PROHIBITION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 104, 27 January 1920, Page 10

PROHIBITION

NEW ZEALAND CAMPAIGN DISCUSSED. The New South Wales .Alliance ssave a welcome home at ihe Y.W.C.A. Hall on January 8 (says Ihe "Sydney Horning Herald") to Messrs. Macourt. Adlw, and Creiigh, organisers, who have returned from participation in the New Zealand prohibition campaign. There was a good attendance of members of the Alliance and supporters of the movement. The Eev. H. B. S. Hammond, the president, said this was the third occasion on which prohibition had been beaten at the poll in New Zealand, though on each occasion they believed they had a majority in favour. It was still possible that prohibition wonhl be carried in Hie present instance.'VJlNiimbers of alleged informal votes hailj-been wrongfully put aside. The trade was so strong that they were able to absolutely cloud tho istMio in ,1110 contests of April last, also of December. A feature of the De. cemlier poll was that many of tho soldiers who voted against prohibition in April came out strongly in its favour in December. The general who was in charge of the New Zealand forces oversea and the Commander-in-Chief in NewZealand had united in an appeal to the peopio to support prohibition in tho interests of the returned soldiers. Tho energy of the prohibitionists had somewhat lagged in December, as they were suffring from a sort of war-weariness. They had put up a great fight in April nt a cost of about iITS.OOO voluntarily subscribed, and it was hard for them to renew such a contest again inside of six months. "Still." said Mr. Hammond, "in spite of these set-backs, prohibition is coming to New Zealand, and the. next fight there on this issue will probably be the Inst one. And in spite of opposition, prohibition is coming to New South Wales and to all Australia. It will come even if every member of the Alliance were lo die to-morrow, because in the interests of repatriation and for the settlement of \\i\r {reconstruction problems the discontinuance of Hie liquor traffic is absolutely essential." (Applause.) The organisers save a detailed account of their work in New Zealand. Mr. Macourt pointed out there was no lack of money on cither side. Subscriptions for ■£50, JUQO. .rJM, and .t5<K) for the prohibition cause were quite common, and a voluntary tax of 21 per cent, on liquor sold imposed bv the trade gave a return of approximately .£IOO,OOO, which those interested used freely in confusing tho issue, and so induced 30.000 electors tn vote for State purchase, tho majority of whom were prohibitionists.