NO-LICENSE MOVEMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 138, 6 December 1911, Page 4

NO-LICENSE MOVEMENT.

LAST NIGHT'S MEETING. < A large number of people attended at. the Good Templar Hall last evening to listen to addresses on the subject of No-License. Mr. W. A. Oollis occupied the chair, and announced the opening of proceedings by the singing of a rally song, after which Rev. Burton led the audience in prayer. The chairman said this was 'not the first time that he had taken part in those meeting.,. What was good for the individual wa.s good for the community, for which reason he always struck out the top line. He did not like liquor; therefore it bad no temptation for him; but others suffered through drink, and it would be for the welfare of the Dominion to do without liquor. He said the Herald had stated that New Plymouth had been dull for a long time. If No-License should be carried they would not be able to trace it to that. Invercargill was brisk, and they wanted some of the briskness here. Rev. R. J. Liddell, late of Ashburton, representing No-License districts of Oamaru and Invercargill, said he had been four years in Ashburton. He knew it under License and No-License, and it was bite most maligned place in the Dominion. It had been said that NoLicense there had been a failure. He was going to speak of what he knew, and his work embraced the country outside of the town. To-day the country was flooded with statements called "liquor facts," which he defined as a shadow of truth entirely surrounded by lies. It has been said that the town or district that carried No-License meant going to pieces. That had not been the case in his late district, During the last five years the county of Ashburton had increased in population by 880. The value of buildings erected during the last six months of 1910 was £9i)Bo. The cost of buildings in North Rangitata for the six months ending 1910 was £125,386. It was stated that 101 Ashburton business people had signed for restoration, but, strange to say, no one knew who they ivere, and they did not come into the light of the public. The Ashburton Guardian published the names of 71 business people saying that No-License had been a success. Those men signed their names. The Trade said there will be more drinking if we have prohibition, i Then why did they fight No-License so; tenaciously? The drink bill of the Do- : minion was £2 13s Id per head; that of the licensed areas, £4 3s 6d; that of No-License areas, Ms 3d. The convictions for drunkenness had so considerably decreased that the town had made' much progress. The trade did not care about the homes. Ministers and doctors knew most of the home life, and they said that drinking had not increased in the homes. With reference to sly-grog selling, he maintained that the Liquor Party were responsible for it,-and that party could stamp it out if they wanted to. The Magistrate in Ashburton used to dismiss charges of sly-grog selling, until a deputation waited on the Premier and got him removed. Then the first .batch which came along were fined up to £SO, and sly-grog selling was now almost as extinct as the moa. Rates since No-License went from Is to 2s, and to-day they were Is 9d in the pound. The rise was nothing to do with NoLicense, but was due to loans for improving the streets, etc. Rev. n. nait-i, oi invercargill, said he had lived there for six years as a Baptist minister. He had been in Melbourne and the United States. In the latter place the saloons were ten thousand times worse than in New Zealand. He did not say that No-License was solely the cause of the prosperity in Invercargill, but it had not suffered because of it. Opponents said No-License was a hindrance to a town, but such had not been the case in New Zealand. The Mayor of Invercargill told him that tenders for trams had been accepted amounting to £75,000, and that every, shop in the principal street was occupied. In order to accommodate the people coming into the town a private hotel was being built with 80 or 100 rooms. He had seen many boys lost through drink, and he considered it better to save one than £IOOO. The moral aspect of the question was most important. He knew many good men who were moderate drinkers, but it was better to exercise a little self-denial than to see boys and girls ruined. Out of thirteen boys, one fills a drunkard's grave. He admitted that drink was brought into the town, but you had to look for it to find it. You could walk down the street any time without coming in contact with drunken men. He did not believe that No-License would regenerate a man. Nothing outside the Gospel of Christ could, do that. But No-License would put a man into a better position for regeneration. From a spiritual standpoint, Invercargill had prospered because of NoLicense, and churches were spending large sums for additions and improvements. There was not the temptation to go wrong in a No-License district mat there was in one where there was a license. Therefore, on Thursday next he advised them to strike out tlie top line on both papers. Mr. Maunder read a number of encouraging messages from people in NoLicense areas, saying that they -were satisfied with their condition of affairs, and _ recommending Taranaki to go and do likewise. Rev. T. 11. Roseveare, late of Oamaru said he was brought up in Clutha. He had been told that people who were brought up there were weaklings, and he (a big robust man) stood as a specimen. He had lived in Oamaru under both systems. For five years it had been suffering from a drought, on top of which came No-License, and now there was no sounder business town in New Zealand. Some people said NoLicense people were biassed, but it is better to be biassed on the right side than on the wrong side. The cvenin* paper said Taranaki would have to make up £350 in fees if License were not maintained, and it would mean a penny in the pound to make it up. When Oamaru had had No-License for twelve months there was such an increase of gas and water that they were able to reduce the rates. They were now beautifying the town. They had built a town ihn.ll and let offices, which the Mayor said would be worth 3d in the £ revenue. The first year of No-License the rateable value was £37.000, and it had risen every year, until now it had reached £40,000. It was not all due to No-License, as the, cutting up of estates had assisted, but No-Lieensc tended to increase prosperity. The amount of money that used to be spent in liquor was being spent in better livnaki had No-License the people would go to Stratford and Waitara in hundreds. Tho sergeant of police in Oamaru said there was only one-fifth of convictions that there were in the days of License. The people who took liquor into No-License areas were the same every year, but the number was gradually lessenma. as some of them were dying, and the younger portion of the community did "not want the drink. He did not believe in men writing contrary to fact, and for that reason moved a resolution against our evening contemporary in connection with an article it published on Hie No-License question.

Mr. 11. Cocker seconded the motion. He did not approve of being charged so much an inch when he wanted to reply to an article. He had been in New Plymouth fourteen years, and had only seen two.drunken men. He stated that 850 men come out of the hotels every night between nine and ten o'clock. The motion was put and carried without dissent. The singing of a hymn terminated the meeting.