Page 7 Advertisements Column 1

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2326, 7 December 1914, Page 7

ProMMII©!! is Folly. No-License Is Farce. Combined—A Fraud

- . ... '(BY NEW ZEALANDER.) Masterton Again Considered. : The Prohibitionists haye tried and failed to assail the truth of my conclusions. The people of Masterton .have condemned NoLicenae after years of experience, and Prohibitionists would endeavour to trick' the public into believing otherwise. They quote vith great unction one or two persons who are Prohibitionists, and they asking the general public to believe that these persons are "the people" of No-License areas. What do the electors—the adult men and women—of Masterton say of Masterton under the NoLicense blight P , Masterton oarried No-License in 1908 by a majority of 1176. 'After three years' trial of the abominations No-License and the vile ■pestilences Prohibitionists had imposed upon Masterton, No-License was voted out by the electors by a majority of 169. Thus the ma- j jority of the men and women of Masterton are opposed .to No-! 'License, yet the vile thing has to be endured by them. No-Licehse is a menace to the morals of any community. It breeds the sly ' grog-shop and all its abominations. Here is one sample from last Saturday's "Dominion" of what No-License is doing for Masterton:— Another Bly Grog Case. A FINE OF £100. Masterton, December 4. . F.JI, who' resides on the outskirts of Master- ~ 'tori, was oharged to-day with a breach of the Licensing 'Act, in offering liquor for sale without a license. The police proved that a.large number of young men.were on ,the premises, and that there were "evidences of drinking. A quantity of liquor was also seized. His Wo'rship imposed a fine of £100 and costs, in default two months' imprisonment. What does the leading Masterton newspaper say of Masterton tinder No-License? ■ The "Wairarapa Age" : —"Masterton is gaining an unenviable reputation on account of the frequent prosecutions and convictions for breaches of the liquor laws. Pines and imprisonment have been imposed time, and again, but still the illicit trade continues; The facilities for obtaining liquor are so numerous and so freely availed of that the whole business has .become somewhat of a farce."—"Age," October 19, 1914. No-Llcense a Danger to Young Men. Yet the No-License Party which is so concerned (?) for the welfare of the youth of the community think that their creation, the sly grog-shop, where there is no restriction, no regulation, no "control, and where, as in the typical case cited above, "a large number of young men" had congregated—these Prohibitionists, I say, so concerned (?) for our boys consider the sly grog-shop,'the first-born of the ungodly union of Prohibition and No-License, ought to be established in every electorate. God forbid! Truly, ithe Rev. Mr. Rogers, of Hmds," Ashburton, has 1 said: "The temptations' to drunkenness and drinking are greater in districts where there are no-licensed houses." Those truly concerned for the youth of the N Dominion will not ,vote for No-License* After years of trial the majority of . the men and women of Masterton are convinced that No-Lrcense, however fair of face, is actually an iniquitous'and an abominable institution in actual practice/ A Word About Population. Between, one census taking and another—l9o6-11 ! —Masterton population , increased by 106 persons—about !1J per . .cent, per annum. , No-License was carried in 1908. In 1909 the estimated population, according to the Official Year [Book, was 5500. Then in 1913 the estimated population is 5585— so that the increase in the official estimator's judgment is 85 persons—an increase of 21 persons per annum under No-License. The truth stands that as population is the true test of progress, Masterton is practically stagnant. It cannot keep its native born. And its "unenviable reputation" on account of its sly ■ groggeries promoted by the No-Li6ense. Party, Mastertoni-' hkS 'becoine"'morally, .(Socially, religiously', a much less, desirable place than formerly. The further proof of this is found in the fact, that after eliminating con,victioM for,inebriety..'in the.last year of licensing and comparing !the various' forms of criminality in Masterton in 1913 with those ;of the year preceding the advent of the No-License fraud, we find that cases of criminality under- No-License exceeded those under licensing by no fewer than 182 cases (vide No-License Hand-Book, •1914). The conclusion is—No-License and Prohibition are worse : ithan useless as Temperance reforms, and they are in practice a men- 1 ace to morals, Religion,'and progress wherever tried. IJvery sensible man and. woman will avoid these abominations on Thursday by striking out the bottom line on both ballot papers,. WHAT OF INVERCARGILL? ITS KEG-PARTY SYSTEM. . ITS LIQUOR CONSUMPTION. ] Let' me begin by exhibiting the enormous official ascertained toonsumption of alcoholic drink in No-License Invercargill. The 'Rev. L. M. Isitt, the Prohibitionist, called for a Parliamentary return concerning the "legal" consumption of liquor in No-License areas, and such an exposure of the inefficiency and failure of NoLicense resulted that advocates of that nostrum never refer to it. It showed that Invercargill with a population (census 1911) of 1 112,782 consumed 95,967 gallons of alcoholic liquors. That was 'the total sent into the No-License area of Invercargill through the' legitimate channels' in 1912., How much went in illegally and surreptitiously ? Another Official Return—Home Drinking. Invercargill uses up the supply of three breweries, and these produced and paid duty for the period of 12 months—June, 1913, ; to May, 1914—as under: —582 hhds.; 44 barrels, 365.; 98, 275.; 289, 18s. ; 137, 10s.; 1693 five gallon kegs; 1917 three gallon kegs; , 40)643 two-gallon kegs! 3380 two-gallon kegs per month are consumed in the homes and other places of Invercargill. This is \ the base of that No-License institution—the keg-party system. . The ' return providing these figures is signed "W. J. Hawley, Collector of Customs," and is dated "Customhouse, Invercargill, June 18, £ •1914."- - ;Thiß return may be inspected at the office of the "Domin- 1 ion."- * Inverkegville Iniquities. i Before No-License converted Invercargill into Inverkegville ithere were not 50 two-gallon kegs consumed in the homes of the people per month, and now there are 3380! All kinds of crimes £ emanate from the No-License keg party creation. The worst crime i of the year in New Zealand took place in Inverkegville, as the re- 1 suit of a keg. party, and the most immoral and degrading conditions i follow in the; wake of this No-License abomination. , e "No-License forces men to drink in urinals and out of i . the way places in Invercargill."—Mr. Solicitor finder, of t - Invercargill.—"Evening Post" report, May 14, 1 ! 914. i Mr. Solicitor Tipping, defending "keggers," said: "The better class have their homes' and other clubs to i drink in, but these young men discovered drinking in a c stable at one in the morning are the victims of an unrea- t sonable law." —"Southland Times" report, July 9, 1914. ' i Mr. Thos Hutchison, the Stipendiary Magistrate, speak-' 1 ing from the Bench in a No-License kegging case, said: s ■"It is quite true keg parties are a common institution and 1 the name Inverkegville seemed a very appropriate one." e Detective Cameron: "There are hundreds of keg parties in t ' and around Invercargill regularly,"—Evidence in keg . party case.; This could riot have been said of Invercargill before No-License Jvad instituted over that electorate. No true lover of Temperance .ban honestly favpur No-License. ■invercargill and Criminality. According .to the Rev. L. M. Isitt's Parliamentary return re- r iferred to there were 832 persons "taken into custody, summoned 1 or apprehended," which is greater than the average for the whole p Dominion on a, population basis. The total convictions for dis- 'J covered drunkenness in Inverkegville No-License districts is also a more than the average for the Dominion. The Police Report, 1914, t bhows there were 235 young men and women in Invercargill con- b iVicted for the first time Of drunkenness in one year, which is greater I ithan the average for the whole Dominion. Is it any wonder that I the present Mayor of Invercargill should say: "The evils of NoiLicense in Invercargill have been under-stated."—Vide Daily Press, I July, 1914. , • First Per t Offenders, 1000 of Pop. e Population Invercargill 13,000 235 18.03 t Population Dominion 1,180,000 ...... 6,362 5.39 t

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