A Total Abstainer’s Point of View

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2500, 31 October 1922, Page 8 (Supplement)

A Total Abstainer’s Point of View

By D. K. S. (Plimmerton.)

Firstly, because I am a total abstainer. I have never drunk, never wanted to. I take my little enjoyment and recreation in other directions leaving niy neighbour to please himself as to Hvbat he should do with his spare casli and time, recognising this to be no business ,of mine.

- 1 I like a day at the races, a visit to file theatre when there is a good.6how on and, most of all, a game of bowls on a '-Sunday morning. If anyone attempted to deprive me of any of these, my forms of recreation, I would feel aggrieved.

Well, then, by the same process of reasoning, what right have I to deprive him of his means of enjoyment when he doesn’t interfere with mine ? ■

No hotelkeeper lias ever asked me to enter hie hotel to drink. I believe approximately ,one-third' of the money taken over/the bar is secured by the State as revenue. The cost to the public of bottle of whisky is 13s 6d, of which sum the Stata. takes ss, so my neighbour is'certainly not getting anything onto me in the matter of taxation. -However, he is not growling, so why should I ? So, I say, every total abstainer should vote Continuance, remembering that no two of us bavo the same desires or appetites. If my abstemious friend is religions he should remember that ' religion is based on Charity, and Charity means tolerance. . .. , Facts About U.S.A. A great 1 deal is 'being made of the American situation. There can be no possible comparison between the two places. I have lived in the States before the war for two yeans, and unhesitatingly say that the saloons, as run over there, were a positive disgrace. If New Zealand hotels were run the 6ame way I would advocate Prohibition tomorrow. But they certainly are not. Our hotels -are conducted dn a manner that is a credit to us, and, as a; general rule, the licensees are men of a high mental calibre and unimpeachable integrity. Their character is subjected, and rigjitly so, to a most rigorous examination by police and_ Licensing Bench and exhaustive inquiries made in. their former places of residence before a license) is granted. Why, then, should they he looked upon as other than good citizens? As one of them adroitly put it to me recently: “One has to be a saint to procure a license,

said the moment he gets it he is, in some people’s eyes, a scoundrel.” Political Harm. Another reason why I am opposed to Prohibition is because the sljort-sight-ed policy of its advocates has been the means of keeping out of politics some of our most desirable men. If ever there was a heed for men in the House able and courageous enough to think and act for themselves it is in the troublous times which wo are passing through now. But the Prohibitionist thinks of nothing but bis pet fad, and if a candidate, no matter how able, has the temerity to decline to tie himself to them body and soul they pack round and block vote him out. This is not a wild assertion. It is a petrified truth. . i - I have in my mindls bye an occurrence which happened last election. A certain gentleman, highly _ respected and universally loved in his district, had

returned from the front, after four strenuous years of service, during which time he had proved himself a most able man, and had risen to the exalted rank of general. Naturally, the people were proud of him and approached him to stand for Parliament whore it was thought the talents which had earned him distinction in the field rpight be used for the further betterment of his country. 1 was present at a large meeting of his when a question was asked him whether he would support the Prohibition Party. He replied that be would support the law being retained as it now stood. Forthwith the Prohibition Party organised against him, and in a field of three he ran last, securing only some 1500 votes simply because he had the manliness to refuse to sublet his thinking. Truly, “something is rotten in the State of Denmark” when this sort .of thing prevails.

jj Prohibition Creates Dissent I Again, I ,ams opposed to prohibition i because I am ft jtoya&t. I love this I little country of ary birth and am I therefore opposed to anything that 1 causes strife or discard among 2a I peoples. Now, the Prabahiticn.- advoI cate has stirred up more trouble than I anyone else in New Zealand.. He has 1 turned brother against brother, father 1 against son. What cares the loud--1 mouthed Prohibitionist, with his extra- | utterances, whom he effendaP I His diatribe is generally well-stored with pious frauds and like most dls- >— courses of the kind more calculated for the private advantage of the preacher than for the edification of his "hearers. Should it be carried, what strife would we have in this land of ours. I Those thrown out of employment would find it exceedingly hard to get work, and it is a well-known axiom that the devil finds work for idle hands to do. The increased taxation necessary to meet the huge deficit in revenue will fall heavily upon the already-overbur-dened poor, which must result in a decrease in the standard of living and. a consequent increase in crime. □anger of Coercion. Another aspect of the case is that in Now Zealand there are a number of people who have formed habits of lifelong duration. Now, if there is one distinguishing characteristic 1 of flss Britisher it is his profound dislike of being interfered with. Attempt to coerce these people by carrying Prohibition, and you will find many of them such as have means will migrate t© Australia or elsewhere, taking their means with them—a serious matter in- . deed.

Lastly, I oppose Prohibition because I resent the interference in our domestic affairs of imported agitators of the •>, “Cheap Jack” American variety. They invariably appeal to the passions of the people rather than to ‘their good sense and do their best to obscure the issue, recognising that trout are tickled best in muddy water, so that between craft and credulity the voice of reason ia stifled. Nothing does more harm in a State than that cunning men should pas 3 for wise. >i

It is a general popular error to suppose that those who are the loudest complain era for the public are the most its welfare. Bet us therefore think for ourselves, s. ' . and on election-day relegate to obsenrity this'disturbing element of Prohihd- "'~r tion for all time and so hasten the day when we New Zealanders, so far separated from the rest of the world, may at least be united among ourselves.