NO-LICENSE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 851, 24 June 1910, Page 6

NO-LICENSE.

. BANQUET AND SPEECHES. . "APPEAL, TO BUSINESS MEN. J T new departure in connection ."with \ ,Ehe annual meeting of the New.Zealand l" Alliance took place yesterday, in the, form t>f a men's banquet in the Municipal Con- ■' /. *. cert Chamber. Mr. A. S. Adams, of Dune- {. iin, presided. There was a full attendance, . imong those present being: The Mayor of- , . Wellington (Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P.); ! . : Messrs. D. McLaren, R. A. Wright, J. P. ; ; . ' Luke, H. G. Ell, C. H..Poole, and A; S. . Malcolm; MiP.'s, members of the City \l- r Council, and prominent business men. ; ■■■ Mr. Spragg's Address. Mr; Wesley Spragg, °f_the .; Alliance, -spoke on "No-License in New ••^•Zealand"''Fifty or sixty yoars ago, ho 6aid,.violent.but spasmodicj;usls of tera- • * ;; perance agitation were blowit across the countryside. Women, who felt the worst ! of the drink evil, were the. first : to move, and tliej had the. assistance of ;tho parsons,, and afterwards by some t • . kind-liearted people deemed to be fanati- • cal becauso they wero perhaps easily • excited by a story of wrong. Later on the ; . fitful gusts became a steady trade-wind. \ )\' : 'It would have been left there probably <: for a time," said l Mr.- Spragg, ; f . but for assistance from : a body from r .whom wo would'least have expected it—- ! s - the people whose business was being i ; . •: attacked." Nobody' had contributed so } r ; / mnch to. the success of the movement as the liquor-sellers themselves. The advob ' • cates of No-License were now seeking to enlist the co-operation of. the business i •:; ; . men. They know that they were going I- ito win, since everyone . now recognised /that the liquor traffic above all the ;enemy of our civilisation. They were: f' icortain that they were going to rid, *!Nbw Zealand and finally civilisation! ;V .' ; of this curse. The business men I of Auckland had taken hold of this | question in a practical way. He wished i me could go. to. the other cities, beginning .•with Wellington, and inspire half a dozen of the businessmen m each to do . 'jwhat hail been done in . Auckland. They liail found the business people very/ready •to help, and to put their hands in their . {pockets, and a great success was made of v rtho last No-License campaign by reason >of their ' .

i j . Allies Wanted. ■ • r "You men just outside our own body," '■said Mr. Spragg, "it will to better if ; jou are not quite a-ssoolatcd with us—if jou will-begin a movement of jour own! ICall it any name you like, don't be con- • jiected with these 'fanatics.' You know V (as much upoti the subject as you need 1;(to know, you know that you ought to ; • . V''; spare a little of the time from your busii4 - ■ ness ' ajid from, your' pleasuro for this reform, and,l beg of you to give Wel- ! ' . lington the. lift : it needs. If you will rput your shoulders into'this thing, the / Khini* is done. It is going to be a race jbetweeu the. business ; men and labour. :\Ve'are going to have the labour peoplo ; < . brith ns almost at once." i The'.Mayor .Walks Warily. > The Mayor, who was asked by the prcEident\ to speak, remarked (amidst laugh- : iter): '"The chairman is [i lawyer, therei- ' . ;fore I must walk warily." He had seen 'lawyers so far forget the positions they ; .occupied : as: even to : set traps. - (LaughRer.) Mr. Wilford returned hearty'thanks' f. . . (for the invitation to himself and counv.'. . cillors, and sat- down. - ; ' -Dr. Henry's Address. f.' Dr. Henry, who was received with ? \ .much 7 applause, spoke on the relation of Iteinperance reform to commerce, and " .'business interests.. Some of the strongest :. " ' Arguments against drink were fur- ' fished ! by tlie business men; and em-. !i- tployers of' labour. 'In the United States, t V i6O per' cent, of common labour and 75 i!per cent. of.skilled labour were teetotal. ; .'The railways'were manned from top to t ' {bottom on "a basis of. total abstinence.-, r-':' ,3t had been said that commercialism iwould kill the American saloon.' .Com-' : ' ijh-itition in' trade and business respon- ■ • 4 «ibilities were become so complex that -ino employer could afford to have his own : ior his employees' brains befuddled with . . drink. His contention was that Prohibil"tion paid. i . . An American Example. ;V ' Long Beach, near Los Angeles, carried ; prohibition in 1900. • Its,population- bad .since increased .from 3000 to 25,000—more SV" than 500 per cent.—tho average bank de- ! josit of its population had increased from '■ ■' ,£1 to £5, and the deposits for the last /four -years, as compared with the last - jfour years of-license, bad increased more if : : than 3000 per cent. As illustrating .the labour aspect, Eoqhester, New York, had J'-:-'.'". !61 4 .million dollarsinvested in breweries, ; ' . '6i'million dollars in clothing mannfacr.. . . tures, and 31 million dollars in boot and ■ shoe manufactures. The, breweries em434 persons, and paid wages to- : '. stalling 381,000 dollars; the clothing manufactures bad 3432 employees, whose wages ...totalled more than.li million dollars;and K i-the boot and shoe manufactures employed - ■ 4868 persons, and paid in wages over two : million dollars. 1 The inhabitants of pror iliibited Maine had in the savings banks i£2o per head; Illinois, one of the wcalthi aest districts in the world, £2 Bs.; Ken- ; : tucky. and Ohio, £2 ; . and Pennsylvania a little over .£3. Since 1850 pauperism had increased 176 per cent, in Illinois, ' 173 per cent, -in Kentucky, 138 in Ohio, : iand had decreased. 145 ].er cent, in Maine. 'There had been a great outcry because i . . 11,000 gallons of liquor were sold in Maine ' -past year, but this worked ont at seven- . [teen-thousandths of a gallon for each !.'• . Hnember of the population. BIG PUBLIC MEETING. THE MAORIS AND LIQUOR. i 4 SPEECH BY REV. L. M. ISITT. Another largely-attended meeting was (held in the Town Hall last night. The Iforty-five minutes preceding the com',mencenient of the meeting were spent in ! . •'■ . i a song service with Jlr. C. A. Potts as choir leader and Mrs. Potts as accompanist. The choir also sang at intervals-during 4 tlio meeting. The chairman (Rev. F.l W. Chatterton, -principal of the Anglican Maori College '-at .'Gisborne) said those who had the cause pi' No-License at heart could hardly ; .tolerate any longer the terrible handicap of the three-fifths, majority. They were .almost uuanimous on this point. He emphasised the duty ,of protecting the jMaoris from the drink temptation. . "Home, Sweet' Home" was smig sweetly . in Maori by Miss Stirling, who responded ' • to an encore. The Maori Point of View. The Rev. P. Bennett, of Rotorua, spoke on the liquor question in relation to the . Mgoris. He urged that the Native peo- . pie should have the right to vote as to 'whether or not they would have hotels in. . their midst. There were eight hotels in the East Coast district which were mainly , " supported by Maori customers. A petition had been largely signed by the • Maoris asking for the closing of the bars, but nothing resulted. Ho moved: That this representative meeting of • the Now Zealand Alliance would draw tho attention of the Government . to tho request made by the Maoris ■ at the congress of 190S, that the principle of local option be extended to the Native race, and earnestly hopes that the numerous petitions presented by the Maoris to tho Prime Minister will 1)6 favourably considered, 1 and the principle of local' option extended to the Maori people before the next election. Ho believed that if local option were extended to them 75 per cont. of the Maori peoplo would vote No-License. Reviewing the position in the King Country, ho expressed thankfulness that the last of the wholesale licenses would cease next week. Tho motion was seconded by the chairman and carried by acclamation. Mr. Beunolt also moved tho two lollowing motions:— . That this meeting of No-Licenso delegates and others from all parts of New Zealand sends its hearty congratulations to the Hon. - Mahuta, . Mr. K.aihau, M.P., and the Maoris living in the Rohe Potae on the unanimous resolution arrived at a fortnight ago at tho mooting at

Waahi to adhere strictly to the words of their fathers, and keep the liquor out of the King Country. Kia kaha, kia u (bo strong; be steadfast). That this' meeting also pledges itself to do all in its power to keep inviolate the proclamation of . 1881, .whereby we as a race gave our solemn word of promise never to allow liquoi to bo introduced into the King Country. ; Tho above motions wero seconded by Mr; Wesley. Spragg, and the Rev. W. .1. Williams respectively, and were carried unanimously. Miss .Hera Stirling (Hawke's Bay) spoke eloquently on behalf of the Maoris, taking, the text, "Vou that are strong ought to .bear the infirmities of the weak," and applying it to the pakeha and tho Maori in relation to the liquor traffic. The Present Local Option System. Tho Rev. R. S. Gray (Christchurch), in the course of. a rousing address, said Ihe had no share in the pessimism of thoso who thought that the present sys-, tcm of local option had fulfilled all its usefulness. Tho Rev. L. M. Isitt said the No-License party was never more united in its hatled of the liquor traffic, 01* more determined, by tho help of God, to free the Dominion from its degrading power than it was that night. In endorsing what had been said in regard to the Maoris and the liquor trade, Mr. Isitt said he measured tho villainy of that trado by its effort to take advantage of the weakness. and defcncelessness of the Native race. "My friend Mr. T. E. Taylor and 1 are sometimes spoken of as Siamese twins," continued Mr. Isitt, "and wo do think alike on many points, but I want to enter my. protest against the statement made by him in this hall last night, that local option had . finished its educative work." (Hear, hear.) Dr. Henry had told them that experience in America taught that local option was an ; effective forerunner for prohibition. Mr. Isitt also questioned Mr. Taylor's statement that there were eight sly-grogshops in Ashburton. The shopkeepers there had told him recently that business had never been better, and if they could only get rid of the vile locker system at the club all would be well. THE CONVENTION. .POLICY FURTHER DEBATED. The annual convention of the Now Zealand . Alliance was continued yesterday, Mr. A. S. Adams presiding.. The press were not admitted. The morning .was devoted to tho consideration of the Party's policy,. and addresses wero delivered by Messrs. A. R. Atkinson, Wosley. Spragg, A. S. Malcolm, M.P., T. E. Taylor, M.P., and the Revs. F. W. Chatterton, J. J. North, L. M. Isitt, and Walker. The proceedings were enthusiastic. . At the afternoon sitting Dr. Henry spoke on the progress of temperance reform in America. The discussion on the policy of tiie part}* was continued by the Revs. T. Fee and R. S. Gray, Messrs. Bridges, Brown, and A. S. Adams. The subject-will be further discussed to-day, and the conference is to conclude this evening.

A very successful tea-meeting was hold at Wesley Hall, Tarauaki Street] on Wednesday,, in connection with the convention. There were over twenty tables,, and so many people attended that those tables had to be twice laid.' In charge of each were ladies representing the various temperance societies, the Salvation Army, Women's Christian Temperance Union, and city churches. It was successful not only in point of nuiube'rs, but as regarded tho interest and enjoyment of the guests, for it was the .first opportunity tho various delegates ;who camo from all parts of the colony had to meet with each other in a social way, renew r .old acquaintances, and discuss the matters that had already been .discussed at their local meetings. 1 It is ail"'interesting 'convention. that is being held, how interesting anyone would have known who listened to the animated conversation, and 4 watched 'the cheerful, enthusiastic faces of tho speakers.. Among tlioso present were: Mi-. Spragg, president of the Alliance, and Messrs. A. S. Adams, L. M. Isitt, H. D. Bedford, T. E. Taylor, M.P., Mrs Cole (president of the N.Z.W.C.T.U.), and Revs. W. C. Oliver, P. W. Fairclough, I. Cocker, and many other well-known visitors. • The convention will meet again this morning.