THE NO-LICENSE QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 273, 11 November 1908, Page 3

THE NO-LICENSE QUESTION.

IBOM THE "OTHER" SIDE. Dr Hatherly, from Wanganui, ad dressed a largely attended meeting ii the Theatre Royal last aight uu tin subject of "True Temperance." Mr. E. Dockrill presided, and in introducing the Doctor, referred to th spirit of generosity that was usual tc be found amongst respectable Hotel keepers, instancing the recent division of the licensed victuallers to supply free board and residence to the local Plunket nurse. On the question of nolicense, he pointed out that otner countries besides New Zealand were considering this question, but from a different standpoint, and it was worth considering whether we or they wi._right. The English Licensing Bill now before the" House of Commons provided for compensation, not paid by the people, but by the trade itself. All great winds in England were agreed that compensation shall be paid. Australia was adopting a similar course. The only conclusion to be drawn was that either those great countries were too generous in their treatment of the trade, or we were too harsh. He referred to the views of General Booth on the subject, who stated he did not think any great moral reform could be effected by any legislation which is not based upon the principle of justice. Neither did the General, to use his own words, think that it pays ia the long run to try to reach the milleniuni on the cheap. On another occasion the General said he believed proiiiujuon would be a success, individually or collectively, if given certain conditions. It would he interesting to hear, however, what these conditions were. Prohibition had failed in China, the most despotic of countries, eleven centuries before Christ. What greater chance of success did it have now? In his own mind he was convinced that the reform should be carried out on lines to be

suggested by such a great reformer as General Booth. Dr. Hatherly said he had been invited to put before the electors a side of the question that was seldom put forward. There was a host of speakers on one side. Every judge liked to hear both sides of a case, and if they only heard one side, the public, who were the judges, could not form an unbiassed Opinion. He proceeded to trace lEe temperance movement. Two-thirds of the Chinese were Buddhists and with the Mohammedans were total abstainers. Father Theobald Matthew was the first organiser of the temperance movement, which commenced in 1838. His was an appeal to the individual. He did not attempt to have any laws framed to put down drinking, lie appealed to those who abused intoxicants, and in the space of nine months over 150,000 people signed the pledge of total abstinence. His method was per-, suasion only. Over 60 years ago in the United States prohibition was first tried, and, until quite recently, prohibition Aad been the demand of a great number of people in New Zealand. Since first introduced in the United

States seventeen States have had prohibition, while at present only three States, Maine Dakota and another, remained trne to their original decision. If it were such a great success there; it would surely not have dropped from 17 States to three. As a matter of fact, the drink bill of America was showing a steady yearly increase, and amounted annually to 1,007,000,000 dollars. The consumption per lead of drink in New Zealand had gone ui|fxo'n 13 to over 22 gallons per head. %&refore, notwithstanding all this legislation to make men sober, the consumption of drink was still going up. Our drink bill was £2 14s Gd per head (or 13 dollars) and America's was over 19

dollars, and the quantity consumed in America, the home of prohibition, was double what it was here. In 1893 a

Licensing Amending Act was introduced in New Zealand, and that for the

time dealt the death blow to prohibition. * The late Premier had offered the

prohibitionists what they wanted, but he offered them too much. Clause 7, -which stated that no drink should go into a no-license district, was refused by the no-license party, who would not have it, and preferred to sacrifice their principles to losing votes. They then claimed they wanted to close only the bars, not to interfere with the rights of the individual. They, abandoned their crusade against drink and set out

on one against hotels. Our licensing laws, he said, were the most stringent in the world; in some cases so much so as to be unjust. In most cases of Bvi'tish jurisprudence, an accuser had to prove a defendant's guilt. Not so with

a hotelkeeper, who had to establish liis innocence if accused. It was necessary to prove that drink had been consumed or money passed hands in a case sus-

pected to secure a conviction against a hotelkeeper. The penalties under tie

Licensing Acts were heavier almost than any other laws. The drunkard may be fined ss, but what about the hotelkeeper, whose offences are not moral, or against the laws of God, but merely a breach of the law? The Official \!ear

Book showed that year by year before the no-license came into operation, the amount of drink consumed per head was diminishing. Ever since the nolicense movement got under way, it had steadily gone up. It had been said that the revenue from the drink traffic was a delusion, but it was a very real delusion. The amount of revenue jrom drink through the Customs and excise in New Zealand was £723,000 per year, more than enough to pay the total cost of education in the colony. Could the Government afford to sacrifice that amountjjof Tevenuel Would, it not hare to be re-imposed by taxation elsewhere it, again, right to take away devalue of hotels, over three without compensation f He claimed .to 1«l speaking with some knowledge of hia, subject, for for ux years he a number of the Wanganui Licensing Beajih. During that time they had compelled, a numbec,of Jiotels to rebuild at great coat) he.con<(derfd it was almost to re build a houseon the eve of ill, election when he shortly after. Hotels were alsqjaxed to the extent of £4O per anaum for

local revenue. They were subject to quarterly police inspection, and prior 'to being granted a license were subject to investigation of their characters. He knew there were some black sfcwep amongst licensees, and no one was more anxious to shut up badly conducted houses than the trade itself. There vrere a lot of people who voted nolicense and yet invariably, and with great inconsistency, when travelling, stay at the best hotels. They should, go to boarding-houses, where they would have to go if no-liccnse were carried. The only difference between the two classes of houses was that one had

a license and the other had not. What, he asked, were the evils associated with no-license? First, lie claimed it did

not put down drink, which went quite! as freely into a no-license district as before no-license. The people living in the district were not penalised, haijt; travellers and tourists were. The latter could not purchase in a no-license district, unless they-got their drink on the sly. Then, again, under no-license the people were punishing themselves for the benefit of the surrounding districts, from which they had to import their liquor. In Ashburton (five years' no-license), Oamarn (two) and InvercargiU (2) over 255,000 gallons of beer and spirits had gone in. But that only included the liquor sent in by order from the wholesale houses. The Amending Act of 1004 stipulated the conditions for getting drink into a no-license 'district, regarding quantity, registration and labelling, etc. No one knows

how mucli went in, however, because it was provided under the Act that a per- , son residing in a no-license district may take a certain quantity of drink in \ with him (daily) from outside without the necessity of registering or giving notice. He could take daily a quart of whisky or one gallon of beer for liis own consumption. That trade was unrestricted, and it was only known of- i ficially what was ordered and noti« | given of from wholesale houses I'ti I seemed to him that in framing the Act [

there had been too ranch desire to please both parties. The Act also allowed shows, associations, clubs and societies to have liquor with official registration of orders. With nil these loopholes could no-license do good, lie asked, to stop drinking? But there was ft worse feature—the sly-grog shops which have invariably followed no- . license. No one knew how many slygro'g shops there were, many of which, moreover, were dons of immorality. The sly-grog trade led to deceit, falsehood an<l perjury, demoralised the people and led men to gather together to defy tile law. He was convinced that never could they make men mora! by legislation. Prohibition of any kind had been a failure from the fall of Adani to the present day. Men coulrj not be compelled to deny themseivcj which they conscientiously believ*' In be their privilege. As a medical man. and speaking with a full ?c:i«e of responsibility, he ntVmncd that diinkim was a natural appetite, and if indulge in in moderation could do no harm. I> the pages of-history, it would bo foirn< that the greatest minds the world ha< produced had been moderate drinkers and in some cases excessive drinkerHe challenged the no-license party t tafune m<n to compare with the model

ate drinkers who hud won historical fame. He was absolutely opposed to drunkenness, and had and would always do all he could to put it down, aud. further, take care of the drunkard, but - why should the law put difficulties in l the way of any man doing that which e was lawful so long as not abused'; Drink was said to be the cause of most . evils aud a great deal of immorality. . "but he did -jot think that the moderate , drinker or even the drunkard was . more immoral than the total abstainer. ( (Applause). Tile chaplain of Dartmoor prison had recently admitted that, he had formed a wrong opinion about drink being the cause of great cmue.l aad iie found that many of the worst crimes were committed by abstainers. The speaker thought with Dr. Uibb that drink was as much the oi po\erty as the cause of it. Lunacy was also charged to drink, but it was peculiar that despite all this mti-lieensc movement, lunacy was steadily increasing. He did not say that was because of no-license, but it was singular that it was coincident with it. Drink was also stated to be the cause of much disease. He believed that drunkenness was a cause of disease, but it was not so with moderate drinkers, who generally looked better physically than abI "'tT B '.- A great deal . batl bl ' cr ' " liule

oi tlie views expressed iu a manifesto s:gnej by some hundreds of doctors, including some very 'eminent men a few years ago. Uul there was a later one signed also by most eminent medi-a/ men—(A voice: Will you name them?) —which recently appeared iu the Lauan(! lle wou| J read it as follows: 'ln view of the statements frequently made as to present medical opinion regarding alcohol aud alcoholic beverages we. the undersigned, think it desirable' to issue tlie following short statement on the subject—a statement which, ,ve believe, represents the opinion of the leadiug clinical teachers, as well as of the great majority of medical practi-' turners. .Recognising that, iu prescribing alcohol, the requirements o£ the individual must be the governing rule, we are convinced of the correttncss of

the opinion so long and generally held that in disease alcohol is a rapid and trustworthy restorative. .En many cases it may be truly described as lifepreserving, owing to its power to susta'n cardiac aad nervous energy, while protecting the wasting nitrogenous tissues. As an article of diet, we hold that- the universal belief of civilised mankind, that the moderate use of alcoholic beverages is, for adults, usually beneficial, is amply justified. We deplore the evils arising from the abuse of alcoholic beverages. But it is obvious that there is nothing, however beneficial, which does not, by excess become injurious:—T. Jl'Call Anderson. M.D. Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Glasgow; Alfred G. Barrs; William H. Bennett, K.C.V.0., F.E.C.S.; James Chrichton-Browne; W. E. DixonDvce Duckworth, JI.D., L.L.D.; Thomas It. Fraser, M.D., F.R.S.; T. E Glynn: WR. Gowers, iI.D., F.K.S.; W. D Halliburton, iI.D., L.L.D., F.R.C.P.] Professor of Physiology, King's College, London; Jonathon Hutchinson; Robert Hutchinson; Edmund Owen L.L.D., F.R.C.S.; P. H. Pye-Smith;' Fred. T. Roberts, JI.D., B.Sc., F.R.C.P; Edgcombe Vennings, F.R.C.S." The number was not so large but they represented the highest in the medical calling. He thought, however, as compared witty the 2000 men who signed the previous manifesto, they represented the 40,000 who did not sign it (A voice: That's your opinion). Continuing, Dr. Hatherly said there was in the Bible nothing against the moderate use of liquor. He asked them in conelusion not to be misled by mere declamation and brilliant oratory, but to look at the solid facts. I - {hey honestly believed that in voting :'=>r no-license they would protect the::- brothers and sons from the evils of drink, let them do so, but they would be mistaken. Perhaps many of his hearers bad never seen drink in their homes, althbugo they knew their men-folk "tools a taste.'' But that was :iot to say the men would still have tlie taste, and in their homes, for no-license allowed them to get it in as the only alternative to the sly-grog shop. He was afraid theie were still a great number of Pharisees Still amongst us. Instead of the eleventh Commandment being: "Thou shalt not drink," he claimed it was Love one another.'' If the no-licensc campaign went on, it would bring about a time like the time of the Com, monwealth of England, when families were rendered astmder. There was a strong personal feeling and animus showing in this'cause. No-license, if the people would only leave it alon.-,

would die a natural dentil, and Uveii' there would lie tried the more humane methods nf reform through kindliness, reason, argument and persuasion. Dr. Hatherly resumed his seat amidst applause. The chairman invited questions, a number of which -were put and straightforwardly answered. (A summary of these will appear to-morrow). A hearty vote of thanks to the Doctor was. on the motion of Mr. White, who 'made a vigorous appeal for continuance, carried unanimously. A vote of tlia-aks to the chair concluded a most orderly meeting.