NO-LICENSE CAMPAIGN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 234, 26 September 1908, Page 6

NO-LICENSE CAMPAIGN

PUBLIC MEETLN'O IX THEATRIC ' RUVAL. , The public meeting iu connection with the No-license Convention was held in! the Theatre Royal on Thursday liignt.! Tin: building was well tilled, liis Worship the Mayor occupied the chair, and there were with him on the platl'o.'iu Kev. F. I.iiu (New Zealand Alliance organiser), Rev. 11. V. L. l'almrr (New South Wales). All. A. Bruntnoll (New Suuth Wales), Rev. R. B. S. Hammond (Sydney), Revs. T. (1. Brooke, .1. Laird, J. (iuy, .1. Hilder, ,1. Benning (Eltliani), and Rule (I'atcaJ.

'After the singing of a couple of ten-1 perance songs and the playing of an overture by the Whiteley orchestra, his Worship the Mayor (Mr. Tischl introduced the speakers, announcing his pleasure at being able to preside over the meeting, for they would always find him at any place where people were gathered together for the purpose of the uplifting of mankind. WORDS OF WELCOME. Rev. T. (J.. Brooke welcomed the speakers on behalf uf the churches of Now Plymouth, and stated that the churches were sho.ving a united front on this great question of social reform. In specially welcoming Rev. Mr. Palmer, he said they were pleased and proud at the more energetic action now taken on this question by the Church of England. His lordship Bishop Julius was warmly in favour of the reform. Rev. Isitt welcomed the speakers on "behalf of the New Zealand Alliance. He congratulated Taranaki on being early in the field and snapping up Mr. Bruntnell for this district. Rev. Palmer, too,-was a great worker for no-licen-ie on the Anglican platform. Following up Jlr. Brooke's remark, he said that six years ago Bishop Julius had stated he would rather die than vote for continuance.

' THE REV. HAMMOND. Rev. Hammond, after some sentences that got him well into touch with his hearers, said that the liquor traffic, which they were fighting, was in a most extraordinary position. It was quite incapable of setting up a case for itself. It bad no champion, for the simple rea son that there was no cause to fight for but money. There was only money in it. But the trade would have to go down, for character was infinitely b"yond any amount of money. Every right-thinking person who took any pride in himself, his home, or his oilspring, would FIGHT Ft HI CHARACTER

every time, and would oppose this thing j that had damaged more character than j all else in the world put together. K.e thon impressed on his hearers the necessity ror work. It was all very well to pity the drunkard and to hope he would be man enough to turn from the drink. It was all very well to pity the children in their distress aud their dread of a drunken father's home-coining, and to wish that they might escape that drink traffic which was reaching out ,'"<>r the children as the material on which to fatten in the days to come. Those victims cried. "If you pity us. in God's name kill off the'thing that's chasing us." Every adult should be proud tint at the poll he and she had the same power as the Premie? or any of his fallows to east a vote that would moke "God's own country" still more so by wiping out its biggest curse and most hideous blot, an<l remove the block over •which so many had stumbled. The rev. speaker then made » forcible appeal to Ms hearers to work, .for "when everybody does something, that's when things arc going to happen." Rev. Hammond then left to catch the steamer. "FLKETITJS" AT Mi ELAND.

Bev. Palmer followed, expressing his pleasure that the eiiemv had at hist come out into the open to tight. He had feared tiisit they were going to he compelled to fight an enemy in ambush. He referred to the storm of denial and torrent of abuse which had greeted his statement to a " Dominion" reporter that Auckland had been treated to a bacehanaJSan orgy during Fleet week. He now stated, and he wished to he fully reported, that he did not retract one' iota of that sentence. And he was j not waiting, as another gentleman had done, until he was leaving the colony lvetore making his remarks. He was speaking at the beginning of his tour, not at the end, and he would ask his hearers to decide which was the more, sportsmanlike way. It had been star-id that he had vilified the whojc of the American flee*, officers and men. But

when they read the remarks of the Ot'ajro Daily Times' special reporter they found: "On Admiralty Hill, around Admiralty House, though tbcre was an immense crowd there was no disorder. But down in the city around the hotels many unseemly s cenes and brawls made Auckland an unfit place for unprotccte 1 females towards midnight." Evidently tliis steady, level-headed newspaper reporter bad .seen something of the "bacchanalian orgy" too. Another pap»r said that in one hotel, a large number of British and American sailors came to blows, and the licensee preferred to lose an hour's business rather than have his bar wrecked, and he closed at nine instead of ten o'clock. There must have been something in the nature of .in orgy there. The speaker then, quoted an enpliatic article from the Church Gazette, tlie official organ of the Auckland diocese, to justifv his remarks. When In's statement had lieeirchallenged throughout the length and breadth of the i)o----'lnininn he had sent to Auckland for a ■number o't PHOTOGRAPHS OF DRUNKEN SCENES

on the licet week racecourse, and advertised that he intended exhibiting them. He was dissuaded, however, b.it stated his intention of showing them if challenged by the Licensed Victuallers' Association to do so. But the Association knew better. Those photographs ■lie still had, and they showed heaps of drunken men. He was still prepared to stand his ground and say that Auckland bail such an object lesson as should influence the vote at the coming hull option poll. He was not blaming the fleet, for the drunkenness existed before its arrival and after. The drunkenness before the lleet arrived was awful, lint afterwards it iwas worse. A newspaper report stated that the sailors of the 'American fleet came ashore in two classes: the first, to see the sights, buy post-cards and presents; the second to get drunk: and within an hour of landing the return procession of the second section to the ships had commenced. It had since been stated in court proceedings that the Police Department nad given orders to its ollireis not to interfere with the American sailors. laspeaker, however, had been told by a policeman that the reason why drunks had not been locked-up was because there was no room in the lock-up for them. In Chris-church the "Trade" had gone to the expense of advertising that "Rev. L. M. Isitt. amongst others.

disagreed with the lecturer's condemnation. Mr. Isitt stignatised that publication as a lie. and wrote to the Auckland Herald. Cliristehurch Press, and Lyttelton Times justifying Kev. Palmer's 'statements and -aying that the drunkenness in Auckland before and in lied week was deplorable in the extreme. The Auckland paper, for reasons best known to itself, declined to publish the letter. It had. however, allowed tieword* " extract from the New Zcah.id Herald" to appear on a handbill that was merely a reproduction of an advertisement by the Trjde concerning ihe alleged failure of no-license in Inv.-r----cargill. He condemned the paper for ; is action. These were the underhand t -c----lies adopted by the otlu-r side, wh'-.-h had thousand, of pounds ( C2H,000 in 1 Auckland alone) to light this election. Passing on to the question of

NO-LICENSE IN IXVEItOARCILL, Rev. Palmer said he had been there in-vestigi-.ting. and he found that the crime 1 attributed to l-avercargill included nil' the police cases from licensed towns just outside I nvercargill ami beyond the nolicense area. Everywhere lie had found a denial of the statements of Mr. Geo-gc Kurtiu'tt, manager of the touring British football team. Tnvercargill was to liim (I!ev. Palmer) an absolute rovc-a-tion, so sweet and dean and beautiful and free from the demoralising scenes that sullied tin- licensed towns. U< KXSIXO QCrvSTIdX IX ENGLAND. Mr. A. Bruntnell devoted considerable attention to the English Licensing Bill and his exp.ai-.nces in I lie Old Lard. Twenty years ago, he -aid. the allitade towards a temperance reformer might

have been described as "an avalanche ot sympathy on a glacier, of apathy." | But public feeling in England was changing. -New Zealand, however, w.i s socially and politically miles ahead of the Old Country, ana the English Licensing Bill would hardly be accepted here as a temperance measure, in England, as e\ery where else, the method-, of fitTrade pariv were questionable. The Bill had been described by the brewers' party as tine of "eonUsealion. spoliation and robbery," and great placards con■taming these words were posted in the I windows oi public-houses inviting people to s ign petitions that were lying nui.lc. And they were lying, but not in fie manner altogether intended to be conveyed. Brewers boasted of the fact I that they had threatened members ol the House of Commons, and wojld cripple the churches anil charities 10 secure their ends. And he had seen sandwichnien in the vicinity of Westminster carrying boards which convey d a threat against any one of the L'omnioncr.s wlro dared to" vote for that Bill, tine trade, he said, was endeavouring to dominate Parliament in national all'aii*. 'liiat was the light in the Old Country, a fight to decide whether the country was to be governed by the duly accredited representatives of the people or by the " trade "; a light as to whether Jving Edward or " King Beer" should ruie. The brewers had, 'too, .carried into their throat to withhold subscriptions from charities. From that source a sum of 10s ,(id had been donated yearly f-ir 22 years towards a certain Bagged Schools picnic, but now tlr.it subscription was withdrawn. The brewers wao now urged a continuation of the licenses urged .that these licenses had been renewed year alter year, and they had come to consider they had reasonable expectation of their being continued. The mark*t value of that argument w.ls equal to the argument that the Ragged School people might have urged along the same lines, and that value was: nothing. As to .the churches, Cod help the church that tad bo depend for its support upon the brewers and the Trad"! Xo matter how much drinkers ami gamblers refused to subscribe, lie thought there was sufficient of the right spirit in the mankind of to-day to see that tire churches did not go short of that which was necessary to them for the continuance of their work. T'le principal opposition to the measure was against the provision that | THE .MONOPOLY VALUE

created by the State with its licensing restrictions, should at tin' end »i '' years become the. property and under the .control of tin- nation. Now, tlic system of licensing had never been intended to perpetuate the trade, but to restrict and control it, In the Old Country there was a public-house or :i elub to every 260 people, which mount that 205 out' of every 2lili people n-jie prohibited from isclling liquor. Yet a,.cording to the liquor party it was a dreadful thing that the 205 people should ask that the 2(i(itli man shoual be brought under the same conditions as they. The public-house licensee was enjoying an unearned increment that he was not entitled to. It was worthy of nobe that the licensed houses did Lot pnv local rates on their " monopoly vaiuc.'' Thus the "monopoly value" of the Golden Fleece license at Bermondsey was £BSOB, but the taxation for local purposes was on <t>7 a year, representing a capital value of aboi<t tUOO. The publicans had given the, show away by urging that the temperance people would dt> a lot of good by abolishing grocers' licences and club-. It was right to prohibit those peopiu from .selling liquor, but evidently fanatical to •suggest the same close for viie licensed houses! He related some INSTANCES OF DEGRADATION through drink, mentioning that wonum gave their J«bes gin in their feedingbottles to keep them quiet whilst they went on with their drunken enrolls il; and that young women stood side by side .with men drinking at the public, bars. Mr. BruntneU dealt in strong terms with the tactics of the Trade in I publishing a full page advertisement in the Auckland Weekly News designed to infer that General Booth was on the side of the Trade. It was a subtle and dastardlv attempt to confuse the ele;:- | tors. General Booth-God bless him ' for what he had done—the champion of [ the poor, the world's greatest huinauiI tarian. was a prohibitionist in spirit, I and liad expressed .himself us ill favour ,of the English Licencing Bill, lie hid I recognised, as every thinking man in I England had recognised, that prohibition in England just now was impractical]'. ■■, but it was wrong to infer that lie was opposed to temperance, lie doubled whether a man could bo in the trade and treat this matter squarclv. It reminded him of an epitaph, "Here lies - good husband, an affectionate father, and as honest as his trade would allow."

Votes of tlranks to the speakers ami the chairman concluded tin' gathering.