The Licensed Victuallers

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 662, 6 November 1902, Page 20

The Licensed Victuallers

PROHIBITION TACTICS UNMASKED-

The actions of the Prohibition Party during the last week or two have had the effect,of opening the eyes of the electors of Auckland to the fact that the Prohibitionists arc making a tremendous struggle for political power. Their intention of concentratijw their, influence on returning .Messrs Ririiardson, French, and Hannan as representatives of the City of Auckland to Parliament, quite regardless of whether they are in any way qualified for such an honour or not, is now c’isclased. It is quite apparent, that in the eyes of the Prohibitionists the only qualification that a candidate for Parliamentary honours need possess is that he should be willing, quite regardless of (ho truth, to slander and villify citizens like our revered Sir John Campbell, who has during a period of over sixty-three years showed his affection for and pride in the city and colony, of his adoption. Leaving the personal■ elemi nt out of the discussion for the time! being, wo feel com- “ polled to take off our gloves when referring to' the misstatements of Messrs George Fowlds and other leaders of the Prohibition Party in our midst. No one knows better than /Messrs Fowlds and Coy. how baseless are their wildly and widely dissSeimnated charges that those engaged in the liquor trade have had a hand in preventing people beinu registered as electors.! No one knows better than they that at the last election the names of over 1500 moderates opposed to their Prohibition fad were missing from the roll of the City of Auckland Electorate on the day of polling, and that at the present time for every prohibitionist not on the roll there are three moderates. As a matter of fact, only this week two hotelkeepers and the wife of one of them, all of whom Voted at the last election, bitterly complained io us that their names are missing from che roll just issued. Numbers of other people also engaged in the liquor trade have made similar complaints. AVe feel compelled to stigmatise the methods indulged in by Messrs Fowlds and Coy. as unliberal. unßritish. and totally at variance with their loudly proclaimed assertions of the. purity of their motives. The fact the Prohibitionists? have made it evident that their cause (unlike temperance by moral suasion) is no longer a

■ moral issue, ..but .a political one. does not < excuse them. If anything, the feeling is . intensified that to be dominated by nar-row-minded faddists adopting such methods would be unl-earablc and disas- . trolls to the well-being and freedom of a ./British community.

For this reason we are pleased to note that' the hotelkeepers have resolved to fight their slanderers and /the villifiers of their women folk tooth and nail. We < ongratlllate them on the justice of their cause.

We must commend the action of the Trace in refraining from participating in the, election of candidates for Parliament in any electorate thrroughout this Province,- and in their resolve to devote themselves solely to the defence of their interests at the coming Local Option Poll.

It is recognised that Messrs Wesley Spragg, Fowlds, and Company have been very assiduous in trying to obscure the real issue of Prohibition or not, by intraducing side issues (insignificant compared with the real issue involved) into the discussion, but such a common political dodge, will, we feel sure, only react upon its authors at the ensuing election. Auckland has been tolerably free from rowdiness and hooliganism until recently, but if the outrageous and intemperate speech of such as Richardson and Co., he • permitted to pass unnoticed by those having the moral welfare of the community at heart, we can only anticipate—with the admitted proneness of youngsters to be affected by both example and environment—that our sons and daughters when reaching maturity will show the effect of such taint in their characters. We should have no desire to rival or emulate the unenviable reputation for larrikinism. and worse, that Sydney has acquired during recent yeazs. • The real issue at the coming Local' Option Poll must not be allowed to be obscured. It is in short—" Prohibition with sly-grog selling, increased drunkenness and its attendant evils.’’ or "the present licensed system under Parliamentary control and police supervision resulting in the most temperate communi tv in the world?’

We feel bound to add that the hotels of Auckland are on the -whole up-to-date buildings, with excellent accommodation and conducted by a class of men that are a credit to the City, one of them being at the present time its Chief Magistrate.