THE NO-LICENSE CAMPAIGN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 2992, 16 September 1908, Page 5

THE NO-LICENSE CAMPAIGN.

REV. ISITT'S SECOND ADDRESS,

There was again a good attendance at the Masterton Town Hall last evening, when the Rev. L. M. Isitt delivered his second address on the No-License question. The chair was occupied by Mr J. McGregor, who introduced the speaker in a few characteristic words. The Rev. Isitt was received with prolonged applause on rising to speak. He dwelt first with a cartoon, humorously suggested by the chairman as a possibility from the liquor party, in view of the breakdown of the motor car which was conveying the speaker to Alfridtun on Monday night. Mr Isitt said he was not afraid of any cartoon which the liquor party would inspire, as such cartoons wer<-- not always to the advantage of the trade. The speaker amused his audience considerably when he referred to the "asinine" assumption of some of self-constituted whisky experts who ringered their glnss in a bar with a very knowing look and passed favourable or other comment on the quality. A whisky merchant at Hume had said that so skilled had manufacturer.-* become in blending liquor that experts who had spe it a life-time in the business could not distinguish between patent stilled whiskj and malt whisky. Mr Isitt said that his audience could what "patent stilled" whisky meant—fatty degeneration of- the heart and sundry other diseases. He referred humorously to a whisky firm which had displayed as an advertisement a picture entitled "The Warmth of the World," in which was a "miserable specimen of a Highlander" warming himself by a tallow candle stuck in the neck of a whisky b ittle. No better satire, he thought, could have been conceived by even a Prohibitionist himself. Who were the Prohibitionists fighting? Hj asked who were the people inserting the advertisements in the local papers in favour of continuation of license? /Were-they independent, disinterested citizens who had the interests of their fellow men at heart? They had put in something to the effect that the' speaker was getting a good salary for going round and saying that he vrks against the traffic. He did not mind that much, but, ha asked, who were these people that were making these assertions? As a matter of fact, what was the money which paid the speiker's silary? It was composed of sixpence?, shillings, florins, etc., from the pockets of poor but earnest people, with occasional larger gratuities from wealthy people. What mattered it whether the speaker himself was the bigeest humbug goin? so long as the motive of his missioi and the motive of these behind his work was sincere and pure? And then, where did the money come from that Daid for the advertisements for continuation of licenses? He knew, and his hewers, too, knew very well that thsy were being paid for Jby contributions from brewers end from publicans. It" was easy to discern that it wa3 not the people that the No-License advocates were fighting—the bulk of ths people were with them—but the liquor traffickers. The speaker did not w."r.pwin of that —he expected it," 'out it WW, neverthsleas, an all significant faJt.'- & n ° why were 'they fighting for NoLieens:? Because they had tried every other remedy and found them fail. He himself had started in the campaign against License in Masterton twenty-six years ago, and was then quite ignorant of the campaign mapped out by the prohibition cause and the platform of the United Kingdom Alliance. He remembered how, when Mr Hardy had started a scheme in a small way at Waipu, they all laughed, thinking how absolutely hopeless was the movement. Yet how great had been its success! The majority of people were now in favour of No-License, and when any movement held only ten per cent, of mankind, it was generally considered successful. A man had said to the speaker, "Why not regulate the trade rather than abolish it? Why not aim at the substitution of light wines and light beers, and there would be less drunkenness?" It had been alleged that in-Frr.nce there was little drunkenness among the light wine districts, tut ihe speaker himself had seen a great deal of drunkenness there. He contended that there was an evolution in the drinking habit of the nation the same as in the individual. From light drink the nation would go on to something as a beverage that had more "bite." and so the J old conditions would return. Even in Switzerland—a nominally sober eountry—the drinking of absinthe had become a terrible lurse to the country. Mr Isitt went on to refer to the visit to America of Mr (late Rev.) 1 W. Thompson, who lectured through New Zealand on behalf of the liquor party. He said that Mr Thompson had gone to America, representing himself as a New Zea* land "Commissioner," sent to inquire into the effect of Prohibition on those States which had adopted it. But, said the speaker, Mr Thompson was going to sources where he knew he would get information against the cause of NoLicense, and when the poll was on the verge of being taken in New Zealand, no doubt the "Commissioner" would come back and tell the people that America was disgusted with No-License! And yet, paid Mr Isitt, the population under NoLicense in the States at the present time was 36,000,000—it had doubled in the last two years.' He quoted the example set by a Yankee traveller in getting business, as one which illustrated how some people might be foolish enough to believe in the "silly" advertisements published by the liquor party. He believed in No-LicensQ because it was the only efficient remedy—the "turning off of the tap." It was, as must appear to all sane persons, the only sane remedy. He asked his hearers, when referring to the insertion ofadvertise* ments regarding the campaign in the newspapers, who was the most likely to tell the truth—those who were fighting in the interests of a moral and sober community, or those who were advancing their own private, personal, financial interests? He hated cane with all his heart, and es pecially the cant of the liquor traffic, whose advocates were seized with a desperately religious fit once every

three years and came to . light with canting utterances to sway the minds of those who were foolish enough to take seriouFly what they said. Referring to a meeting held under the auspices of the Anglican Church in Christchurch, a while back, at which Bishop Julius presided, Mr ißitt said he was pleased to see that the Anglican Chuch was throwing in its great weight with the cause of a sober nation. When finally the united weight of that Church and the present churches standing solid for No License had to be encountered by the liquor traffic, it woulil be the beginning of the end. In dealing with the attitude of the liqwr party and its criticism of the effects of NoLicense in th.j South Island, Mr Isitt asked, why did they not exploit Balclutha? S'innly becaus-, he said, the whole matter had gone beyond the initial sta;re, and the permanently beneficial results of No-License were undeniable. The speaker's own experiences in ths procuring of reliable information in Ashburtjon (while travelling incognito) were related. One gentleman in business—not a teetotaller—had said to him that after three months of No-License the benefits accruing had been palpably evident to business people. It had been mournfully alleged that vile liquor was being dispensed in the NoLicense districts in the South Island, but, he asked, who was sui plying this? The brewers and whieky houses. He had no doubt that every drop of liquor was given to thote persons who volunteered the rifk of selling, merely to discredit No-License. Supposing there was a little drinking still going on, was the remedy to re- ;' vert to the old order of open barf.. K« thought it should be unnecessary to have to plead with women to vote No License, and as for the economic minded persons they must know what a terrible drain on the resources of the town the liquor bars were. The handicap under which the No-License people were working was the stuffing of rolls and personation at th« polls, and to exemplify that this could be done, the speaker stated that a man had confessed to Mr Bvron Brown, who contested the Ocaki seat, that he had voted against him seven time 3 at the last election. He replied to a statement alleged in an advertisement that the rates «t Ashburton had heen increased ui der no-license, quoting official figures to show that the increase in rates had been almost wholly caused by municipal works and finance methods. He asked those ratepayers present if they would not, anyhow, sooner display a little patriotism and humanity, and make their robe's and light their streets out of loans rather than do it at the cost of the welfare of their children? The. lecturer concluded his address by stating that the fight' 0n,.; the pari: of the No-License people / was not one of sentiment, nor was it . a personal contest. If the Apostles Peter and Paul were placed in two Masterton hotels to-morrow to serve out liquor, it would not alter the fact that liquor was still a poison and a menace to a community's welfare. Mr Isitt closed with a fervent appe; I to his hearers to strike out the toy line. (Loud applause). Questions were then invited by the Chairman, and two were asked, by note. To one, which inquired whatN ihe lecturer thought of a thsatrical person visiting a No-License dittrkt, and obtaining liquor by means of a lottery ticket Mr Isitt replied that it, was at any rate far. _bettsr If .*ucn *& circuitous method had to be t<? van*y on what" little drinking still went brs, than to hsye open bars scattered proiniscuOUtly Thft speaker was also aslcecl wr.flfe lift thought of the continued consumptitn. of liquor in Invercargill, and Ashburton, and he replied that he thought very little of it, contending that the whole of the present circumstances of the illicit sale of liquor in these places went to show that the liquor party recognised that the "turning off of the tap" by prohibition was an unwelcome but certain fact. - The Rev. Hodge proposed, and Mr A. Donald seconded, a hearty vote of thanks to the speaker, which was carried by acclamation, Mr Isitt - sponding. ' A vote of thanks to the chair closed the proceedings.