THE PROHIBITION ISSUE.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 February 1919, Page 3

THE PROHIBITION ISSUE.

ME. W. D. BAYLEY AT THE EMPIRE 7'"..",.'. TfflflATßE. ' In- connection; with the prohibition r campaign, Mr. W. D. Bayley, 8.A., of j .Canada, addressed a meeting in the Empire Theatre last evening. There was a good attendance, over which fche Kev. ,W. A- Sinclair presided. Mr. Bayley, who was cordially received, after referring to the claims to consider'ation. put forth by the representatives ■.of; the Moderate party, said that after all the best test of prohibition was the result of its influence on the life in the homes of the people, and in this connection the evidence from the countries hin which prohibition had been enacted was wholly in favor of the reform. The children were receiving more of the necessaries of life, in places where hitherto ■they had barely had what was required >i>y them. There was greater contentment, and the children of these homes Were becoming a much greater asset to the State. The speaker confined himself chiefly to experiences in Canada and America, and stated that from opinions .of leading citizens specially obtained as ; to the results of prohibition it was evident that the had been a beneficial one.

Mr. Bayley proceeded to refer to the effort of the representatives of 'the Moderate League to hold up their side of the argument, but he said they were simply appearing under camouflage, and were but the tool of the liquor trade, and before the date of the poll, he predicted, the* one would not be distinguishable from the other. He admired the bravery of the advocates, but reminded the audience that they took no collections at their meetings, as the Prohibitionists had to, and left the audience to judge where the money to meet their expenses came from. He complimented the Moderates on their subtlety in urging the people not to vote prohibition in April, but wait until December, when they could get it without compensation. He pointed out that if it was not carried until December the effect would not be felt until a year later than if carried in April. {The country would spend a further £5,000,000 in liquor (wholesale ypice), plus the retailers' profits and all the sadness caused by the consumption of the liquor during that time. That year of waiting, too, would be a infest critical time in the country, in which demobilisation Would be taking place, When sobriety and steadiness would be needed more than ever. A further reason why the issue should be postponed .till December was that the question of State control would be submitted then, and people who favored that would have the opportunity of saying so. The lecturer pointed out, however, that the State control issue was really a device for detracting votes from the Prohibitionists and for converting their majority into a minority, as at the December poll no issue was to be carried that did not receive au absolute majority of votes, so that if 50 per cent, voted prohibition, and 40 per cent. State control, continuance would still bo carried, though only 10 per cent, of the people voted for it. Further, Mr. Bayly stated that if the opportunity was lost in April, people would be very much inclined to say, six months later, when other pressing problems of repatriation and reconstruction were needing settlement, that prohibition lmd had its chance and lost, and their minds would not be fixed upon the issue. »

The speaker then briefly dealt with a number of inconsistencies persisted in by the Moderate League speakers, and also to their objection to embroiling the country in a referendum at the present time. Mr. Bayley said that if the liquor party would accept the verdict of the Elhciency Board, take the compensation suggested, and get out, there need be no embroiling of the public. It was the Trade who made the light necessary.

The lecturer then dealt with the argument that more police would be needed to deal with lawbreakers under prohibition than under licences, and quoted opinions of eminent men in Canada and America, including chief police oflicers, judges and governors, to the effect that the opposite was the case, and that the number of police had been reduced from one-third to one-half If there were going to be lawbreakers oil account of prohibition it meant that the liquor party themselves were going to defy the law. Mr. Bayley, after eontradictiqg the statement that the Moderate p'arty's views had not been heard, by saying that he himself witnessed- their deputation to the Prime Minister at Parliament House, said their views were evidently not sufficiently weighty, and did not have sutficient support to -impress the Government. He then went on to deal with the question of hotel accommodation, and stated that the fact was, not that the liquor bars were responsible for sustaining the excellent hotel accommodation, but that the atmospliera of respectability created by the hotels was what saved the liquor bars. The liquor-selling business was bolstered up by the respectable hotel accommodation business. He quoted an opinion from the president of the Commercial Travellers' Association of Canada, to the eflect that the accommodation was more homelike since the ca(Tying.of prohibition, the hotels were quieter, and that the hotelkeepers were to be congratulated on the manner in Which tlie houses were conducted.

In dealing with the revenue aspect of the question, the speaker said the Trade' did not pay the revenue; it merely collected it from its patrons. It ail came out of the earnings and wealth produced by the workers of the country. If the Government knew of no better way of raising revenue than through the drink business then the sooner there was another Government the better for the country A sober community would more easily pay its war debts than a drunken people. The speaker then touched briefly on the points raised by the other side in regard to the uses of alcohol as a medicine. He said that the majority of medical men to-day, including the scientific investigators, were of opinion that alcohol was not necessary as a medicine. The doctors who said alcohol was good as a medicine admitted it >vas no good as such to those who took it as a beverage. Mr. Bayley also dealt with the question of State control, and said the people of New Zealand were being asked to vote for a system which had never been a success, and that had beer, turned out wherever it had been tried. Hi showed that the money spent in the liquor business did not employ onefourth the amount of labor an equal sum invested in any other industry would employ.

He concluded by dealing with the personal liberty issue that was always raised, and claimed that where personal liberty interfered with social progress then personal liberty had to be sacrificed for the advancement of the community, and said that in the face of the problems of the immediate future the liberty to make profit out of the sale of -liquor would have to be laid gjffe #

was a menace to the social good.- (Applause,) Mr. Baylev answered a number of questions, and at the conclusion was accorded a yfc r^iftjinftijfpr