PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 March 1919, Page 4

PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN.

MR. L. M, ISITT, M.P., AT THE EMPIRE THEATRE. There was a good audienoe at tha* Empire Theatre last night when Mr L." it Isitt, ill'., gave an address on thi» question of prohibition. Mi C. 32. Bellringer presided.

Mr isitt, who was warmly greeted,, gave one of his characteristic addresses, m which he attacked the liquor traffic from every direction, and trenchantly dealt with every argument advanced in its support. He noted it was about 42 years since he gave his first temperance address in New Plymouth. During all those years he had lead and studied everything he could about the traffic, and the only possible conclusion he could come to was that it was the silliest is the world. Even the Minister of Education had said to him the other day that drinking was a "mug's game." Mr Isitt referred to the fact of the large accession of business men who had this time come out openly against the traffic, and he said ihe wondered Where their brains had been that they had been ao lons coming over, because the liquor trade was the biggest pirate on the sea of commerce. The speaker referred to the misery caused by the War of the past four yeara, and quoted a statement of Sir T. F. Buxton, one of the biggest brewers in England in hi* day, who had said that the evils of strong drink were greater than the evils of war, pestilence and famine combined. From this Mr Isitt went on to deal with .evils that follow in the wake of the opening of licensed liquor bars. He said that if a cairn was erected, even in New Plymouth, in the streets for every man who had done to death by drink, the traffic of the streets would foe blocked. Though he had not been a teetotaller when he came to New Zealand, what be> "saw of the evils of drink in the mining town of Lawrence had made him one. Mr Isitt recounted a number of instances of misery and degradation cnuß'.d by drink to men and in homes which had come under his personal observation, to the persistence of the evil wrought by the liquor traffic Ha also related some recent occurrences in Christchurch, notably one of a retained soldier who while' drunk had been knocked down by a tramcar and lcUled. He also referred to the drunkenness he had witnessed in Wellington re*«rt'.y amorist soldiers just returned from the war, and appealed to the audienoe to wipe out a trade which was reapoßiible for such work. He spoke of that aspeoi of the war which made people who lad lo«t boys thankful that at least they ha 4 died in a good cause, and contrasted their experience with that of paant* whose boys had srone down through ex. cessivj use of strong drink, and adked if such loss could be measured apilnit anything so small as pounds, shiHragi and pence.

Mr Isitt dealt with the question from the economic and financial ns-peets, and said that although Canada had had prohibition only a sihort time she had not Iwd to raise any additional laxation oil account of it, : and further jimmy of her penipetiaries were now "empty. Oa the question of bad debts, ho declared that the-ie were very largely duo to the amount of money spent on liquor, and he quoted a newspaper report which hail stated that the Stratford Hospital Board had discovered that 90 per cent of its bad debts were against men who spent their money- on drink.

Mr Jsitt made a string and fery effective appeal to the women of the oamluumty on -t-Ue grounds of fuMlling the highest end of their womanhood, and for the sake of bequeathing to the uubora generation a life free from the taint Q» alcohol. He could not understand this indifference of some worne* to the question, seeing that the evils of 1 thp traffis hit than all along the lift.' ' .A telling and forceful address was concluded by an appeal i„ the name of humanity, in the name of God, and jn the name of Christ, who died to save men from degradation, to look it the tiling from a. humanitarian view point ami on April 10 to strike it out and free the land from the thraldom of the liquor traffic. ",

A few questions were asked, one ice;ne that, in the event of prohibition being carried m April, would Mr Tuitt oa a inemov of Parliament SO e that the ompoyoc* ,8 the liquor trade got a fair T ~ T ;^ s f cak - 1 '- replied that it was not thn jKftwieney rloard that had recommends payment of competition to the employ** in ft c !rs4] ,. hxit ft , hihit, oni »u who had ineislM from the start that if W »wation was to be Paid the shouW , |gVB fair sluuxi.

A the atm of ti« m™«M a ymt* of thanV, wn* to , hp and the elooH with the fag. mg of tho National Anthem.