NATIONAL PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 416, 8 October 1918, Page 4

NATIONAL PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN

Meeting at Pukekohe

Under the auspices of the N.Z Alliance a public meeting was held in the Premier Hall, Pukekohe, last Friday evening for the purpose of hearing an address by Mr James Simpson, one of the Canadian delegates to New Zealand, in support of the movement to bring about national prohibition in the Dominion. Owing to the inclement weather and to Friday being the late business night of the week the attendance was very scanty. The Mayor (Mr H. G. B. Mason) presided and briefly introduced the speaker.

Mr Simpson, who is a prominent figure in labour circles in Canada, was billed to deal with the subject of "Labour and Liquor." A very fluent speaker and refraining from cant and rant, his address was a wellreasoned and forceful one from his point of view. The purport of his remarks was really an appeal to the people to ask the Government of New Zealand to have a straight out vote on the question of prohibition on the bare majority. In his prehminaiv remarks Mr Simpson said he had come 9000 miles in order that the people of New Zealand should hear his message and he had found that his journey was not too far. He referred to the progress prohibition had made in the various states in Canada and he added that by July Ist next the whole of Canada would be "dry."- He quoted figures to show that where prohibition was enforced the decrease in the number of criminal cases in the courts was immediately noticeable. He claimed that a measure that brought that about was one which should attract the attention and earnest thought of every man and woman. Referring to the economical aspect Mr Simpson urged that the State ought not to allow a profit-making industry to make profits if in return it was not giving value for the money received. Dealing with the effect alcoholic beverages had on the health of the people be explained that the human nerve was the most wonderful He described briefly nerve and strain functions and detailed how they were demolished by alcohol. Concerning the situation in New Zealand the speaker denounced the laws made by the Government. He urged that the demand for prohibition came from a picked committee of hard headed sane business men—the National Efficiency Board. He claimed that the existing 60 per cent majority, necessary to sweep away the liquor trade was most undemocratic and although, he said, the Alliance was opposed to the payment of compensation it had accepted the dictum of the Efficiency Board and had decided to start the campaign to ask the Government, seeing it refused to act on its own initiative, to submit the question to a referendum. The productive value of every man in New Zealand, he said, was £7OO per annum and in that way he quoted figures to show how much money the country would have if it allowed the trade to continue years after the carrying of National Prohibition. The immediate "turning off of the tap" in Canada, he stated, did an immense amount of good and he was sure it would do good in New Zealand. Mr Simpson claimed that the liquor traffic did not want democracy in Parliament. It «vas the greatest foe of democracy because democracy was based on intelligence, enlightenment and political purity of the people. After referring to the benefits which, he claimed, families of workers derived from prohibition in the way of increased comforts, he appealed to all to support the movement for the abolition of the liquor traffic in New Zealand so they could go to their graves satisfied they had left their country cleaner for posterity.

Mr Simpson was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his address on the motion of Rev J. F. Martin, seconded by Mr 8. Oldfield, and the meeting was brought to a close with the singing of the National Anthem.