NO LICENSE LEAGUE AND WOMEN'S COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 203, 12 September 1903, Page 2

NO LICENSE LEAGUE AND WOMEN'S COUNCIL.

A public temperance meetiDg was he'd at Whiteley Hall on Friday evoning, when there waH a v.iry Jgood attendance. The Rev. J. N. Buitle presided.

Mrs Sievwright, in the course of a very interesting address, d*elt most imp"o6s!vely on the demoralising influence ti alcoholic drink on the Maoris, tteferiing to tha 10 o'clock license, ehsaid it was nti'her here nor thoie, i's only use being to Sive the public trouble.The League felt it thtir duty to do their u most to put an end to the liquor traffic altogether. It was contended that thera w*s a great deal of sly StdltDg, and it was urged that, an amendment of th 6 liquor l*w should ha nude to scop tnis illegal practice. Mrs Stev wright concluded by impressing on those present the necessity of enthusiasm in the cauce, The Ohairmin referring to Mrs Sievwrigh's remarks as to the injury of the liquor tiaffic on Maoris, reminded the audience of a letter ap pearing in the Daily News as to what , was takipg place at tangis. He was i glad to so© the Rev, F. A. Bennett present, and he hoped that he would , be etc urag. ; d by the sympathy mani- [ fested in his work. Mrs Atkinson, who was warmly ■ greeted, said she considered the Macris should not be trusted with the vote unless they were freed from outside ' iu&uence. She pointed out that the 1 Maoris in the King Country had been 1 promised, on the sacred honour of the Eugl sh people, that l'quor shouli not tie allowed in that country, and on faith of that they allowed tbe country to be op3ned up. That promise must be held sacred. If asked who had done most to increasa the No License vote she would say it was " Bung " himself. Tho trade cou'd not have worked better to destroy itself than thf-y had dore in i endeavouring to upset the New'own i poll. The grounds on which tbe poll was upset were most trivial. The B uca po'l had practically been upset on the testimony of a 12s 6d Waterbury watch. In neither plica had it been shown that irregularities had effected the voting in any way. She gave the Newtown Committee credit for pluck in refusing all the lic?nses. Id most: cases the quibble? raised were in favour of the liquor party, but in the Newtown c;se the quibble was in favour of the temperance par'y. (The proceedings in the matter were then outlined,) It was contended that the trade had given the people an object lsson of what they would do if they had the power. Mrs Atkinson then referred to the Hbsl action against the Petrel, quoting what she said was the wors-t versa in the p-.era " A Lay of f.he Trade," oa wh'ch the action was founded, This action had, it «rm urge.l, opened the eyre of the public to tbe tyranny and oppression under which publicms lived. A revised and up version of the poem, ai publ ; shed in a revivfd edition if the Petrel, was read and greatly enjoyed by the nudie- ce, especially tb.9 reference to tha farthing damages. A darker iniquity was, it was said, that of the Brooklyn ballot boxec, which were left about in a most unprotected way, wi r h tho result that on the recount it was discovered tbe pap=rs had been tampered wi?h An inquiry into this should have taken place. The danger snd menace of the trade to the community was abundantly evident from such malpractices, and thus the liquor party w*-""" do ; n» tboir best to destroy tha trade Bui it bohovjd the 'emperanco party to be active, and a pressing invitation was given to the ladies nf the town to attend the W.O.T.U. meeting on Monday. It was hoped that people would realise that tho expenditure on drink was uttsrly unproductive, whili the expenditure on f)cd, etc , werit into channe's of legitimate trnde, and there would be something to show for it. She did not quxrrel with the three-fifths majority, but thought it was hard t h :t in other matters a bare majority was sufficient, Mr 0, E. Bellrirger moved a hearty vote of thinks to the hdias whj hod so ably addressed the meeting. R9V F. A. Bannett, in seconding the vote, said he was (ure the audience had heartily cjijoyed the address that evoain", evary sentence being of the greatest iufciiresK As fur as tho! Maoris wore concerned, it was a grett j drawback that they hid no voice] in the of the question of the J drink traffic in the King Country, and he was sure if they had vo'od on it prohibition would havn been rarried. Not only were the King Country Maori* interested in the question, bu ; when Hon. MahuSa was entertained at ' Otalri thore were bottles of whisky on ' the table, The Chairman of 'he Maori j 0-unci', however, snatched tho bottle* from ths tabic, took them outside and

tlvw (lea uway ho .In': the la-vi s'nfiuH rot, be broke". It was the drink traffic that had made nuny Mwris worse ilmn tne scum of Bt-itihli society, Here at our ve>y dro i we hid at Paniho a case where man, woman and childr.m were drunk, und yo! w« cmH not s f op it, a-nl the vlioris had 1' vnici in napping the 'raffle. Thes?>nd sown hy ttn adtireH-e----hit night w. uld, h • hop<d, hew frui' ■ n the n-ar future in this district, h >tfa», therefore, a grn»t pfwt-ure to him os cmrl the vote if thinks. (L>uJ apphuae.) Mrs Atkinson, in acknowledging the compliment, said she felt it a burnins shame that the English people BhouM be to blame for des'roying thd finest nxtive race in the universe, A vote of thanks to the Chairman, followed by a ve'se of the National Anthem, concluded the meeting.