A CLEVER PERSON

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2302, 9 November 1914, Page 7

A CLEVER PERSON

MR. HAMMOND'S STATEMENTS ANALYSED. ..,-.'. '.;- 'AND (WEAKNESSES EXPOSED. -.' (By. New Zealander.) Someone has said that he was greatly reminded of the Kaiser and the Germans when reading of Prohibitionists ' —they both "think they havo a mono-poly-'of the. Almighty's favour! : And so , thinking, they both think they-can say and do things with impunity: . The Rev. R. B. S! Hammond comes to New Zealand from New South Wales, where the Congregational Church has just drawn attention to the deep-seat-ed vioiousness ■of the _peoplb as displayed in sexual:sin; : hi.New; Zealand we are not so socially depraved as the : inhabitants of New South Wales.' Mr, Hammond tells about his work in tho / slums of Sydney. There are no slums ■':■:_ in the -cities of New Zealand,' so ; that Mr. Hammond,'.in coming to this country to preach about that stale, flat, and unprofitable subject—prohibition—is. quietly.wasting hi 6 time among .'■ ««. ■■; "■' -''

..~* ' Mr. Hammond would endeavour to persuade New Zealanders -that they are horrible drunkards. ■ He was hero three years ■•' ago, and during his absence he says that '"0ver.35,000 people, have been convicted of drunkenness in this Dominion." Later on he changed •■ this into this: "There were 35,000 convictions for-.... drunkenness, in three years.." : Notice the difference: "Qver" is omitted and "people" is changed to "convictions." . That;\ of course, was the reverend gentleman's, little slip. Let.us examine.the records for 1913, when'there'were 11,707 "convictions" for drunkenness against-7967 "people." And allow me to observe that there were under 5000 "convictions" for drunkenness the year Olutha went "dry." 'These returns prove the failure of prohibition and nb-licerise; to promote temperance. By advertising the liquor industry so much the No-License and Prohibition Party have really induced a large consumption. ' < However, to the Rev. Mr. Hammond's inaccirracies. Here are the actual facts:—,' '.'■■■.- ' -;.'■ .•-.: ,-., ■■"■■: . .'Total ;...;; 'Distinct -. Year.'' convictions. persons, r ' 1913 ■-/., 11,707 .; 7,967. And when it is remembered that out of the 7967,'!distinot persons" convicted 6602 were first offenders, it will be seen that there were only 1365 people! . against whom more than brie offence' for drunkenness 'was recorded: And because 1365 persons in a population of 1,150,000 get tipsy more than'once in twelve, months the: Prohibition Party , .seriouslyproposes that the balance—- ».»- - f '"8,635, other distinct persons— '% have prohibition. orders taken out against them for all eternity I Is" it any wonder that the late Bishop Magee should exclaim when confronted with this 'problem:' "I'd rather have free : than . England r sober." And, so v we in Nejv, Zealand who love tour-country- would rather havo : .our people'free to take a glass/of, beer, or, not,\ at,will' rather than that ■' they should be enslaved by prohibition. . : _The Rev. '".Mr. Hammond shows by, | ' his talk' that he ..does, not., know as much about this question as he pretends. For instance, this .gentleman,: from' New South Wales said "Canada" - with, its eight millions of people had half its area Sunder'.prohibition: .jWhen your readers realise thatiCanada's total, population occupies less than one-half of Canadian territory, Mr. Hammond's is a -clever" observation.' Why; more .than half of, Canada is under snow arid ice perpetually. If.Mr. Hammond wish- . Ed jbis.'audjence':',to .believe"that, '"four ■millions of Canadians were under prothen he wished them to. be/lieve what was notthe fact, - iMr. Hainmorid!. should be • more. flareful in "the manner.in w-hioh he puts things,'otherwise he may delude an unsuspecting public. This is perhaps l a severe thing •to.|6ay,<but a duty to,the public re-quires-that this . should be^-said'even ■2 it has to be—Published by arrangement. . ■ ■; : -; •' •.--