OPEN AIR ADDRESS.

Otaki Mail, 6 November 1922, Page 3

OPEN AIR ADDRESS.

1 In spite of uninviting weather coni’ ditions a good attendance listened to i the Rev. R. I*. Kcall on Saturday even- - ing. The speaker referred to the persistence of unfair tactics on the part of ; "The Trade.’'’ Bishop Julius, of Christchurch, he said, complained of llie latest instance. Copies of the Synod resolution, in favour of prohibition, were handed to the Press Association, but a professed telegraph report, I oi (lie mutter appeared in the Timaru Herald and Dunedin Star falsely stating that continuance had been carried by two to one. The speaker challeng>ed the shameful placard statements | that prohibition meant tyranny. When a matter of public welfare, after long i and open investigation had been constij rationally decided, and for the most ’ part by direct vote of the people, it was a very poor cause and insulting to ’ our democratic methods to deerv the 1 j result as tyranny. When Ivansas, for example, after -5 years experience of j . t-he benefits of prohibition, increased j . the majority in favour from 8000 to ' | 405,000, it was right that the will of i, the people should rule. Anyone possessing historical knowledge of what ! , tyranny lias been under such Roman j Emperors as Xcro and others, under the ‘Spanish Inquisition, or the cruel- 1 ( ties of Honvv Till and Mary, or of slavery, should not be guilty of apply- j ing so ugly a word to majority rule in t it democratic country. In lito beginning of this contest be- ! H tween liquouiom and the peoples’ will, 1 j what happened in Sydenham, Christ- 1 church The people openly and of set purpose elected a licensing committee ’ | pledged to close the bars. The Trade ( j through its lawyers, said the speaker, sought to nullify their action on the ,

ground that the committee had exceeded its legal power in refusing all been >(:•■. The Supreme Conn of New Zealand sustained the action of the committee on the ground thai they had bill interpreted the "ill of the people. This verdict the Trade overturned by means of an appeal to the Privy Council in Fnglnml. and immediately all liquor bars vveie opened in defiance of the people's will. On which side did the suspicion of tyranny rest, he asked? So also in granting the license at Taneatua, the opposition of the police, of the residents by petition and deputation, of the Bishop of Wuipu on behalf of the Maoris, of the Maori chief from the neighboring protected territory, the opinion of the magistrate that no license should be granted in the face of such overwhelming opposition, were all brushed aside by some subtle and secret pressure brought to bear on the committee. Let not the Trade talk about tyranny any more, he added. A Continuance advocate admitted on the platform at Timaru a few days ago that 47 out of 48 State Governors in U.S.A. supported Prohibition, but he declared that they supported it because if they did not they would lose their jobs. A delightful admission! It was the peoples' vote that put these men where they were, and their support may be taken as a true index of public opinion. As a matter of fact the Prohibition amendment had become part of the constitution, because ratified by fifteen-sixteenths of the States, and by 00 per cent, of the people voting through their constitutional representatives. Before this took effect it had been already adopted in 33 States by democratic vole. But the defeated vested interest did not forget to make a tremendous noise and to say some very nasty thing.-. We say. he said in conclusion, let the people rule and let us all put the true interest of humanity before appetite and greedy gain. !