OAMARU & NO-LICENSE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2323, 3 December 1914, Page 7

OAMARU & NO-LICENSE

A STAGNANT AND DECADENT ■ ~• ■ TO.WN ■ J . GROWTH OF DRUNKENNESS UNDER NO-LICENSE. Oamoru is called the white stone city. It was once a prosporous and progressive town. That was beforo No-License. Under No-License it became stagnant, and its young people left Oamaru to settle in those places where they could be free arid escape the immoral and degrading influences of No-License. Oamaru voted itself "dry" in 1905. At the census in 1906 the population was 5071. No-Licoose at once made the place so Btagnant ■ tliat in five years to 1911 the population only increased at the rate of 16 persons per annum. That is to say, that the ceneue of 1911 gave Oamaru's population to be 5152— . an increase of Jo per annum. Unless it is some other No-License town, no town in New. Zealand has felt the blighting effects of NcnLicense so much as Oamaru. Population is the test of progress, and when No-License makes Oamaru one of the most decadent and dead towns in the Dominion the evil influences.of No-Licenso and Prohibition must be Tought against by all who wish to keep the to*vns they live in bright, happy, and prosperous. NoLicense is a blighting, deadly, and decadent influence everywhere it has been tried. Have none of it. ■ DRUNKENNESS IN OAMARU. The growth of drunkenness in Oamaru under No-License is phenomenal. According' to the New ' Zealand Gazette there were 23 cases of drunkenness before the Oamaru Court in 1906-7; 30 cases in 1907-8; 25 cases in 190'8-9; 69 in 1912 j 66 in 1913. The drunkenness per 1000 of the population (5152) of Oamaru under NoLicense in 1912 was 13.3 per 1000, whereas the rate for the whole Dominion ie 11.1, so that No-License Oamaru produces more drunkenness by 2.2 per 1000 'than is the average for the -whole of New Zealand. Yet the Prohibitionists glory in the dieaster they have brought upon Oamaru, making it a byword for stagnation and a reproach for drunkenness and .' prohibition ' orders. Yes, prohibition ciders. Ther.e were 6 prohibition orders in Oamaru in 1906, and in 1912—after seven years of NoLicense—there was 100 per cent, of an increase 1

The Prohibitionists make much of the fact that No-License Oamaru is wonderfully free' from serious crime, and quote Judge Williams's remarks in 1910 to that effect. ' The same can be eaid of other ' parts 'of New Zealand under Licensing. It was said of Blenheim, of Greymouth, and the other .Edwards, at JNew Plymouth, "congratulated the grand jury upon tho continued immunity of the district .from serious crime." —Vide .Press Association message. Oamaru under No-License is no better, and in most respects not ro good, as most places under Licensing in New Zealand. ' MATERIAL STAGNATION OF OAMARU. Mr. Robert fililligan.formerly Mayor of Oamaru, writes in 1910: A-"The saleable value of property .has considerably increased in reoeut years." Other prohibitionists assert that some £10,000 per annum has been spent by ratepayers in iiew buildings, and in improving the value of their properties in Oamaru. Mr.. .Milligan is a Prohibitionist, and these'statements'are just as untrust-. worthy as any other Prohibition-made statements. The No-License Tear Book. '1914 (p. .8]) giv€6 tho rateable annual value of Oamaru in ,1907 as £39,787, and in 1913 as £48,432, an increase at the rate of £1440 per annum. Still Mr. Robert Milligan, Prohibitionist, says "values have considerably increased," and other Prohibitionists say the increased, expenditure has been £10,000 per annum. No town in New Zealand of its size shows so little progress as Oamaru under No-Licenee. .When the statements of Prohibitnoiiists are examined they are found'to be the merest vapourings of perfervid imaginations obsessed with No-License. This Prohibition business is a distinct type of mono-mania; and it is remarkable that general lunaoy in New Zealand has greatly increased sinco No-License and Prohibition advocates took the publio platforms'in this county-: ■■' '.'„■.'■ , '

The main point is that No-Liceneo has done-Oamaru harm both morally and commerpially; and if you would avoid the degradation and stagnation of NoLicense and Prohibition coming to the town you live in you will strike out the bottom line on both ballot papers.— Published by arrangement. . .