A Gross Slander Exposed.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 35, 3 November 1911, Page 9

A Gross Slander Exposed.

_$— ?.?<______££ ARE WE A SOBER PEOPLE?

SOME UNASSAILABLE FIGURES.

To traduce one man is punishable; .malign a nation and you escape. Indeed, if you are a prohibitionist you may libel"the people of New' Zealand by calling them "a drunken and besotted crowd," and be cheered to the echo by your fellow patriots, so-called. It matters not that the facts are all •gainst the patriotic (?) prohibitionist. If he is confronted with the facts, he simply says: "I do not care for the facts; I know what lam talking »hout," and proceeds to denounce his countrymen in a waterspout of vituperation. It is a matter for regret that so many are being led astray by these self-styled reformers, who, by attempting to vilify their neighbours, hope, cuttlefish-like, to escape themselves, and so it is necessary to show how far from the truth the observation is that the people cf this dominion are "a drunken and besotted crowd." Look at the consumption of alcoholic beverage© by the nations, and see where New Zealand stands. In a quinquennial return issued hi July of this 3-ear tl.ll) by the British Board of Trade office, the consumption per head is given as under: — Gallons Gallons Gallons Beer. Spirits. Wine. France ......... 8.0 1-33 34.5 Italy — 0.43 25.8 United Kingdom 27.4 0.86 0.27 Switzerland ... 15.5 — 15.1 'Austria 15.2 . 1.41 4.6 Germany 23.7 1.48 1.19 'Australia 11.0 0.52 1.14 Belgium 48.6 1.08 1.04 New Zealand ... 9.8 0.77 0.14 In some respects we arc as bad as our neighbours among the nations, but notwithstanding what prohibitionists may tell you, we stand as the smallest consumers of alcoholic beverages, and it is a gross, vulgar slander upon us for the prohibitionists to say we are "a drunken and besotted crowd." New Zealanders practically lead the .vorld in sobriety and good living, and the cairn, moderate - minded man and ■woman wonders, "Why all this pother about prohibition and no-license; wo do not, need either of them?" Yet, because the. prohibitionists have-chosen to regard this country as inhabited by a drunken"and besotted" people, tliey ;'.t_ setting out to. try and make us believe this ebullition of their perfer-vid imaginations: It is a sorry spectacle to see men and women, otherwise reasonable, so intoxicated with prohibition as to be utterly irresponsible on the liquor quostion. Physiologists tell us that i.eurotic tendencies are alike pronounced in Extremists, be -they drunkards or prohi.bitkmists. However, the oustandiug truth in all this is that New Zealand is, by comparison, a'very sober country, :_.id the figures quoted have not been compiled ■by the licensed victuallers, r.u. by tbe British Board of Trade, and therefore above suspicion of leaning to one side or the other. Having regv-d to this fact, then, it is surely unnecessary to invoke the aid of prohibition and nolicense. We are doing very well as Aye "are, and we will show the prohibitionists ■, by striking out the bottom lines, we are determined to hiaint-ioi our freedom to continue to use alcoholic beverages, and withal live soberly. It is high time moderate men and women asserted themselves and gave no-license and prohibition their quietus.

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