NEW ZEALAND MODERATE LEAGUE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2574, 23 September 1915, Page 9

NEW ZEALAND MODERATE LEAGUE

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. Tho first annual report of tho New Zealand Moderate League will be presented at the. annual meeting tonight. It . shows that the membership of the league is now about 30;000, and the committee says that under normal. conditions this number, will be greatly augmented. During the year ended July 31, 1915, the sum of £1148 Bs.-fid. was received in subscriptions and collections, while tho expenditjre amounted to £976 lis., leaving a credit balance in hand of £171 17s. od.

The report traverses the difficult work carried out in the establishment of this pioneer organisation, and the first public duties performed by tho league in connection with the suggested postponement of the general elections and the promotion of the Expeditionary Forces Voting Act. ' ; The proposals for amendments of tho licensing laws and the enforcement of existing regulations, as propounded by tho Dominion Conference, have been the subject of the caroful attention of the exeoutive. As soon as the elections wero over the executive approached the Prime Minister, through the Hon. A. L. Herdman, and were favoured with an interview' on August 7 last, wheal the league's programme was placed _ before the Government. The executive is keeping, a close watch on the trend of passing events, and has asked that the measures of reform adVooated by the league should be carried into effect at' the earliest possible moment. - The obstacles created by the very abnormal circumstances at pvosMit existing .must, however, be fully recognised and mot with a due measure of patience. The result of the vote on the National Prohibition and the Local Option issues at the general election of 1914 (says the report) was more than satisfactory to members of the league. The remarkable change from a majority for National Prohibition of fifty-five thousand in 1911 to a majority against National Prohibition of over ten thousand in 1914 is conclusive evidence that the Moderate. League exercised a consideiable influence in directing public attention to the dangers and fallacies of the Prohibition doctrine. It is apparent, in estimating the causes for this wholesale change over of sixty-five thousand votes, that the presence of a.new influence is evident, and, while the values of sucli contributing influences as the effects of the war, taxation, etc., are abstract and debatable, the existence of an organisation of the moderate public, holding the balanco between the extreme parties, stands out as a concrete and unassailable factor. In further support of this claim ;t may be mentioned'that m those distric's wher« tho leaguo was most activo tluvtisnsformation in the voting was most marked. .

The report further defiios tho league's policy on tho military canteen qi!*i?ion, and deals with the question of dsohol on the war. referring paiticilarly to the British Government's attitude on these questions.