THE NEW ZEALAND ALLIANCE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1297, 28 November 1911, Page 9

THE NEW ZEALAND ALLIANCE.

ITS MANIFESTO. A VOLTU TACK. It is not so long 6inco the members of the New Zealand Alliance, under whoso banner now range all (he prohibitionists, reverend and unrevcrfnd, nil tho Xo-Li-cense advocates, religious and unreligious, proclaimed to tho world that what they now <-«Dk to enforce was "utterly foreign to tho fundamental principles of British law." That is to say, that tho prohibitionists condemned that which they now approve. Those who take an interest in tho liquor question will remember that the late Mr. 'Seddon put fonvard an amending Licensing Bill, in which appeared tho famous Clause 0 which was briefly interpreted as tho no-liceiise-no-liquor clause. It made tho possession of liquor in NoLiccnso areas a, crime, and was certainly designed to mnko prohibition effective, if anything could., Tho Prohibitionists were set by tho ears. They did not want no-licenso to mean no-liquor then, arjd so they issued a manifesto in which this proposal was vigorously denounced. Here is an extract from the manifesto bearing upon tho point:— "To make tho possession of liquor a crime, the effective detection of which would require the correlative right of search, in every house, would bo to establish an odious and inquisitorial tyranny, utterly foreign to the fundamental principles of British law, and to tho whole spirit of British law/' Now tho principles of British law, like the principles of ethics, never change. The principles of British law and the ten Commandments stand unassailed and unnssailablc. Therefore, what would be. an "odious and iuquisitorial tyranny" in 1901, and "utterly foreign to the principle of British law" then wonld in 1911 be' equally odious and equally inquisitorially tyrannous. By all men and women who have not lost their reason over this question that postulate and deduction must be accepted. But behold tho volte face of the Prohibitionists torday! They now urge the people to vote for National Prohibition and No-License; and if they. persuade the people of New Zealand to adopt their views and follow their instructions, the importation, sale, or manufacture of alcoholic liquors, even for homo consumption, becomes a crime punishable by a fine of illOO for the first offence and for tho second offence a term of three months' imprisonment will be imposed. That is the law and its penalty. Surely moderate men and women will pause before they approve and vote for the adoption of a law that will .make a criminal of a man or a woman who is found with alcoholic liquors in their possession. If moderate men and women who hate drunkenness, but live soberly and use wine and beer and whisky as" daily articles of diet and in their social intercourse, are now by this prohibitionist law to bo made criminals if they import or make any of theso commodities, will not the conditions of living in New Zealand bo made utterly intolerable? Here the prohibitionists are, as Lincoln said, making a crime of that which is no crime, and subjecting moderate men and women to intolerable inconvenience and probable loss of health. ." ' ■ This law proposed" in 1901, so-odious then, is odorous now to the nostrils of all prohibitionists. This law, "inquisitorial tyranny" then, is now a delightful piece of legislation which all prohibitionists will take pains toeaiforce.'-'.'Thisilaw-,. which then involved the right" b{ search of every house at any hour of the day or: night, will make a police search of any 'house, 'at any hour imperative if. prohibition is carried. All the prohibitionists have to do is.to set their organised army of spies to work to watch certain private citizens, whom they suspect of having cases of wine in their houses, and whether their suspicions are right vr wrong the. prohibitionists can ring up the police and forco them to ransack any private house in the city to discover alcoholic liquor in any form. This "odious and inquisitorial tyranny" is the work of the prohibitionists. They denounced it once: they applaud it now. They will carry it into effect if the mod--erato men and women in Wellington will assist them. When, however, the moderate men and women of the city and suburbs realise what prohibition and NoLicense means under the present law, they will surely determine to strike out the bottom lines and proveut their houses being-searched for liquor, and prevent the establishment of. "odious and inquisitorial tyranny, utterly foreign to the fundamental principles of British law." To paraphrase their own language, the prohibitionists have become an intolerable nuisance, and it is about time good, de-cent-living,' moderate men and women hoisted them upon their own petard.* VICTORIA STUDENTS' PROHIBITION LEAGUE.