NO-LICENSE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 21, 4 June 1908, Page 10

NO-LICENSE.

CAMPASC.N RALLY

" To-day wo moot for mutual consent and oncouragoment, to review our position, to take stock of our resources, and to cheor each other on in tlio campaign that lies before us"—in theso words tlio Rev. V. J. Willihms described the objects of tho NoLicense campaign rally hold in tho Vivian Streot Baptist Church yesterday. Thero was a good attendanco at the afternoon meeting. REV. W. J. WILLIAMS'S ADDRESS. Tho Chairman (tho Rov. AV. J. Williams) stated that tho Wellington No-License Council represented the work earned on in tlio fivo Wellington electorates. It was an im-mense-area to cover, with a. population of nearly 80,000 people, but thoy were cheered by offers of help from every quarter, and they believed that they would succeed n putting the claims of No-License bcfoie tho people in every part of thoso. electorates. They had already three agents at i\oiU giving their whole time tc canvassing, and If funds permitted as many more < sould be emnloved. Ho stated that tho JMoij Cross," tho new organ of the cause, had been published for the first time that day, and 'great things wero hoped from ■ its ,m fluence.-: Tho prospects of the cause wero never so bright as they were to-day..lbe successes previously won gave good i g y for the future, and remembering- that at the. last poll the total number, of vptes cast tor No-Licenso exceeded by 15,000 those cast for License, he thought that, after tho tion given during a three years intCTval, the look-out for the liquor traffic at tho next poll would be a very bluo one. LABOUR AND LIQUOR.

Mr D. •• M'Laren, speaking' on Labour s; and tho Liquor Question, • described him- h self not as an out and out P ro^ ltlou ' v ono of that mmierous class Aho voted tor i; No-License because they were very-far fiom „ satisfied with the present regulation of ,tho : a liquor traffic. He thought that an evei- t growing majority would vote for No-License t on this ground, since the improvements pro- , mised in the administration of the trade were c eo seldom realised: He hesitated over tho c proposal ;bf State ownership, urged by tho ] West Australian Labour Party, because personally: he did not think that the business was worth owning. . He thought that tlie ] economic conditions of tho people were tho ] most potent cause of drunkenness, both im- . mediate and ultimato. Ho beboved that that , | was the view taken ; by the-general-bodyar tho Labour party' in New .Zealand-' and e so-. - whore. It was simply pitiful to-argue that tho closing of the bars would causo great. . economic distress. It'would be easy to talco up all the capital sunk in hotels, and it to advantage in other'directions. Only a minor proportion of .the 10,000^ employed in New Zealand—he was informed a.bout onetenth—were engaged in serving out drinks. The Labour conditions ■ of hotel ■ employees with tbeir seven, days' working, week wero such that organised labour should bo glad of any chance to reliove their fellow-workers from such a Ho had known casual employment of various, funds for many years, and witnessed the living conditions ot many - classes of workmon, and ho had con* eluded' that the position of an hotel rouseabout was the very lowest depth. Tbe.workcr who had come to tho pass of having .us wages paid him mostly in tho form of beer, . as ho bad known men, was surely a lost soul i from the labour standpoint. Not only rousoi aboutsj but the general run of hotel em- . ployees, had been largely iwglocted as far as I' their'labour'was concerned, and ho ventured > to hold that just in proportion as. their fellow-workers interested themselves in tho conditions of such employees would they come more and moro to the conclusion tha„ ? tho best remedy would be to find-.thorn,other <; employment. At present the labour organi^ations more-generally preferred Stato owneri ship than anything ,-else, but manj; had in view ultimate prohibition. In proportion as d the temperance party ceased to speak ot. inon License as the solo' panacea for every ill the 3- Labour people would be drawn to_ support j> the temperance movement.

"WITNESS OF, THE NATIONS." iWr speakers 1 declared th.0 T " jitness.of : M nations " in regard to No-License. All'.' . E. Atkinson, speaking on behalf ot Angmd, said that .all over tho world tho.teml -anco cause had made great progress, and Ingland had been affected as well as other oulitvios. Mr. Asquith s Licensing Bill.had mt in the .shade all other political proposals' luring several months, ilr. Atkinson outined the provisions at the-Bill, and, stated hat Mr. Asquith and tho British Goyoiunent deserved the greatest praiso -for this ittempt to cope, with tremendous .vested mlustries. (Applause.) No political victory >f recent times would equal m the iefeat of the British Government, if it was iefeated, over this ,Bill, aftgr sticking to its colours. (Applause.) . . ; Mr W J. Helyer, speaking for America,! said that in less than five months over seven million people in that country had admittea prohibition. -If - tho; reform maintained its present momentum for tho- next, decade, tho voters under license would bo a minority in the union. The question arose, Was the law, after all, attaining its object—the curtailing of drinking and consequent reduction ot drunkenness? There could .be, he thought no two opinions on that score. Ine fact that tho peoplo who wore witnessing its working and development were all eagerly it was' a triumphant answer to tho parrot cry, -"Tho law's a failure.' r • - Mr li. A!-.' Wright;, speaking for.. Scandinavia, said'that tliero the Gothenburg or company system, with minor variations, had been adopted as the best method or controllin" the liquor .traffic.: Before that system was launched at all in Sweden, a tremendous measure of reform had'been secured ■by the , vote of the people. Mr. Wright explainec tho working of the Gothenburg system; ivliicl I was first organised in 1565, nnd did not be come tho general policy of tho nation unti tho '80's. He stated that under tho care o companies tho per capita consumption of bee in Sweden was doubling every ten y«ars, an< the percentage of pauperism had. ancreasoi with new rapidity. Plainly, tho f compan; system had not made the country tho garde; of Ilden which its advocates would imply In Norway it was prohibition that closed u almost every spirit shop in tho country du tricts, and also , drove the liquor sellers-, on of more than half of the towns and cities From tho evidence available it was certai that the Gothenburg system did not prever the increased consumption of liquor, an that crime and drunkenness did not decreas under it. The people were now replace tho company system by prohibition. ; At the conclusion, of the addresses, que tionsl wore asked, and criticisms on. N : License passed by several persons in tl audicnce.. The Rev. W. 3. Williams ai other speakers replied to the criticisms.

MASS MEETING. A public tea and concert'were'held, .whichworo both well attended. The Rev. W. J-. Comno presided at the mass meoting which followed. Ho urged the need of earnest co-operation against tho efforts which tho other party would put forward. The opponents of No-License, ho stilted, were prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on tho couflict. ! HAS NO-LICENSE SUCCEEDED? Mr. A. 11. Atkinson traversed an article in a 'Portli paper, written by a Mr. H. J. Williams, of Wellington. The article purported to show that No-Licenso had been a failure' in New Zealand, but Mr. Atkinson denied many' of the writer's assertions. Ho had been at Ashburton recently, and found the No-License sentiment still very strong. It was not truo that in Invercargill ovils/if druukonness had 'been merely dnvon undor- ' ground. It was plain that they had been groatly reduced. Ho admitted that sly-grog selling still existed in Ashburton. 'For tins thore woro formerly threo reasons, ho alleged : a weak law, weak police, and; a weak magistrate. Thoy must' insist 011 an amendment of tho law to make tho punishment for sly-grog selling, evon for a first olfenco, imprisonment, without the option of a'fine. Tho police and magistrate at Ashburton had ' given tho party much less cause for dissatisfaction. during tho past two years. Ho ' hoped that half the electorates in Now Zoji- ' land would voto No-License at the next poll, ! and tho other half in three years' tilne 'IXAajlause.)

APPEAL FOR YOUNG MEN. Mrs. W. J. Williams made a fervent appeal for No-Licenso on bohalf of tho young men of New Zealand. Serenty-iivo per c ® n j" of tho men and women who frequented hotels wero young men. She denounced in strong terms tho dangors of tlio volunteer camp canteen, and referred also to the liquor temptations of university dinuors, smoke concerts, and brass hands. Slio gavo pathetic instances which had como within her own experience of tho evils caused by drink among young men. NO BOOM FOR DISCOURAGEMENT. Tho Rev. A. Dcwdney said that because tho party did not win more at tho last election, their enemies exulted in the set-back, and some of the party's friends wero dis-' couragcd. Despite tho so-called set-back, a majority of votes had been cast for iNoLiconse, and the result left no room for discouragement. Tho party's successes wero not to bo measured by the figures wlucn tlioy tabulated. Every repeated assault set in motion great moral forces, and quickcnou now moral purpose in many minus ana hearts./