"PROHIBITION IN PRACTICE."
ADDRESS BY MR. G. W. PORTUNE,
There was only a small attendance at the Good Templar /.all last night, when Mr. G. W. fortune, 8.A., one of the Canadian prohibition delegates to New Zealand, addressed a meeting on the above subject. Mr. H- Cocker presided, and brielly introduced the speaker. Mr. Fortune, who was given a cordial reception, gave a telling and. ■ persuasive account of the results of prohibition as it is in operation in many of the States in the Canadian Commonwealth at the present time, and of the prospects when national prohibition «omes into force in May nf next year. He .-.aid the Canadians who had come, to Sew Zealand had. doiit, so at the invitation of tils New Zealand Alliance, and they had come with the logic •& tact- He took occasion to refiita some utatement.g made in Pal-nifi-stcm that the Government of Canada was, about every month or two, doling out' 1 Jujuur to the people. He said that the Canadian Government, did <io such thing in »iuy State i» the 'Dominion. Continuing, the speaker jaid that Sir Robert Bordern (Premier of Canada) had been urged to >nak« the Order-in-Council prohibiting the manufacture, and sale of liquor.for the war period-and 12 months after., a statutory liw fot all time, or, before the twAlve months was up, to give the people »• plebiscite on such an issue- He then briefly touched on the question of "-State ownership, he said, was dead in «very country in which it had been tried, referring to the ex-
pressions j;if the Crown Prince of Sweden, the* home'of the Oothenberg system, who had said that the nation that was going to the forefront would be that one which first banished the liquor traffic from its (borders, and he hoped his country would be the first to do such a thing. He then dealt with the benefits of prohibition from the commercial, industrial, and moral standpoints. In commercial circles, he said, before leaving for New Zealand, he had made a point of going to those business men whom he knew had voted against prohibition in Canada, to get their opinions as to the results of the reform, and,the universal answer to his question was that it was the best thing that had ever happened to their businesses. They all recognised that the liquor ; bar was the greatest competitor to their businesses. In the mutter of industry, the speaker stressed the growing demand for increased efficiency, and stated that in one State it had been said that after the first month ■inder prohibition the efficiency of the lumbermen bad increased by 20 per cent. When increased shipping was required for the transportation of Cana- , ,dia,n troops to Europe, the first thing that was done was to "cut out_ the booze." Diminishing crime and' diminishing convictions for drunk and disorderly conduct showed the moral advantages of prohibition. The Board of Trade had said cf Manitoba that crime had decreased to a vanishing point, and a drunken man wat rarely ever seen. He referred to the *fteT-effects of the liquor habit and the cost to the State of caring for trtoso debauched by drink. The of the address was devoted to dealing with the prohibition movement from the point of view of the revenue derived from the liquor traffic, in snowed tViat the traffic cost the State much more than Wis leverrae derived from' it.
The address was punctuated through with frequent apnlause. A number of questions were answered by the speaker, after which he was accorded a very hearty vote of thanks for his address, and a similar vote was accorded to tie chairaaa'
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Taranaki Daily News, 12 November 1918, Page 6
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610"PROHIBITION IN PRACTICE." Taranaki Daily News, 12 November 1918, Page 6
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