PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN.

Otaki Mail, Volume 26, 31 March 1919, Page 3

PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN.

MRS ATKINSON AND MR- DENTON AT OTAKI. Tlicrc was only a small attendance at Brights’ Theatre, Otaki, on Friday night- last, to hear Mrs A. It. Atkinson and Mr R. J. Denton give addresses in connection with the forthcoming licensing poll on April 10th. Mr Byron Brown (chairman of the Otaki Town Board), who occupied the chair, referred to the trend of events that had led to the granting of a plebiscite on the liquor question. '* For the first time in New Zealand they would have an opportunity, on April 10th, of deciding, by a bare majority—the true democratic principle—whether the sale of liquor should be licensed further in New Zealand—a privilege they had been fighting for for many years. Mr Brown then introduced the speakers to the meeting. Mr Denton. Mr R..J. Denton, a well-known business man,, of Wellington, dealt with the licensing question from an efficiency standpoint. Quoting a prominent authority, he said a truly efficient man should be “four-squarea man having the four attributes, ability, reliability, action, and endurance, properly developed. If any one of those attributes were missing, the' man would not be efficient, and would be lit for very little. Mr Denton said his experience proved that the use of liquor tended to reduce man’s efficiency, and, by means of blackboard demonstrations, ho,endeavoured to prove this, dealing with each of the four functions mentioned above. ’ He quoted from several authorities to show the effect that ( liquor had on man’s efficiency, and suggested that any moderate drinker might easily put himself to the lesf in various ways sug'gcstcd. Mr Denton said, taking the evidence of reliable - experts, that drink was responsible for 1 at least 70 per cent of the country’s l crime. '

In conclusion, Mr Denton made an appeal to the moderate drinkers to curtail tlieir luxuries a little—that was all that Prohibition would mean to them — for the sake of the children. He pointed out that in ten years’ time the children of to-day would be grown men and women, and if they grew up with out knowing the taste of liquor they would make a sturdy and sober nation. It seemed to him that any decent man should have. no. hesitation in striking out the top line on April lOtli to save a friend. Mrs A. B. Atkinson.

Mrs Atkinson said tho opinion was generally held that the sale of liquor had been first licensed in order to meet the needs of tho public. That was not so. she said, and she proceeded to state that public houses had been instituted in England in the year 15D3 by a duke, in order to keep the lower classes in a degraded position. We electors of New Zealand had a great, responsibility, said the speaker, and if wo by our votes licensed the liquor trade, we made ourselves responsible for the harm it did. God made man in His own imago, said Mrs Atkinson, and no man could in-' dulge in liquor without evil results. She" thought all would agree that tho trade existed for the moderate drinker, and therefore the evils of the traffic could be laid at the doors of the moderates. it would mean a sacrifice for these men to give up their liquor. They liked it. A prominent man had said recently: “I like my whisky, but I like my country better,” and for the sake of his country he would strike out the top line. (Applause.) An Appeal for Sacrifice.

We ask for sacrifice, said Mrs Atkinson. She referred eloquently to the sacrifices made by our soldiers during the grdat war, and the sacrifices made by those who had sent their loved cues ungrudgingly for their country’s sake, and asked, is it too much that we who stayed at home in security should give up tliis indulgence for the common good? With the great wastage caused by the war, we could not afford to have men do less than they might, which was always the ease when men were addicted to drink. The speaker proceeded to give the results of tests conducted by Sir Andrew Clark, which showed that in navvy work gangs of men who were allowed even small quantities of liquor failed to do the same work as teetotallers. The same thing applied to shooting tests, and in science, literature, invention, etc., it was the same tale every time —liquor spelt- inefficiency. It was years since any railway company in America has employed a drinking man —they said it was not safe —and in the bulk of American factories it was tho same. Mrs Atkinson said the German plans in the early stages of the war had been quite upset, because the prohibition of the sale of vodka had'enabled Russia to mobilise much quicker than Germany anticipated. The first great revolution in Russia had been carried out without bloodshed, because vodka had been banished from the land, but afterwards, when vodka had been reinstated through German intrigue, the whole country had been weltering in blood-

shed. The Germans are not fools, said ihe speaker. Some said they were too fond of the Almighty Dollar. If this were to all the more-weight should be attached to the fact that America had decided to go dry. From July next even- part of America would be ttnuer national prohibition, and on Ist May next the last of the Canadian blares would go dry also.' Mrs Atkinsqn asned, how can New Zealand afford to continue with the handicap of the drink traffic round our necks? In the interests of the nation we would have to do ns Canada and America'had done. Alcohol and the Epidemic. Mrs’Aikinsqn devoted considerable attention to the relationship of alcohol to the epidemic, and referred to r. Kingston Fyffe’s views,.: which had received much publicity- She also gave Dr. Platts Mills’ view on the question, and read the znedisal opinions of noted

authorities to combat Dr. Fyffe’s state.; meats. Mrs Atkinson said all the evidence available in connection with the recent epidemic went to show that the men who died like flies were those who ' took liquor to excess, and those who derived benefit from alcohol were total abstainers. The speaker read a public proclamation that had been published in Wellington, in which Dr. Valintinc’s name was used, and also read a telegram from Dr. Valintine, saying that he had given no authority for his name to be published in this connection, and ; stating that what he bad said at the commission was that he did not consider the sale of liquor should be stopped altogether. Mrs Atkinson assured her hearers that a fulFsnpply of alcohol would be available if prohibition were carried, and a doctor’s certificate could be secured free of charge. They had the Minister’s assurance on this point. She therefore asked the public not to be misled by the cry that if prohibition were carried they could not got a drop of liquor in case of sickness. On the motion of Rev. Hcdley ’White, seconded by Rev. Blathwayt, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to both speakers for their interesting addresses.

LAST NIGHT’S MEETING. Last night there was a capital attendance at. Brights’ Theatre, when Mrs Atkinson spoke on 1 lie moral aspect of tho liquor question. Tlio speaker spoke at length on the poverty, degradation and unhappiness caused by liquor, and earnestly appealed to her hearers to put a stop to all this evil by voting Prohibition on April lOtli. The address was listened to most. attentively, the speaker’s earnest and eloquent discourse evidently touching her audience. ECONOMIC ASPECT. On Wednesday evening next Mrs Atkinson and. Mr Denton will conduct their final meeting of the series. On that night they will deal ffiorc particularly with the economic aspect of the Prohibition question. There will be no charge for admission, but a collection will bo taken up.