NATIONAL PROHIBITION.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1918, Page 2

NATIONAL PROHIBITION.

LECTURE,B\ r MBS. KIXETON-' • PARKES. Ail address on the question of iNatitina?-? Prohibition in relation to -Xational Efficiency was given in 'Whit cloy Hall yesterday afternoon 'by Mr.j. M. KinetonParkes, a prominent war worker from England, who is at present on a visit to t!ie Dominion. The chair was taken .by the Mayoress (Mrs. C 11. Burgess,. M-B.E.J, who briefly introduced thespeaker.

Mrs. Kineton-Parkcs expressed her pleasure at meeting such an audience, especially on a wet afternoon. She -was glad of the opportunity of conferring with New Plymouth women 011 a subject dear_ to all hearts—the welfare of the Empire. Individuals ar.ft Governments had admitted that there v.'as an enemy within the gates, and that enemy must he faced with the same determination as the enemy 011 the batteficlds of Europe. Throughout the whole war. neither Enghind nor New Zealand had thoroughly dealt with the liquor traffic, and both countries continued to waste time ami money on a thing that was of 110 benefit to the community. Not onlv was it of no benefit, but 111 war-time the havoc it wrought became much accentuated. All the countries in the war, whether the Allies or the Central Powers, were endeavoring to put their very best intfl their war effort, and were demanding the highest standard of efficiency. , It was, therefore, necessary to eliminate every influence which robbed the State of efficiency; and there was nothing which did that so much as the liquor traffic. She referred to the different conditions between New Zealand and England, and thought the influence of the enemy in the Homeland was greater because the people had not the same | opportunity of dealing with the trouble. She was much interested in the report of the National Efficiency Board on the liquor trade, based as it was on evidence taken from representatives of practically every sphere of life. She was immensely struck with the recommendations made, and said no country like New Zealand; could afford to reject such a proposal as that made. She spoke of the work of the Liquor Control Board at Home, but said that body had not gone as far as the National Efficiency Boaxd. She then referred to the opinions of some of the leaders at Home on the question, quoting Mr. Lloyd George as saying, at a time when li« could almost have led th? people of that country blindfold, that the menace of the liquor traffic was greater than that o£ the submarine, and that it was an eremy more to bo feared than Germany. Mrs. Parkea said it was only the strongly-organised influence of the trade that prevented Mr. Lloyd George from dealing with it as lie Icnew it should be' dealt with. She also referred to the great disappointment felt that so few leading people followed the example of tho King in banishing liquor from tlie> Royal household for the period of thewar.-

111 commenting on the .'cad that- the colonies had always given in the matter of social reforms, the speaker said, now that they had tho example of New Zealand on the matter of woman suffrage and Canada on the question of prohibition, it would immensely strengthen the argument for the reform at Home if New Zealand followed Canada's example. Mrs, Parkes then went on to relate some of the circumstances that had awakened the . people ,of England to theHeed for eliminating the liquor trade. Early in the war they were urged in various ways to "eat less bread," and it soon became easy to do so because the bread became so nasty that nobody would eat much! At, the same time, the people were patriotic and were willing to be economical. But they soon discovered that no restrictions were being put upon the amount of wheat used by the breweries, and they recognised there was something Wi-ong somewhere., Similarly, when sugar began to bo rationed, it was discovered that no limitations were placed upon brewers' supplies. And so the people began to realise that it was economically unsound, in view of the food shortage, to allow the liquor traffic to continue. It was also unsound on account of the shipping shortage to take up space with that which was used in the production of stuff which reduced tho nation's efficiency. ''

Speaking of. conditions as she had found them in New Zealand, Mrs. Parkes said she had seen some woollen factories, where premises had been enlarged, but where the buildings were not utilised because the necessary, machinery could not be brought to the Dominion on account of the shipping shortage; yet, she said, "the boat I came in carried a large cargo o f whisky, and X believe you have enough wliisky in New Zealand to last for 10 years." On the question of the effect of bquor on manpower, she said she had -been surprised to find that in New Zealand, where all the conditions of life spemed. to favor physical fitness, some 70 pfr cent, of the men had been rejected by the medical boards as unfit for active service. She ■had tried to compare New Zealand with a State in America where the conditions approximated those in New Zealand, and found tlic percentage of unfitness there was G3. She then turn?d to Kansas, the veteran prohibition State, and, to her surprise and delight, fpund that only 10 per cent, of the men of that State who had been examined had been rejected. (Applause._} Ee{?rcnce was next made to the menace of tho social evil, and she said that the Mayor of an Australian town, in his endeavor to secure evidence on the question from men returned from the front, discovered that SO per cent, of the men who suffered from that evil admitted contracting it while in a state of drunkenness. If, she said, drink was at the root of such an evil as that, then the fooner it was plucked out the better- (AppHuse.) She then appealed to those present who believed the Efficiency Board's recommendations were good, to do their Utmost to see the schema carried into effect. She said anything that would increase the nation's efficiency in wartime should and could he done, and she was convinced that National Prohibition would help in winning the war. She also urged support for the reform in the interests of the soldiers, who would return from the front with a different outlook from that they had prior to going.

At the conclusion of the address, Mrs. Parkes was accorded a very hearty vote of thanks, carried with acclamation.