NO-LICENSE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2285, 2 September 1908, Page 2

NO-LICENSE.

LECTURE IN THE THEATRE. His Majesty's Theatre was well filled last evening, when Miss Hughes delivered her second lecture on NoLicense. The Rev. Dawson Thomas occupied the chair, and briefly introduced the speaker. Miss Hughes, who was received with applause, said she did not think she could say anything new in favor of no-license. The temperance speakers had to go on with the same arguments until the people learn the lesson and vote to dry np the fountains of strong drink. In nine years the no-license vote had increased by over 100,000 votes. The liquor vote had also increased, but not in the same proportion as the no-license. The no-license vote of the Dominion had a majority of 16,000 at the last election. The liquor party had only a majority in 16 out of 68 electorates, and the no-license era right throughout the Dominion was soon about to begin. If no-license was a failure, it was easy to vote the good old days and the whisky back again ; but the people of the Clutlia and Ashburton iiad tried no-license again and again, and every poll there was always an increased" majority to keep out the open bar. ' The increasing no-licenso vote in Clutlia was a strong argument for the success of the movement. The electorates of Mat-aura, Rruce and Invercargill were close to Clutlia, and the people in those electorates could easily watch the influence of no-license in Clutlia. Those towns had all voted no-license. During her visit to Clutlia she had not seen one of the drunken persons the drink trade made such a noise about; but. on the other hand, made personal inquiries from the tradespeople and not one said right out that nolicense was a failure. The financial argument was strongly in favor of no-licenso, and one mercantile liouso in Ashburton had increased its turnover by .615,000 a year since nolicense was carried. Other trades testified that it was not so much the volumo of trade that had increased, but that the quality of trade had improved, and the proportion of bad debts decreased under no-licenso in Ashburton. The liquor country did not stand for the weal, but for the woe of the country. The influence of the liquor traffic upon young men was appalling, and the increase in drunkenness among young men was a serious question. The young man who wasted his time in the hotel liars was not one who would lead a useful life in the future. The man who would lead liis fellow-men was the studious and the sober, and no man who muddled his mind with drink would ever make his mark among his fellow-moil. In New Zealand, which was only a small country’, over £3,000,000 was spent in drink, and as a return the Police Courts supplied a list of over 10,000 convictions ior drunkenness. In every no-licenso area in New Zealand drunkenness had decreased. In Clutlia during license there were 146 convictions for drunkenness in three and a half years, and during the same period of no-license there were only 6 convictions for the same offence. The lecturer asked the audience if the traffic was of any value to New Zealand, and if its only value was the profit the trade could make, to vote it outof file country. The Chairman announced that Miss Hughes would answer written questions, and was handed up a pamphlet published by the liquor trade setting forth ihe opinions of a number of medical men on the medical benefits of alcohol. The lecturer read a cutting from an English newspaper to show that most of the doctors whose names were on the pamphlet were shareholders in breweries, and stated that over 1300 medical men had signed a petition asking the English Government- to introduce temperance teaching into schools. On the motion of the chairman, Miss Hughes was accorded a vote of thanks for her address.

Owinp: to the steamer from Auckland being delayed. Miss Hughes will deliver a lecture on no-license this evening at Patutahi.