A COMPLETE EXPOSURE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2319, 28 November 1914, Page 9

A COMPLETE EXPOSURE

MRS. ATKINSON'S RETREAT A TRICK THAT FAILED. I - (By New Zealander.) . On October 21, at Gisborne, Mrs. 'A. R. Atkinson, speaking in the Opora House there, was reported by the Gisborne "Times" next morning as having said:— ' "The hotels, she declared, of Wellington, were so crowded with, .young nien in a state of intoxication that the swing-doors of the bars could neither shut nor open." The young men Mrs. Atkinson referred to wore the members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Referring to a quotation from' a Prohibitionist's speech, Mr. Philip Snoivden says:—"This extract is quoted as a typical specimen of the reckless and unfounded statements made by fanatical and emotional would-be Temperance reformers. Such statements contribute nothing to the discussion of a great and difficult problem, but serve only to condemn as absolutely ■untrustworthy the advocates of Prohibition."—Vfcle Pace 114, Philip Snowden's book.

On November 2 the Licensed Victuallers of Wellington passed a resolution, protesting against Mrs. A.: R.' Atkinson's statements concerning the men of the Expeditionary Force and' the city hotelkeepers, and . called -upon Mrs. Atkinson to substantiate or withdraw her assertions. On November 6 A. R. Atkinson wrote to' the editor of the - Gisborne "Times" a "correction" of her. statement at Gisborne, and these were the words used:— "I spoke of the.drunkenness of men in uniform, and further said that some of the bars were so crowded with men that the doors oould neither shut nor open; but I made no statement as to the men's age or condition." On the following day, November 7, Mrs. Atkinson wrote to the Licensed Victuallers' Association denying the statement she was reported to have made at Gisborne, and declared sho would not apologise for what she had not said. The editor of tho Gisborne "Times,", inhis reply to Mrs. Atkinson'? letter, said:— "Wo wish to make it clear that the .report of Mrs. Atkinson's statements in this connection and published in our issue of October 22, is practically a verbatim report of . Mrs. Atkinson's ■utterance." n Tiie readers of. The Dominion will readily see that the adoption of this sort of subterfuge does not' allow of Mrs. Atkinson escaping, from the coil•.demnation which Mr. Philip Snowden has so well- expressed, for such statements,'he says, are "reckless and unfounded and absolutely, untrustworthy." —Published by arrangement.