1911 ELECTION FOR NO-LICENSE and DOMINION PROHIBITION.

White Ribbon, Volume 17, Issue 194, 17 August 1911, Page 10

1911 ELECTION FOR NO-LICENSE and DOMINION PROHIBITION.

An Appeal to the Women of New Zealand by a Daughter of Scotland. I)*AH OOMRAHEB, Although separated from you by thou* Bauds of miles of land and water, the women of Scotland are anxiously and longingly looking to you for help in the great cause of Temperance Reform and National Prohibition. Your fellow-women in the Motherland have been face to face w ith the misery and wretchedness caused by centuries of legalised liquor traffic : an enemy which is subtle and powerful by its greed and grinding, and which records no of the blackest pages in the nation's history. We have arrayed ourselves m a Holy Crusade against this destroyer of our people, this wrecker of our homes, this slayer of our children, this tyrant that enslaves humanity, and the real hinderer to the coming to earth of the Kingdom of Righteousness, w hich alone exalteth a nation. We are therefore united in a common bond of Sisterhood w ith you our comrades : we join hands and hearts, for thoughts are wafted over the sea aud heart can speak to heart. We feel that you in this democratic country, with your advanced legislation aud great privileges, your power of the franchise, which we so much desire, could do a great deal to help us in securing the same privileges which you so much enjoy and highly esteem as a mighty weapon to ho used in the moral and social uplift of humanity. As daughters of a great race, it is your opportunity of proving to the whole civilised world that Womanhood means co-partnership with God in the emancipation of the slaves of a legalised vice. There is a magnificent work laid to your hands, a glorious dawn before you ; the shadows of misery, sorrow and oppression that have dogged the footsteps and blighted the lives of thousands may he turned into songs of gladness, peace, and victory. Your vote counts for so much, surely you will use it in the best interests of your Home and Country. Women have been heroic patriots in all time reforms. We have, for example, Deborah, a mother in Israel who helped Barak to overthrow the tyrant Sisera with nine hundred chariots of iron; Mrs Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which stirred the Christian conscience against slavery; the Martyr Women of the Covenant, who died for tli*> Faith; Elizabeth Fry, who helped to reform the prisons of Britain ;

Florence Nightingale, who went to the battlefield and gave succour to the wounded and dying: ( trace Darling, who saved the shipwrecked mariners; Catherine Booth, who founded the Salvation Armv, and brought new hope to the pom outcasts of earth’s children ; Frances Willard, our own Patron Saint, who gave such an impetus to the women s movement all round the world. One might mention more noble women, but, what about the hundreds whose names have never been heard of, yet have given of their best, to bring in the nobler modes of life, with sweeter manners, purer laws. T housands of your sister women are looking to you now, in the day of battle. Now is your great opportunity in bring ing about the greatest reform of this age, and make thousands of people’s lives the world over, pure, sweet and wholesome, by striking out the top line in both ballot papers, and doing all you can to get others to do the same at the coming election for No-License and Dominion Prohibition. Your Victory wul he our Success. <Mi ! don’t fail ns, dear comrades! New’ Zealand's Daughter*, in your might, Your Hointa defend, your People’s right, With .Sue* mil Father* now unite. And vote for Home and LIBKKTY ! Yours for (rod and Immunity, Helen Barton, Glasgow*.