IN SIGHT OF THE POLL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1172, 6 July 1911, Page 5

IN SIGHT OF THE POLL.

. NO-LICENSE GATHERING. TIIE WELLINGTON ELECTORATES A convention of delegates of No-License workers in tho live city electorates was held' yesterday in St. James's Presbyterian Church, Newtown. 11l tho afternoon about sixty workers were present. Mr. A. R. Atkinson dealt with tho subject of local No-License and Dominion Prohibition. The Rev, J. Daw. son spoko ol' organisation and finance, and the question of Parliamentary can* didates. In tho evening tea was liel(L about 100 persons attending. Tho Public Meeting, Tho principal gathering was iu the evening, when a number of speeches wera delivered. Mr. R. A, Wright, M.P., oo- ' cupied the chair. In the course _of some opening remarks Mr. u right said the gathering was for the purpose of sharpening their weapons tor the struggle at the end of tho year. Every temperance worker recognised thai tho country was on the evo of one of the greatest and most serious fights it had ever been engaged in with the liquor traffic. For the first timo they wcro to ; jl nvD . the. opportunity of voting on tho Dominion prohibition. Last year, when > the matter was before Parliament, ha had felt they were taking a leap in tho dark in regard to Dominion prohibition, but he was glad to know that they luid , J l s s urauce ot ' people who till now hod voted for Continuance, but would vote for tho Dominion issue. These were tho -.cu- I ?r wpo.wrald not voto for Local Option. '■ right was satisfied thai, the result i ?[ election would stagger the people. (Applause.) They knew something ot the tactics of the enemy. Tho ' enemy were fighting for their very existonce, therefore they would resort to 1 j every means that could be conjectural to save their position. Their living was in ■ the business, and it was only natural,' theretore, that this should bo so. They concluded they wore justified in resorting ' to every means (legitimate if possible) to defeat the Prohibition party, Professor Salmond's Pamphlet, The Rev, W. J. Comrio spoko on tha pamphlet issued by Professor Salmond. ino speaker said lie was ■ ono of tli« students who had greeted Professor Salniond when tho latter first came to New l Zealand. He would not like to break hia friendship with tho professor, but when a man endeavoured to injure a cause such as theirs, he could not spare that man's loehngs. How a man, who, in Ills heart did love righteousness, could tako up this S position—a_ man who was practically at the end of his life's work—and throw | himself against the whole tide of social reloi'in, was a thing tho speaker could ; not understand. Professor Salmond's arguments were fallacious, and the reasoner lived in tho past. The danger was not , what was in the booklet, but what lurked in tho name of the writer. It was not thoso who road tho-book that they had to fear, ' but those who sheltered behind the pro- ' fessor's namo to advanco tho things lie . put iorward. Tho speaker predicted that ! before the polling day they would hear moro of the Professor s pamphlet. Somo one had bought up 35,000 copies of the pamphlets—they were hidden away somewhero —and tliey would be used to tho best effect by tho other side, and this' would l>e seen as tho polling day drew near. Ho proceeded to deal with argument of tho pamphlet, stating, incidentally, that official replies thereto were to como from (•who of the local churches. Ho said that 1 Professor Salmond's premises regarding ' wine were wrongly laid down; that his Biblical deductions were wrong, and his historical quotations also woro not strictly corrcct. Mrs. A. R, Atkinson raid that at the last , election there wcro eases wliero women w'ho had voted for the Parliamentary o ection bad not recorded their voto for tho local option poll. Sho spoko.also about tho new movement—tho "Women's Crusade"—and gavo instances of misery M\v Zealand duo' to drink. 1 'If they foiled to vote knowing the issues, terrible responsibilities woro incurred. Combating the fear of having sly prog-shops under the No-License regime, tho speaker ridiculed tho suggestion that things could be as bad as they were under license.. '

The Rev. C. A. Sims said that though their methods may not bo ideal in Ilia eyes of others, still they were effective. At all events, when a man went to tho ballot and voted against the traffic, ho was able to feel that he had done his duty on behalf of his weaker brethren. Votes of thanks were pasted to the chairman and tho Speakers.