TEMPERANCE COLUMN
ORDERLY HOLIDAYS AT OAMARU.
An attempt has been made in many p&pera in the Dominion to create an impression that there wae » great deal of heavy drinking at Oamaru during the holiday 6ea<son. How far this is from the truth will be realised when the following. is read. A correspondent of the Temperance party visited Oamaru for the purpose of inquring into the accuracy or otherwise of the statements. He naturally first approached the police. The eergeant, in answer to questions, said: 1. There was not a single arrest for drunkenness during- the whole of the Christmas and New Year eeaeon. 2. There was not a single complaint from any person during the same time as to larrikinism or mischief— removing gates, breafcng fences, r any of the other matters that usually give trouble at ths season. S. On New Year' 6 Day there were Caledonian sports, with an attendance of about 6000. There was no disorder, and not a single arrest for drunkenness. The same remarks applied to the agricultural show, held a little ■vvhilo previously. There were 9000 people present at the show, and no arrests. 4. The caretaker at the Botanical Gardons said that although the gales of the gardens happened to be open all Christmas Eve night, being newly painted, there was no drinking by groups of young men, as alleged, nor did he find a single empty bottle in the morning, and he himself cleared the grounds up. The caretaker aleo eaid that he used occasionally to find empty liquor bottles during license times, but that since no-licence he had practically not found any. The above i 9 a splendid record, and ■peak* for itself. The Oamaru Mail, writing editorially in answer to the same ■et of assertions, said "that, in their opinion, the volume of drink consumed in the town had gone down, to about onefifth of the consumption under license." All these facte were published in Oamaru about three weeks ago, and there has so far been no reply. BIRMINGHAM (U.S.) GOES "DRY." There is an opinion prevailing in come quarter* that, though no-license may be practicable, a-nd even good, for small centres, it is not practicable for large cities such a 6 the four chief towns in New Zealand. This idea is fast being exploded in the United States; in fact, when (strict enforcement can be secured (a matter of some difficulty in large cities in the States) the beneficial results seem to be more marked eren than in the smaller places. The victory for State prohibition in Alabama ■na* precipitated by the following:— On October 28, 1907, the county of Birmingham, •of which Ensley is the chief industrial centre, and which contains within its limits •bout 150,000 people, voted upon the question of license or no-license. Amidst great excitement the voters, mostly foreign-born workers, threw a heavy majority in favour of the " dry" policy, and thus carried nolicense nVthe most, populous county that has so far accomplished the reform by its own vote in the United States. In view of the temperance history of the State of Alabama, this victory forms about the strongest testimony to the value of noiioenee that it would be possible to imagine. Alabama has 66 counties. In 1899 only 22 of these were registered as " dry." In 1903 this number had increased to 50. Othetw followed, and by 1907 there were very few except Birmingham " wet." With «1I th«*e example* near by, it is most cheering for the no-license advocate to find that the evidence in favour of the reform was bo convincing that even the foreign workers whoee natural tendencies are all the other ■way, went and voted against "beer." This victory is not explainable on any other hypothesis, but "success of the law." KNO^CVILLB GOES " DRY." Knoxvilje, population about 60,000. is one of the largest cities in Tennessee. This State wa» mainly "dry" before the last election, but on that occasion every place, except three cities, swung into the " dry" column. Knojrvill« was one of those who j accepted the reform. How could the hardheaded Yankee* of this city be induced to accept no-lieea*e by their own vote,_ with co many working examples in its immediate vicinity, unless it were both a business and social success? From late mails ■we learn " thatKnoxville's first prohibition week— November 1 to B— shows the smallest number of arrests for any one week in 10 years, and in the last 10 years the population has doubled." KANSAS CITY GETS ENFORCEMENT. Kansas oity, 90,000 population, capital of the State of Kansas, has nominally had prohibition for the last 85 years. Partly, however, because a portion of the city is in the State of Missouri, and therefore und«r license, with oniy «n imaginary line between ibe two parts, and paxtly because there was a local majority against " enforoam«ni, the law has never hitherto been rigorously put j» action. In the States," by reason of the local election by popular vote of judges, police marshals, etc., and by reason of the fact that the cities pay tbei* own police, who are consequently under the or<Je*« °* the man w . no is Mayor for the time being, a local roajoxitv has always in the past been able to nullify a State law. This w beiog altered now by establishing central " enforcement authorities" with supreme power. Thus,* when Mr Triekett was elected Assistant Attorney-general a change came over the scene. He was not elected by the prohibitionists, as he has publicly stated 6ince that, at the time of his election, he believed in " high license," and not in prohibition. Howaver, he believed in law enforcement also, w*A the results have altered his mind. This is his statement: "When I was appointed, delegation after delegation visited my office to protest against closing the saloons, because, they said, it would ruin business. The fear was that people would go to Kansas city, Missouri, to drink, and aleo to 'trade.' It is now eeven monthe since there was a saloon running in the county, and what is the result? The bankers who said it would ruin their business have returned to idmit their mistake, and now aay it has helped them. The real estate man says ' property is higher than ever beforev' The lumberman says 'so many new buildings are being erected that it is almost impossible to supply the demand, and this is midwinter. The taxpayer finds that it has put money into the nuhlie
treasury instead of increasing taxes. The furniture dealer finds he is soiling more furniture than ever before. The firm of Dengel and Newton, shoe dealers, report ' a large increase in the sale of women's boots and shoes since enforcement,' a report that speaks v very "badly , for the real work of license. Finally, he publishes signed statements from four of the prinoipal benke, who declare that their deposits have increased from 20 to .40 per i cent, in the six months, since enforcement.' i It is evident that in "the States "enforcement is the crucial problem. In New Zealand this is no problem at all unless a totally new spirit comes over our British institutions. NUMBER OF CHARGES AGAINST PERSONS ARRESTED OR SUMMONED FOR DRUNKENNESS. Latest Figures Available. Year 1905. New South Wales • - 24,154 Victoria IMSB Queensland 6.638 South Australia 2,?62 Weefern Australia .. •• 3,509 Tasmania 5i9 New Zealand 8,790
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Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 15
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1,230TEMPERANCE COLUMN Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 15
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