The Governor of Bombay Speaks

White Ribbon, Volume 23, Issue 6, 1 August 1951, Page 6

The Governor of Bombay Speaks

Abstinence from alcohol and drugs is a measure of social reform which is calculated to promote the moral and material welfare of the people of Bombay and ultimately of India as a whole, says Raja Maharaj Singh, Governor of Bombay, in a message commending the introduction of total prohibition in the State.

Stating that a period of crucial importance lias been reached in the history of Bombay, the Governor adds that there lies ahead the achievement of an ideal, results of which must inevitably have wide reactions, not only in India hut in other countries of the world.

“Let us work, therefore, with redoubled vigour and determination, fortified by the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi, the architect of our nation, to

whom prohibition was an article of faith. “This is not a step which our Government has taken without the most careful consideration. Let me express here my agreement with the policy of the Ministers, and my own conviction, that abstinence from alcohol and drugs is a measpre which is calculated to promote the moral and material welfare of the people of the State of Bombay, and ultimately of our country as a whole. The importance of the occasion from an all-India |K)int of view is apparent from the fact that the President of India has come all the way from New Delhi to launch this great experiment and to give it his blessings. “Prohibition, like education and public health, is a necessary social reform, the more so as it preserves, and indeed improves, one’s physical and mental equipment, and enables one to derive greater benefit from the various measures which the modern State undertakes for the betterment of living conditions. “1 am alive to the arguments, which have been advanced from time to time against prohibition, including the precedent of the United States of America, and do not doubt or under-rate the sincerity of our critics. Xor am I unmindful of the difficulties in our way.

“It must, however, l*e borne in mind that the failure of prohibition in the West was primarily due to the absence of wide-spread support from the people, and possibly to climatic conditions But here in India w_* have religions which regard Drink as sinful, and the people themselves are in favour of prohibition. Our womenfolk are among our strongest supporters, and I have no doubt that a census taken among the wives of the labouring classes would disclose a large majority in favour of prohibition.” M —Counesy “The Patriot and Rechabite.’