THE Temuka Leader TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1892. TEMPERANCE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2428, 22 November 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1892. TEMPERANCE.

Some time ago we suggested a scheme for dealing with the liquor traffic, and since then we have had the pleasure of noticing that a Bishop of the Established Church in England, the Bishop of Chester, had been forwarding a similar proposal. The subject has now been taken in hand nearer home. The Anglican Synod at its meeting last Friday evening in Dunedin discussed the question at some length with the result that it decided in its favor. The Rev, Mr Gould moved : “ (1) That it is expedient thatjthe sale of alcoholic liquors should be in the bauds of the community, as under the Gothenburg system; (2) that a league be formed to influence public opinion in this direction.”

On this being seconded by the Rev. Mr King, the Rev. Dr Belcher moved as an amendment; — “ That the attention of the synod having been drawn to the control of the liquor traffic under the system known as the Gothenburg system, it is expedient that a committee of this synod be formed to inquire into this and other systems bearing upon this matter of the control of the liquor traffic, and to take appropriate measures from time to time for the dissemination of information bearing upon this matter. The committee to report to the synod at its next meeting.”

The amendment was seconded by the Venerable Archdeacon Edwards, and after some discussion it W a s carried, and a committee formed to give effect to it. There was, of course, a good deal of talk over the subject. Some held that the best way to forward temperance was to establish branches of the Church of England Temperance Society; others wanted the clergy to preach a temperance sermon once a year; while others again deplored the intemperate language of temperance advocates, and held that prohibition would lead to illicit distilling, sly grog selling, and so on. IJishop Nevill, who presided, disapproved of prohibition, which would, he thought, do more harm than good, but said he had always been in favor of placing the traffic under the control of the community. He had been in Gothenburg, had* seen the system working there, and could not think of anythin" l "' p -tter calculated to minimise the evils' ot As the Gothenburg system, we are it is no use talking of it in , Zealand. In Gothenburg, wealthy benevolent people formed a society, bought out the vendors of liquor,. and carried on the business on temperance lines. To carry out the Gothenburg system, therefore, an immense sum of money is required, and there is not the slightest hope of getting it. out of the temperance people of New Zealand. Tne suggestion which wo

originally put forward was that the matter in hand by the Government and conduct on temperance lines such houses as would be found necessary to accommodate the public. That could be done if the electors desired it, but it is simply impossible to get people to subscribe sufficient money to buy out the public houses as was done in Gothenburg. Still the discussion must do good, and will eventually bring out facts which will enable those who are honestly endeavouring to curtail the ravages of the liquor traffic, to understand fully what can, and what cannot, be done. As regards the objection that prohibition would lead to sly-grog selling, there can be no doubt but that in large cities that would be the case to some extent. In the cities it would not be easy to detect sly-grog sellers, but it would not, also, be easy for the general public to find out where the sly-grog could be bought. There would doubtless be some sly-grog selling, but there would be very little drunkenness, for the reason that the sly-grog seller would not give liquor to a wan under the influence of drink.

If he were to do so the man would be seen staggering away from his house, with the result that he would be found out. The more respectable portion of the people would not go into a sly-grog shop, the bad characters would not be allowed into them because they could not be trusted, and so the sly-grog shops would be conducted with greater care than licensed houses are at the present. As for the small townships and country districts, there would be no such things as slygrog shops, because it would be too easy to detect them. The hotels at Waitohi and Woodbury have been shut up for many years, but no slygrog shops have started up in their place. The hotels at Roslyn have been shut up and there are no slygrog shops there, but it is said that the traffic on the tramcars has increased, and it is attributed to people coming into the nearest public house in Dunedin to get a drink. The argument of sly grog is all nonsense, but we object to absolute prohibition on the ground that it is too violent, and that if all the houses in the country were to shut up in one day it would set the whole social and political machine out of gear. Prohibition is right enough if brought about gradually and in a systematic way, but an extreme and sudden change would result in chaos at any rate for a few years. We are therefore of opinion that the Government should take the traffic in hand and manage it under State control.