THE NO-LICENSE CAMPAIGN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3022, 20 October 1908, Page 5

THE NO-LICENSE CAMPAIGN.

- MR T. E. TAYLOR AT MASTERTON. The Masterton Town Hall was crowded last evening, when an address in favour of No-License was given by Mr T. E. Taylor, the title of the address being "The Trade Analysed. "_ The chair was taken by His Worship the Mayor (Mr P. L. Rollings) who stated that he did not intend to introduce the candidate with a speech, but instead would read, two telegrams he had received that night. Mr Hollings said that he had yesterday sent two telegrams, worded as follows, to the Mayor of Invercargill and the Mayor of Oamaru:— I 'Would you kindly advise me whether in your opinion No-License has proved a success or failure in your Borough. Kindly reply to-day. -Hollings, Mayor of Masterton." In reply the Mayor of Invercargill and telegraphed: "No-License no disadvantage to Invercargill, but a blessing to many families. — Scandrett, Mayor." The reply of the Mayor of Oamaru was as follows:

"In my opinion No-License has proved a success in Oamaru.—R. Million, Mayor." The Chairman said that it had been stated that NoLicense had been a failure in these places, but he thought the two telegrams spoke for themselves. (Applause). Mr Hollings stated that he proposed to deposit the two telegrams with the Town Clerk at Masterton to-day, where they could be read by all who wished to see them. The chairman then called upon Mr Taylor to ?ddress the audience. Mr Taylor was received with loud applause, and said at the outset that he was pleased to be able to address the electors of Masterton. There was plenty to do in the South Island, but the speaker had heard that the. prospects for No-License in Masterton were good, and in consenting to come to give an address he had been inspired by the fee ing that if he only influenced half a dozen votes in favour of No-License' he would be gratified at the result.' Mr Taylor opened by referring to the dictum of a celebrated Italian patriot, Mazzini, who after enumerating the existence of evils which beset the welfare of a country said that to disregard the remedying of such evils was positive atheism. For the people of the Dominion to disregard the evils of the liquor traffic was, the speaker said, rank atheism. In the United States to-day the question of whether or not the ' liquor traffic should be abolished was completely overshadow- i ing thu interest taken even in the Presidential election. He believed ' his hearers and the electors of the Dominion in general were also as ( keenly interested in the result of the ( licensing issue as the question left in their hands was one of such material , moment to their personal and family interests. (Hear! Hear!) ] The humanitarian instinct had dur- ! ing the past 50 years advanced to a , wonderful stage, and it was now taking concrete form in the opposition being shown to the tenible drink curse. The speaker desired to be must accurate in his fa-ts and solid in his logic, and wher he concluded his address he propoF*..! to give any one who desired to interrogate or correct him an opportunity to ■do so. Mr Taylor referred to Messrs Asquith and Lloyd-George, members of the British Ministry, as fighting an heroic fight against the liqjor trade at Home, and declared that when the present Ministry did give up office they would do so after having dealt to the liquor traffic at Home the deadliest blow it had ever received. Lord Kosebery had said that if the Government did not soon control the "trade" the "trade" would soon control the Government —and this was true. It had been said that those who opposed the liquor traffic were single-eyed and fanatics, yet one of the grandest authorities . in the world—W. Lloyd Garrison, the man who had succeeded in dragging the American people behind him in abolishing the slave trade—had doctored that such a statement was a miserable device to stamp a good cause with the brand of fanaticism. Coming to an analysis of the trade and its effects Mr' Taylor said that Sims Woodhead, the great pathoogist of the Cambridge University, had after a careful analysis, taking 15 years, into Ihe effects of the imbibing of small quantities of liquor into the system. This scientist had said that moderate drinking did more harm to the nation than even the disgusting habit of the indulgence in occasional drunking bouts. The moderate drinker's hlood was never tree from the poison of liquor, and his children were consequently unable to enjoy the free and healthy existence such as was enjoyed by the offspring of healthy parents. The speaker believed that if the disinterested opponents of the traffic took no further hand in the struggle the dicta of medical men alone would eventually encompass the destruction of the curse. How economically bad the traffic was as an investment for the Dominion, the speaker stated that the bill for all the factory workers last year was £500,000 less than the amount paid away by the people in liquor during the same period. Quoting statistics the speaker stated that 5,000 convictions for first offences of drunkenness had been registered in the Dominion during last year, and yet there were people who asserted that young New Zealand did not drink. , The Commissioners of Lunacy discovered that the increase in lunacy during the past* fifty years had been two and a half times the rate of increase in the population, an appalling fact. The speaker paid a high tribute to the good work done by Mr George R. Sims in his articles entitled "The Cry of the Children," wherein it had been shown that tens of thousands of mothers in London were bringing up their children in an atmosphere of drink. Mr Taylor referred in strong terms to the public house as an institution for employment. What trade was there besides the liquor trade where the law said that the business was so deadly that children under thirteen were not allowed to make purchases at the counter, or Maori women were not to be served? Time and again those who engaged in the liquor traffic had been denounced from the Magisterial Bench and other sources as having within their ranks perjurers in their own interests, and yet never a word

of protest had been raised in reply. The speaker gave details of a case of roll stuffing which he had been successful in moving the Justice Department to sheet home to a South Island hotelkeeper. He also read a lengthy newspapw extract of a letter written by a publican charged with a breach of the Licensing Act wherein the publican had endeavoured to suborn a witness to perjure himself on behalf of the publican. Yet in spite of this "the trade" declared that the only perjury committed was in No-License areas. In scathing terms the speaker denounced the controverting of the facts regarding the results of NoLicense in Invercargill and Ashburton by the advertisements being inserted in North Island papers. He ptated that while the figures published in the trade's advertisements as to the amount of liquor imported into No-License districts was, actually for the five years and nine' months that No-License had been established,'the figures were made to appear as if the returns were for one year only. Then again, the liquor sent into Invercargill was for the several, licensed districts, and it was made to appear as if the figures represented the amount taken into the NoLicense areas. In the Bankruptcy and Police Court returns similar "faking" was done by "the trade," who were fighting desperately to win back Ashburton. Mr Taylor traversed at length statements attributed by "the trade" to various well-known people in favour of license, showing how such statements were shibboleths which reacted on the persons making them. The Gisborne "lambing-down" case furnished the speaker with material for strong criticism, and he lauded the Gisborne "Times" for its courageous action. Reference was made to the fact that "the trade" now left off quoting Clutha as an argument against No-License, for the reason that after fifteen years of trial the residents of that district had found the experiment a complete success. Referring to the letter signed "A.H.," which appeared in the Wairarapa Age on Saturday, the speaker ridiculed the idea that Masterton would be ruined because it would lose a paltry £3OO in hotel license fees. Such a presumption was a libel on the town, while it WdS equally absurd to assert that the hotels would become tenantless, as in Invercargill the same predictions had been completely falsified. Mr Taylor closed a vigorous speeeh of nearly two hours duration with a fervent appeal to his hearers to "strike out the top line."

One question was sent up, and that had reference to an incident Mr Taylor quoted in his speech, when he stated that the trade were publishing a letter signed "Mother of the Boy," containing untrue statements of fact, and also suppressing some of the truth of the case. The questioner had had the letter ser/t to him with insufficient stamps upon it, and he asked if Mr Taylor believed in such tactics. The speaker replied that the device was on a par with the others rpsorted to by "the trade." Mr J. McGregor proposed and Mr C. E. Daniell seconded, a hearty vote of thanks to the speaker. The latter said that as a business man he appealed to other business men to resist the pressure which he knew was being applied in the matter of the license question, and vote on the subject as free men. He stated that in a short time the people of Masterton would be called upon to defend the action of a police officer who had done his duty. (Applause). The vote of thanks was carried by acclamation, also one to the Mayor. The meeting closed with cheers for No-License and for Mr Taylor.