EARLY CLOSING

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3192, 17 September 1917, Page 6

EARLY CLOSING

[ THE AGITATION FOR SIX OUOCE BIG DEMONSTRATION TOWN HALL CROWDED IN EVERY" PART A demonstration in favour of six' o'clock closing of hotel bars was held in tho Town Hall last night. The, hall was crowded in every part. Bishop Sprott occupied the chair, and had with him on the platform representatives of various churches and representatives of tho Legislature. The speakers wero the Rev. Br. Gibb and Mr. L. M. Isitt, M.P. The proceedings opened with hymns and with a prayer by Commissioner Hodder, of the Salvation Army. Bishop Sprott said that last year the Anglican Synod had passed resolutions asking that all hotels should be closed at 6 p.m. during the war period, and that anti-shouting regulations should be enforced. Similar resolutions had been passed by other religious bodies. The Government had adopted the less important of the two reforms. It had. made "shouting" illegal, but it was ob'rious that such a law could lot be niado fully effective. This year tho Government had brought down legislation proposing the reduction of the ho««r of sale. But tho Government's Bill proposed that the closing hour should bo 8 o'clock. The -unanimous demand had been for six o'clock, ::nd he felt iustified in taking his stand publicly by the resolutions of Synod and demanding that tho hour of closing for hotel bars and clubs for tho period of the war and six months after should be 'six o'olock, and that the alternative to this proppsition should be riot somo other hour, but a 'referendum of the people of the Dominion. -. The Rev. Dr. Gibb moved tho following motion :— That, impressed with the need of sacrifice and of putting forth the utmost national vigour in order to end tho war, we reject with indignation the half-hearted compromise offered to the people of New Zealand in the Government's proposal of 8 o'clock as the closing hour for the sale of liquor, and we reaffirm the demand for G o'clock as the closing hour, or, failing that, a referendum on the question of the entire cessation of the liquor traffic. Dr. Gibb said that tho purpose of the meeting was not to argue out Pronibition'or discuss the merits of Go clock closing. The desire of the meeting was to express indignation against the Government that had betrayed the nation, to tell the National Government that it must obey the voice and the mandate of the people of New Zealand, ihe peo.ile appealed to members of Parliament to frustrate the evil intentions of the Government and insist upon the will of the people being given effect. Ine expected had happened. No great moral effort could have been expected from "this pitiful Government." But there was a\ point beyond which Mr. Massey and his colleagues could not go in tooling the people. Tho meeting that night arraigned tho Government for moral density. The Empire was at death grips with an enormously formidable enemy. It was facing Heaven-knew-what penury and hardship. The young married men were about to ■ Do offered to tho Moloch of War, many of ! them to find graves on distant battlei fields or to return maimed and disabled. I Should the country at such a time tolerate the deadly incubus of alcohol, tho greatest foe to energy, economy, and efficiency? The foremost men all over the world had branded the drink as a damning evil in. connection with tho war But tho members of the National Government seemed to 'have consciences seared by'hot irons. The people arraigned them for moral turpitude aiid intellectual ineptitude. Tho Ministers were dullards; not keen enough to read the signs of the times. Other countries had seen the lessons of tho war; they had realised that a nation could not fi'»ht effectively and drink at the same tirao. But New Zealand's Ministers oaw nothing and felt nothing. While tho Government of, the United States, just enteric the war, had stopped the manufacture of whisky, the Government of New Zealand offered to close the hotels at 8 p.m. "God save us from such dullards." said Dr. Gibb. The Ministers seemed to know nothing of true patriotism They did not know that national wealth was not of gold- and material wealth, liut of godliness, spirituality, and love. They were lacking even in the lower patriotism. Did they want the war to end? It did not look as if they diti Mr. Uofd George had said that drink was the nation's greatest enemy and must be curbed if the Germans were to be brought down, but New Zealand's National Government did not feel that way. They knew what their own Efficiency Board had said to them, but' they would not listen. 1 hey were not patriots, for patriotism demanded at the least 6 o'clock closing. Finally the Government must be arraigned tor its cynical disregard for the wishes ot the people of New Zealand. No man with open eyes could fail to realise that the people were in earnest in this natter The agitation had brougnt the best citizens of the country into tho front line Was New Zealand a democracy or an autocracy? Did the elected representatives of New Zealand stand for the people or for their own sweet will? He appealed to the members of Parliament to fight the Government on this subject. There would be no ronvulsion if thev did, for the Ministers had token precautions to make their own skins safe whatever might happen. Tarliamcnt might not listen to that appeal. If it did not, he predicted that Here- would DP agitation and seething indignation from one end of the country to the other. Applause.) The recalcitrant legislators would discover this to their cist Ihe nation was on trial. Tt was fighting the Germans for the freedom and the rights of man, and also for a vM, just, and sane'- democracy The New Zealand democracy stood behind the demand for six o'clock clMing. The Kev. J. Dawson called attention to the "final appeal'; to be made to the Prime Minister on Tuesday "'fl'V'"™ a procession would march to the 1 ai amentary Buildings. and send a (h putation to place its views before Mr. Massey. Business men were coming fiom all over New Zealand to help m that tt Mr e L rt M. Isitt, M.P., said he would liko Dr. Gibb to make his speech in Cabinet assembled. H the N<*™» l Government had no other virtue it at loS? was convinced thatit.was the-mo Tinmilar, the most active, the most Satriottc, and the most efficient Government New Zealand had ever seen. It took a great deal of effort to get ha notion out of their heads. He felt that the necessitv for that night's meeting was a scandal. The National Governm nt had been formed to P™™* ««? reform and develop every form ot emnc" that would 'help to win the war. But it had acted on the principle of doin" a, HWe as it dared. From the com. mencement of the war three years ago the people of New Zealand had demanded with ever-increasing force tho ?str ion of waste. The peop e had demanded also the reduction of the cost of living, but reasonable .men had to ,lmit Hint economic conditions provided some excuse for failure in that reject. The Government could have reduced waste but it had not done so. Iho MW«r«Tl<n«l chosen to stand between the will of the people and the yicioiw limio? monopoly. They had allowed Sing and gambling to proceed imchMked Last year the National GovPrSmpnt threw its whole strength against « " o'clock closing. This year the Prime Mincer had brought down a Bil proposing 8 o'clock closing, and nad said that Ministers and members would be el to vote as they thought fit There was no particular virtue about that offer Ho could tell tho meeting that the margin on either side was very narrow in Parliament. There were some members who had said before the Jim Xared that they would Mow the Government's lead, whatever, it might ™ If six o'clock closing was defeated the responsibilitly would rest with tho National Government tor putting eight o'clock in the Bill. The Government could have taken its courage in its hands, and given the poo-

pie of Now Zealand tho legislation they had a right to expect. They had chosen not to do that. Sir Joseph Ward had said ho, as Minister of Finance, could not spare the million sterling of revenue that lie got from liquor. That was an argument that would not stand for a moment. Tho liquor traffic took from the people very much more than it gave back in rovjnue. That. shallow excuse for protecting the liquor trade would not bear examination for a moment. Then there hod been talk of the "rights" of the liquor traffic, of the payment of compensation if ue Trade was limited in its operatiias. The truth was that any municipality had tho right, in time of disorder or other public necessity, to ■close the hotel bars. Surely the nation's right to protect itself in time of necess'ty could not be challenged on ;moral grounds; it certainly could not the challenged on legal grounds, for the Tight of the ptople to withdraw or modify the licenses it had given had never beeii denied. Th>> State in time of war l.ad i v Jic right to the lad from his sweetlloart, the fntbi-r from his child, thtlmsband from his wife, and send them to fiVce death and mutiliation in tho cause of the nation. Did the liquor trade occupy suteh a privileged position in this counter that it could not bo required to make a .sacrifice by conforming to the trading hovjxfl laid down for othor trades under the Shops and Offices Act? The interests of the nation must como before tho interests of the liquor trade. He did not know what tho isauo of the struggle in Parliament would be. He would do his utmost, but there were some very tough consciences in Parliament. But if the troinendous political influence of a wealthy monopoly defeated the wishes of the people on this occasion the temperance workers need not be despondent. They had a rising tide of popular opinion with them. The nations of the earth wwe thinking about tho liquor traffic antl realism? the measure of tho evil it did.. The liquor trade was going under. He bad learned that it was not an easy thing" to free men from such great national evils, drink and war and lust, but victory was coming for the men and women who had seen the vision and fought for its realisation. The motion was carried unanimously amid loud applause. ,_ The meeting- closed with the .National Anthem. A PROTEST FROM OAMARU. By Tolesranh—Press Association. Oamaru, September 15. The Mayor has dispatched the following telegram to the Prime Minister: — "I am requested by representatives of 3700 petitioners in this district in favour of 6 o'clock closing to express their dis. approval of the refusal of the Govern, ment to give effect to the prayer of the petition so numerously signed through. out the Dominion, and respectfully re. quest tho Government to reconsider its decision." REFERENCE IN THE CHURCHES. Wanganui, September 11). The six o'clock closing question was mentioned in the • various churches today. There fs a strong ■ feeling against the proposal to substitute another hour ■for six o'clock. Wanganui is to bo represented at the big deputation and tho march on Parliament. TO-MOS-fIOW'S DEPUTATION. In connection with the six o'clock movement, tho committee of business men of Wellington, in conjunction with business! men from other large centres and many provincial towns, are joining in tho big deputation to tho Prime Minister 09i Tuesday at 5.30 p.m. Tim Wcllin"to(n Committee has Toceived word of »re»t activity in the other centres, and"they are expecting many delegates— a particularly large representation is coming from Auckland. The services of tho Mission Silver Band have been placed afc the disposal of tho Wellington Committee, and citizens are urged to go straight from work to where the band will bo playing at the Bowen Street gates of Parliament. A meeting of Wellington business men is advertised tor tomorrow for the purpose of making final arrangements. Men in sympathy are invited to attend.