THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1912 PROHIBITION IN MAINE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10523, 11 January 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1912 PROHIBITION IN MAINE.

During; till© recent licensing campaign in New" Zealand, a good deal of 'stress was'-laid upon the fact that Miaine, in tihe (Jmted States, liad turned against the prohibitory claxises of the State Constitution. Mr Arthur Sher"Well. M.P., wJio§e waitings with r'efiaird to temperance reform' are widely Known, say® that the .poll has created a position of great difficulty and embarrassment for the -authorities. "A majority of 700 in a total poll of 120,948,," lie' states, "is clearly not a sufficient mandate for a drastic law , which previous experience has conclusively slwnvn cannot be enforced successfully in the urban districts of Maine." Plrior to September t3ite friends (of tiio law tmikl claim that it had behind it the authority of 70,783 votes out of a total .of 9-1,594 cast in 1884, when it was last subimiitited to a referendum of the people. But with the voters evenly divided and the verdict of the towns "overw'helimiingly against the law," (successful enforcement of .prohibition on 'a State basis "wou'id appear to be impossible." 'Mir Slier well's analysis of the (returns siliows that of the 20 small cities and towns in Maine 19 Save majorities for the repeal of Me prohibitory clause, uatnd one endorsed ithe law by a majority of only 96 votes. The larger centres cast* 41,633 votes, <27,053 in favour of repeal and 14,670 against. Mr .Sherwell's opinion is that a system of local option isi much preferable to a scheme that "overrides local opinion and imposes a remedy ■which is deliberately eviaded or ignored." "The vote in Maine," he says, "lemphasi&es afresh tbhe difficult problem of the town. Jt points, as all prohibition experience points, to the wisdom and necessity of a ibroad policy lof inform which wall make progress possible along lines suited to the varying conditions and meeds of different communities. It is not wise for any refonmier, and least of all a. temperance reformer, to attempt to stereotype the methods of reform." Commenting on the above, the Lyttelton Times says:— "Mir SSlierwell, will be disappointed to find that New Zealand has showm a. disposition to turn from local option to national prohibition, though no dJouhit he will realise that the Dominion and the American State do not supply parallel cases. His own inclinations are towards some form of State or muni dual control of the liquor traffic,, ia.net we have no doubt ourselves that this will be tlie ulti.mate solution of an extremely difficult social problem. In the meantime the great majority of (reformers, arc working hlong different lanes, and we do not wish /to prejudice their efforts by introducing another issuo; but we can see no reason 'why 'State Control' should not /take the place of 'Kledaictdon' on. the ballot paper and t>e submitted to the eleotors with 'Nolicense' and 'Continuance' under ft system of preferential voting."-