THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1910. WHAT THE ALLIANCE DEMANDS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10080, 28 June 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1910. WHAT THE ALLIANCE DEMANDS.

"The time would come when every sane person in the Dominion would say that the trade must cease." This j remark was made by Mr G. H. Poole, M.P., in the course ef a speech delivered to a large gathering on Sunday evening la«t, in Wellington. The sentence appears in brief form the belief of the Prohibition Party, and Mr Poole might have added, "and we believe that that time is near at hand." The result of tie Convention shows clearly that the Prohibition Party is not prepared to accept any compromise.,, whatever, and that it intends to pursue the objective which it has always reaily had in view, viz., the securing of prohibition throughout the Dominion.. "The broken pact," as it was termed, is now certs inly a matter of the past—-there is not the leßst prospect that it will be revived agair, and instead of a -.proposition involvipg the principle'of "the lion, lying doW with the ijfmb,." wV : fiave v .a l( fiehting platform jfcat indicates both courage" ancf- determination' on the" partof tfife Prohibitionists. It also mcizateamora,,for i£ the Prohibition 1

Paity wera not confident In themselves of success they would not advocate a bare majority poll on the occasion of the next General Election. In an interview which Mr A. S. Adams, ex-President of the Alliance, has had with a Wellington pressman, he stated, inter alia—"ln effect the resolutions formulate a demand for a special vote on Do"hiinion Prohibition on the day of the next general election. If carried, thiamin have full effect, but the demand does not include successive polls. By this 1 mean that the demand is for one pull only, to be taken at next election, leaving future polls to be a subject of future legislation >t deshed. The vote is to be taken on separate papers, and counted entirely apart from the local option poll. The required majority is to be ascertained by a reference to the total number of effective votes recorded on the Dominion prohibition issue alone. The party reaffirms its demands for a settlement of both local option and Dominion prohibition issues by a" bare majority and the passing of all the amendments dealiu<r with local option law which were affirmed at the last annual convention in Christchurch in June, 1909. These inelude the abolition of bottle licenses, the suppression of the locker system, beer depots, and the various other evasi:ns of the law which have crept in in no-license districts. Ihe executive of the Alliance, together with a consultative committee consisting of leaders in | every part of the Dominion, are to draft a Bill to give effect to the above demands and take the necessary step-3 to secure their passage or to organise the party in anticipation uf next election." No-license-no liquor is certainly a logical and fair issue ta submit to the electors, and to Quarrel with the bare majority principle would be as sensible as to question the right of a democracy to make Its own laws. The other demands of the party, also, very largely amount to a no-license-no liquor issue being submitted in the case of local option polls. It is certainly a little curious that tae demands referred to shoulJ have come from a parly which objected so strenuously to the famous "clause nine," and from this fact it may be | concluded, as we have remarked, ti:at the Party believes Dominion Prohibition is well within the bounds of probability. Without discussing the qaesthn further it may be remarked that there are certainly stirring times ahead in connection with the liquor question, and the prohibition fight will exercise a greater influence than ever upon the general politics of the country,,