LICENSING REFORM.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2944, 3 October 1925, Page 3

LICENSING REFORM.

ADDRESS BY MR, R. HOGG. A meeting under the auspices* of the New Zealand Licensing Reform Association was held in the Town Hall last night, the Mayor (M. E. •Perreau, Esq.) presiding. The inclement weather, no doubt, was the cause of a very poor attendance. After a few introductory remarks, the Mayor called upon Mr. Robert Hogg, Senr., Provincial Organiser of the Association to speak. Mi 1 . Hogg then addressed the meeting. “As a member of the Moderate League,” he said, “I stand between two extremes —the continuance of the liquor trade as at present conducted and the absolute prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors. I hold that only those with moderate views are able to look at this question fairly and without bias. Men when their prejudices and passions were inflamed by opposition are generally driven to take up extreme attitudes. At. such times those of us who retain our sanity usually come in for a very bad time, “We who formed the Moderate League, out of which has evolved the’ Licensing Reform Association, are not in favour of prohibition. Neither are we in favour of continuance as we know it to-day. Hence our desire and demand for licensing reform. Wte believe that safety lies in moderation. • When men sit down together and calmly consider any question upon which they have been at variance and upon which they desire to come to some agreement such agreement is found generally by following the rational course of the golden mean. The golden mean is continually held up to us by platform, press and pulpit, by religious preachers, ethical teachers, politicians and publicists ns the way in which we should go. It is declared to be the safest, the sanest and the surest path permanent progress. It is, in fact

THE FINAL UTILITY on all questions. Have we any ground to suppose that it must be the final futility in this? Is there any logical reason why the rule should fail to function in dealing with the very vexed question of the liquor controversy? Frankly, I do not believe there is. That is why I, a very moderate user of liquor, who have never been in a bar in this country, and very seldom in one in any other country, am here to-night to voice my opposition and the opposition of those who think with me, to the enforcement, aye, the infliction of prohibition upon this little nation of New Zealand —a nation known throughout the world as a sober, industrious and self-reliant people, “I wish in considering this question to-night to apply' to it the cold logie_of .facts. Every body of men no matter how freakish or fantastic their stated views may appear to be to others, have a right to demand that their opinions be- fairly examined and that proven truths be loyally accepted. We must weigh faithfully and fearlessly the value of our opinions, and cease to defend, blindly, blatantly and abstinately, that which the facts fail to confirm as true. Men who have the courage of their convictions, men who are out to furthers the cause of truth, must hew to the line heedless where the chips may fall. That is what I propose to do to-night. “It has been claimed bv Prohibitionists that Prohibition has been a success in America. They produce stacks of statistics to prove their case. But what are unverified statistics ? “Be that as it may, let us consider what are the benefits claimed to have accrued from Prohibition in the United States of America?

(1) That drunkenness lias been considerably reduced; (2) that diseases arising from excessive alcoholism have ad but disappeared; (3) that insanity is on the decrease and poverty greatly lessened. “Not one of these claims can be supported by facts. I visited the United States in 1920. Everywhere I went I found liquor could be obtained easier than 1 could obtain it in my home town in New Zealand. I saw men drunk in the streets of San Francisco within five minutes after I landed there. I was taken to saloons where drink was being sold over the counter as in an ordinary open bar. In every hotel at which my wife and 1 stayed in oui journey through the United States, we were canvassed as to whether we wanted liquor in our rooms.' There was but one exception Salt Lake City, the home of the Mormons. And it must be remembered that abstinence from all alcoholic liquors is a tenet of the Mormon faith, so that its immunity, if it exists still, is the result, NOT OF REPRESSION, BUT OF MORAL STAMINA, and is not subsequent, but previous to the passing of Prohibition. And that was true also the homes we visited. If you signified that you preferred alcoholic refreshment, such was speedily forthcoming. “The effective date of the Volstead Act was 16th January, 1920. In 1919 the total number of arrests In 1919 the total number of arests for drunkeness in these cities was 177,909. In 1920 they fell to 140,065. Since that they have been steadily rising. In 1921 they were 193,143. In 1922 they had risen to 257,577, and in 1923 they REACHED THE APPALLING TOTAL of 305,179. . “What of the second clayn that disease is diminishing"? Still more striking are the figures published by.

Dr. S. Dana Hubbard, Director of Public Health Education in the Department of Health of the city of New York, of alcoholic admissions to Bellevue and King’s County Hospital since 1918. The number of such admissions, which amounted to 1758 in 1918, rose in 1922 to 5624 —in other words, more than trebled. The statistics I have for Boston City Hospital cover a longer period. The alcoholic eases admitted in 1910 were 312, in 1917 they were 1153, but in 1922 the third year of prohibition, they were 2226 of which 144 were

CASES OF DELIRIUM TREMENS, of whom 51 died. Similar statistics for Chicago show that the increase of eases of alcoholism in that city has been from 98 in 1910 to 1503 in 1923.

“What of their third claim that insanity is on the decrease and poverty disappearing? Insanity is largely caused by alcoholic excess, and ought to show a diminution if Prohibition had in fact prohibited, yet according to Dr. William F. Loi:entz.—who is President o f the Board of Control of the State Institutions of Wisconsin—the records of 47 State Institutions for the insane revealed the fact that, while in 1920 these institutions housed 26,000 insane patients, the number had increased to 30,300 in 1923.

“And what of the bread lines outside the chief hotels and large restaurants at night which have become a permanent institution in many of the great cities of the United Sites? Even in Britain today, with its one and a-half millions of unemployed so many.

CASES OF EXTREME POVERTY are not to be found as one can witness any night in the big American cities. “In Canada, where the various provinces of that Dominion are giving uj> prohibition and resuming licensing the supply of liquor — convictions for crime are steadily falling. My statements can be verified by those interested by a. reference to the annual reports of (he Canadian Provinces which have resumed the sale of intoxicants. “The Prohibitionists do not tell you that the United States Legislature has hitherto not ventured to define what “non-intoxicating” means under Section 29. It was in an endeavour to force the authorities to give some such definition as applied to cider and home-made wines that the Hon. John Philip Hill, a member of Congress, decided to make cider and wines in his own home and challenged the Government to prosecute him. Some of the home-made wine so made by him attained 12 per cent, alcohol. After many delays the Government did in the end prosecute Mr. Hill, but the trial ended in his acquittal. This can only be explained on the footing that cider '= and home-made wines containing even 12 per cent, of alcohol must be held to be “non-intoxicating” under the 29th Section, although all other liquors must conform to a standard of not more than onelmlf of one per cent, of alcohol. The farmer, and indeed any citizen, as the law at present stands, can annually make for his household 200 gallons (800 Imperial quarts) of wine and cider of quite undefined alcoholic strength. Ordinary eider contains about 2.75 per cent, of alcohol —hard cider up to 6 per cent. GRAPES IN DEMAND.

“What of (lie enormous crops of grapes that are grown in United States, America. Wjhat becomes of them? It was thought that when wine ceased to be made by the great wine growers of California, the owners of vineyards would be ruined as they would lose their chief market for grapes. The contrary has been the ease. In pre-Prohibi-tion days the price of grapes was 10 to 12 dollars per ton. Since the Prohibition Act the price has leaped up to 125 and even 200 dollars a ton. The inference is obvious that home-made wines are taking the place of former times. Do Prohibitionists suppose we are such fools as to believe that this enormous quantity of grapes was eaten, or that the 200 gallons of grape juice manufactured per family iu Chicago for their own use continue indefinitely in an unformented condition?”

“I contend that the proposal to put Prohibition over New Zealand is an insult to the manhood and womanhood of this little Dominion. We are not a drunken people. We are a sober people. A reference to the Ollicial Year Book will show that New Zealanders consume less liquor per head of population than any oilier civilised country in the world. We find on examining the ligures given from the New Zealand Year Book the daily consuuption per head of population for many years past works out aL one nip of spirits per week, and one thimbleful of wine every two days. And what is our record as to beer drinking? Of beer we consume less than a pint and a-half per week. Put this last 'against German record —and the Germans are called a 'sober people. Well the Germans consume beer to the extent of OVER A GALLON PER HEAD per week. And what as to convictions for drunkeness in New Zealand our Year Book shows that, per thousand of the population, we have only one conviction every four months. Most emphatically proving that New Zealand is not only a sober nation, but the most sober of all the civilised world to-day. At the conclusion of his address Mr. Hogg was asked how it was that a man had to pay 9d for a “spot” while he could get a loaf of brea'd for bid. Mr. Hogg replied that a “spot”

1 was a luxury and not a necessity as was bread. A vote of thanks to Mr. Hogg for the address terminated the meeting. [By arrangement.]