NO-LICENSE CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2301, 7 November 1914, Page 4

NO-LICENSE CAMPAIGN

ADDRESS BY REV. R. B. S. /■; ■ ; - ■ 'An address .in. support_ of the NoLicense movement was delivered in the Concert Chamber .of the Town Hall by the Rev. R.B.S. Hammond, ..of Sydney, last evening.. ;;Mr. Hammond also addressed an open-air': meeting in the •middle of the day "in the Post Office Square." ■'■ ■■' . - "..'"' - ( '.'. " The-Re/ Mr; ; Hunt, who presided, said that at the last meeting held.by the New Zealand Alliance in the Town Hall they'had the pleasure of announcing that another, .: of the .., States in American—Virginia—had carried' Prohibition ,by a large majority. (Applause.) That evening lie was glad to announce that , four, .other 'StatesWashington, Colorado, Oregon, and Arizona—had. .' done';' likewise. (Applause.) ; :■.-■ ■ •■■'"■"'.' • Mr; Hammond sot out to answer the complaint made/ by some people that the -, Prohibition' people ought, not to their energies while the Em-, pire' was demanding all the strength.of the face for the war. His answer was that so' , far. aa experience guided him' ...the.best man;was;the,mah.who did the ])iggesfc;thing -'first./.Tho. : Crimean; War in the three of its duration had (cost: England. £103,000,000. In.-, the same',';time-England' spent?£l3o,ooo,ooo on drink'..': In; loss of life the figures were ■,'- equally - startling—the •■' toll •of drink;; was ; the" heavier. -. The warseasoried general, unmoved by the glamour and excitement of going to wary declared, "War is "he 1 1 ,.- For the eld soldier who had trodden the scarred blood-stained battlefields war had no beauties. So, ho-said, of.the drink traffic. After years of observation of its ravages, "this traffic is lell." He had. seen' hundreds of men fall victims to the drinJi traffic,' men. of all classes; and among them/ many of undoubted genius. -So he argued that the "biggest' thing" just now for those not fighting was to skip the-ravages of drink. ■-.- . It was said that No-License did not stop 1 drunkenness. 1 But he had collected a< few statistics about the eight No-License arcas-.in New Zealand, taking no account of those-areas which were' suburbs of big , cities; and thereforevaluers for' statistic!! purposes/ and he had-found that of a/population of 101,000 'in these' areas, 406 persons were; of drunkenness in one year'. . A large nuihbor of those persons cori.yi.cted, .70 per cent, of them, were found drunk on railway stations,: and only 71 were under 30 years 'of age. This meant that the. people who-.drank were those ..who learned to drink before No-License came. ; -On the dther hand, he would take a group, of the most respectable, prosperous license areas in New-Zealand with' a' population of 98,000 people. Iu those places there were in the same year 1990 convictions for drunkenness. Closing tho bars; meant, according to those figures, a reduction of 'drunkenness to one-fifth. That he considered a very effective reform ■ He spoke of the, revenuo.derived from liquor—in •New Zealand a million per annum. But those .who spoke of Prohibition meaning the' l loss of a million in revenue forgot where that revenue came from, and what it ; cost to collect it. The liquor people did not find' the money; they only collected it.. And it cost at leaet five.' million pounds a year to' collect the :reveniie; That, it seemed : to him, was- too much. -If the people who supplied tliis fivei. millions x we're not called upon to find it, they would haye' more money to use .and , to.;, spend for other purposes, 7 qut of/which the StateVrriight also draw a little revenue; In the'Proribition .States;of. Arnerica, ft ■ was! said that there .were a g'reater! number of inen owning their own. homes,.than,-in fany other, of the State.s. .It seemed that if a man did not try to keep a home for the publican, -he had more money to spend on his own. He advised people, as one of their tirst duties, to return to Parliament men who would not use "their votes to perpetuate minority rule,on the liquor issue. '; ~. . Many people were in the habii ofeaying that prohibitionists were all longfaced, gloomy kill-joys, : with no/place in their souls for fund. He gave the names/of a few'teetotallers he had known" who were not down on merriment and sport. He named' Harry Lander, 'whom he described, as the most extensive laughter-maker the world had (seen. -Victor Trumper, the 'greatest batsman ;the- : .',world-v-had.-;:produced, "Snowy''.'Baker, the greatest promoter ■of . boxing-contests'. in/'Australia. An-" other jvaS'Mr., Montague .Qrover, editor: of the "Sun,". ;.the "most' 'progressive' newspaper hi- Sy'dney;.' r Mr. Grovsr had written toJlrimh'to'.say;:: "I.'am hibitionist,' biit if .anybody .says 1 am a , wowser; -.he had .better come and hear ine when ;we.are'going'to press any old day." '. ■' ;■,-'.'■ \.Y ]■ ..-'■ ■: ■■A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to -Mr.'Hammond for his address.