THE PROHIBITION DEMONSTRATION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3125, 2 July 1917, Page 6

THE PROHIBITION DEMONSTRATION

(To the Editor.) Sir,—Will you permit mo to say that ■I went to the demonstration of the Prohibition party on .Wednesday.' evening with a perfectly open mind? I was ready to believe that the Prohibitionists had really some grounds for this agitation, and for their, determination to use the war as a means to further their own party ends. . From the meeting- I could seo clearly that the Prohibitionists were not so much concerned about winning tho war, or. about earlier closing of hotels,' as they were' concerned about advertising their own particular selves and waxing eloquent on the old threadworn topic. Not one of the speakers in my.judgment put forward a sane or reasonable argument for the curtailment of the houj-s of hotels, and the bulk of the. arguments were rather in support of greater restrictions in the Old Country, for the conditions cited were not applicable to New Zealand. Commissioner Hodder stated that our licensing system and tho facilities it had offered for drinking '"had reduced the efficiency of the nalidn's manhood." I could not believe this myself; and the reading of Mr. Massey's speech, as well as Sir Joseph "Ward's, convinced me that the Salvation -Army Commissioner was quite wrpnjr in his -assertions. Both of ouir returned statesmen bore testimony to tho high opinions, both in civil and military circles, that arc entertained in the Old Country and in France towards tho New Zealand soldiers. Thcv were favourites everywhere. If they were told'to lake si place by their' military commander they could be relied upon to lake it. Yet Commissioner Hodder. of the .Salvation Army, bad the assurance to slam! up and say that the nation's manhood had been reduced by drink! Quite early in I!Uii tho Prohibitionists for their own purposes raised tho cry that the Now Zealand soldiers were so dniuikeu in Wellington that they were lying on the floors and blocking the swing doors of the city bars. This was reiterated from one end of the country to the other, and it was shown to be a Hight of imagination.

The remarks made by the chairman were likewise beside tho question. It was evident from his remarks that the Rev. Mr. Sniallfield's heart was not in this agitation. Ho is an out-ivid-out Prohibitionist, and it is only a few weeks ago shice tho Rev. Mr Smallf.eld stated that if G o'clock closing were carried Prohibition would be put out ir.to the wilderness for 15 or 20 years. The,. Edinburgh lady said nothing which was to the point, and tho Rev. ,T.' Paterson looked upon the meeting simply as tho'work of tho Prohibition agitators. I expected that this reverend gentleman would at least have touched the ethics of this question. If he had been licensed, paid his fees, inducted into a church, and duiv tied to vend certain doctrines by the aforesaid license for a period'' of ilirco years for the total amount of the collections, the congregation giving him a substantial majority vote as a guarantee of good faith, what would the .reverend gentleman say if the congregation said in the middle of the term of his engagement that they were to allow him only one-third of the total amount of the collection ? He would say. that such a ton•watton was ■ violating a solemn contract, and that in doing so they were devoid of all moral, business, and Chnstion principle. Put ''publican" in the •nlaco of "parson" in this argument, and every honest man and woman- must see that the people of this country in 1911 entered into a lwnd w V th /! 10 llce, , lSe<l publican. And it is neither fair nor honS neither moral nor Christian, toVtear m that bond and seek the destruction of our neighbour's business, the argument of the reverend gentleman, like the arMiment of his successors, he pollticHns failed to convince me Hint there was any true moral purpose or lofty principle, 'either for temperance or for morals, .actuating this 6- o'clock closing Imitation. 1 do not *■»' t,mt we , sl,ol "l d i,e other than economical, but the evidence is that our economy has raised our national efficiency, and that our temneranco in practice'(which is not Prohibition) has inndo the manhood of tofii take the high place it has in this war for liberty and civilisation. Thanking you for accepting these few linns from my pen.—l am,, etc.. ' Unto nom i Q y Qp THB ' MBEm , G .