ANTI-SHOUTING

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2938, 25 November 1916, Page 10

ANTI-SHOUTING

Sir,—Your correspondent "Enforco Anti-Shouting" is variablo and.elusive. He first described the anti-shouting law as "a silly farce." I agreed with him. Ho now wants this, silly farce enforced by the employment of a whole' army of detectives. He described . New Zealand as "a laughing-stock" of the world under anti-shouting. I agreed with him. Yet he wants this country to continue to be the joy' of the .universe in this respect. Strange folk are found among Prohibitionists! He runs from New Zoalanti .to Canada, from Canada to Australia, from Australia to Russia, and would still be going if spaco permitted. He tells me Canada is "dry" or going "dry" rapidly. I turn to the New Zealand Year Book, 1915, p. 316, and I find that in beer-drinking alone .Canadians have incroased their consumption from 5.9 gallons por head in 1908 to 7.3 gallons per head in 1912—a greater increase per head than is i'fecorded by any other country tabulated. Canada increased her wine consumption in the. same period by .5 gallons per' head ; while her consumption of spirits rose from .88 gallon per head of the population to 1.15 gallon per head. No country mentioned in the New Zealand Year Book shows so great an increase in liquor consumption in tho given time as Canada. . Yet your correspondent declares that Canada is going "dry." In consumption of spirits per head of tne population Canada tops the list of all His Mjesty's Dominions. In Australia, six o'clock closing has not lessened consumption, but it has compelled people to carry liquor into their homes for consumption, and a greater consumption has resulted. I have only space for South Australian figures : Six o'cloclt closing in that State came into operation in April of this year. The increase in bottled boer consumption proves home drinking, and the Customs duty on this commodity increased from £1099 in April, 1915, to £1748" in 1916. In September, 1915, tho dutv on bottled heer was £1340, and in September, 1916, this duty was £2024. Brewers have no occasion to be untruthful about their businesses. At the last half-yearly meeting of shareholders of the S.A. Brewing Company, Ltd., reference was made to the new conditions • under six o'clock closing. The chairman stated': "Compared with the same period last year, the outnut of bulk sales showed no falling off, but thero had been a marked increase in the sale of bottled ales, amounting to 50 per cent.'.' Tho Hon. A. L. Herdman was right when he opposed six o'clook closing in New Zealand. It is a false reform. Indeed, it is not a temperance proposal at all. It promotes home-drinking after tho hotels are closed. Any proposal that docs that must be denounced by all interested in our social well-being.

Lot me briefly refer to the United States of America —that land of dollargrinders. Your correspondent says 65 per cent, of the population of U.S.A. is under Prohibition or i\o-License, and SO per cent, of the territory is NoLicense territory. What a humbug NoLicense is! Why, in our N.Z. Year Bool:, p. 316, the consumption of beer per head of the whole population of tho 17.5.A. is nearly double the consumption of that commodity in New Zealand! Uncle Sam consumes three times more wine than the New Zoalander, and-his consumption of spirits is 25 per centi greater. Then wo are told we should follow tho example of Uncle Sain! Your correspondent makes the point that Russia knocks off vodka and saves money. In New Zealand wo have not altered our liquor legislation—save to introduce a silly farce—and we have per head of tho population saved, seven times more money than the Russians in the same time. But then in Russia beer and wine are as freely sold as formerly. The people of New Zealand are, as a whole, very temperate. Tliey need no foreign examples to follow, because they aro more abstemious than any. The work of the Prohibitionist is political, and lias wrought no social improvement among the people of this country. Wo spent" less, and drank less licuior when temperanco was preached,' than wo do now after over twenty years of nirjhition for prohibition. Q.E.D. Tho Prohibitionists are barking up the wrong tree.—l am,, etc.; poll