LIQUOR TRAFFIC CONDEMNED

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22508, 16 September 1938, Page 3

LIQUOR TRAFFIC CONDEMNED

“EFFICIENCY OF NATION AT* STAKE”

MAORI BISHOP’S PLEA FOR PROHIBITION

"The ravages of the liquor traffic are so far-reaching and so disastrous as far as. the Maoris are concerned that I thought anything I could do as a representative of the Maori people to protect them from it I should be prepared'to do at'once,” said the Rt. Rev. F. A. Bennett, Bishop of Aotearoa, and president -of the New Zealand Alliance, opening a/public address at the Caledonian Hall last evening on prohibition.- “This,” he said, “is a principal reason behind my decision to interest myself in an official position in the campaign against the liquor traffic.” . ' The Bishop addressed an audience of nearly 400. He was introduced by the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr R. M. Macfarlane), who presided over the meeting.“The whole efficiency of the nation is at stake,” the Bishop said, “in the liquor issue. I am not an extremist nor am I what is called a wowser, but I am deeply concerned for the spiritual and moral welfare of the people, both Maori and pakeha, and it is for this reason that I am here tonight.”

Liquor Among Maoris

Bishop Bennett said he was deeply appreciative of the significance of the appointment of himself as a representative of the Maori race to the presidency of the New Zealand Alliance. Among the Maoris the liquor traffic wrought grave evii JiXaozrl JhjjTJself bad no "vote on tbe issue and. -was treated as a child in the matter. It therefore became the duty of the pakeha to protect the Maori people. The Maori had no intoxicating liquor before the white man came to New Zealand and it was therefore the white man who was responsible for it. Bishop Bennett objected to the practice of keeping liquor in the home, and asked that more should be done to educate children .to combat the evils of liquor. “Where, for instance, are all our Bands of Hope,” he asked.. “In the coming year we’ll have to put our shoulders to the wheel .and not be chicken-hearted. We’re not fighting for ourselves but for our young people and for those not yet born.” The , whole country, he said, should be brought nearer to a realisation of the responsibilities it carried. Especially should it be realised that the white people must do all in their power to remove the grave influence of liquor from the lives of so many of the Maori people. He hoped that at the approaching election the Prohibition movement would be able to make a great impression upon the people of New Zealand.