo condemnation of the mo«t imust, the mo«t unrighteous, most op v oresnvo 'and most liberty-dostioying law hatovci disfigured the Statute Book of this \ \\\ country Tho publio health had suf'ored, tho publio morality had Buffered, bnt ( be political parson and thp total abstinence' lecturer were alike blind to tho plain and „ very obvions truth. Mr Brown, in the , Daily Tklegiupii, had endeavoured to fasten a certain slatemont upon him i lest ho should letroct it. He approved of Mr Brown in this conneotion As regarded his \ (Mr Ward's) remarks on majority rule and * the right of voting, ho rotated nothing, \ ho withdrew nolhing, he modified nothing, but rather he emphasised and added to his previous utterances If Mr Brown could make any capital out of thoso opinions on behalf of his opponents ho was qwto welcome to do so. He (tho speaker) repeated that majority rule implied the trusting of supiome power to the largest, and consequently the moat powerful, party , in the State, m order that by the exorcise of that very power thoy phould, oon< serve, preserve, maintain and support the rights and liberties of every party in the Btate,' Tho nn license law as administered by & plebiscite was a negation oi that true principlo, that majority rule. Modern dernooraoy piovtded what was known as sectional rights,' and it was recognised that only those directly a%» interested were entitled to voto on » those lights. He instanced the Federated Employers' Union and tho Miners' Union as oxamplei to prove > his case. While every citizen was* indirectly couoerned in any vote of a con. clave of either of theso bodies, modorn domocraoy conceded that the indirectly interested persons should not voto thereon, Preference to unionists would nover be ooncoded by a referendum, but the people's representatives in Parliament lecoguised thut Inborn unionists were entitled to the fruits of long years of persistent endeavours on behalf of tho workiug masses. If the Minors' Union to»uiorrow wero to approach the Court, unionists, and unionists alone, would bo admitted to the question, Aiguug by analogy} he maintained and emphasised his former statements that on tho local oplion 'question the liquor users should decide tho "lesno for themselves. The waier dnnkcis wei9 only indirectly ' interested, and it nss a monstions thing that they should oast a vote which ' dietatod to their fellow citizens what the} should ont or what they sliould drink, Furthermore, it wai an undemocratic punciplo, as \i , provjdod thittbo ft oil lo oVman might* s'ook his collar wifh all the creuturo comfdits he desired, while |ho weekly wage , • earner was debarred fiom purchasing re* 'jM tail his requirements in the same direct "" Uon. - \, < t QUESTIONS, > }s& ' i A number of. qiieslions weio, asked &i s *J Mr Ward v, bioh epace does not allow us to , ">} notiCo One, hpvifivor, created groat Y'} eit •" Do you not 1 think that a working-■•* man m Waiblaboald bajble to 'buy half "J \fy a pmt of beobfev, thrceponoe ?" < li ft •> < 4l< | Mi, Warf Spiled.," I* aui"of, opraionf 4§| lha.i beer., like pAsbould ffe Qhargod'fo\4 f r»l in aooord trice, With suantitK K Some" yeais', VrNI ooninnsaiou - tbf/iiQuito "into /IfieWob prHIl

quantity. If hoctjitUtaringdown ssb jprite' of be?r hß*djWvod. to bo as the patron* Rain t nf New J , v Zealand.' Bub it Hl\e Prohibition 'VParrj/wilh'thW unjust law, producing in \, sooare tenaro andthroatoniug iho proper of their neighbours, that maintained at a high puce, lie would ndvise the working men to refrain from Jpfcnpitting private feeling to interfere with '- '.pabliojaetioe, let them voto doVvn no ken jo approach"the hotel keepers f w a body, and they would no doubt bo I obtaining redresß of their own grievances. 1 Ina'nswertoaninteijoclion, Mr, W«id ridiculed tho'statements cf the Rev, Mr. Brown concornjnf no-liconso in tounat " resorts in Amonoa, and Mr. Ward called ' upon the electors of Wniht in tho interests ' of ttieir Rotoruabretheren, to inuntain a Btronnous opposition to the prohibition 1 patty. t A vote of 'thanks proposed by Mr. E Carson vas carried by acolsmatioo,, j