THE PROHIBITION PLEDGE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 17 October 1912, Page 3

THE PROHIBITION PLEDGE.

ITi) The Editor.] With kind {icruns-.:on, • . : ; ko refer to a:; ;a - .ioU*. •»,.'arcci i:-j tho Waira.apa -tge u>. ( jai-alu-r (th, in reference to the pledge." Now Sir, I «!o riot kn<r.v who is simple; hut this I do know, that a man v.-ho is returned to Parliament is sent there to represent tho people and to do his bo'-.t tcarry out their wishes, and if ho does not carry out the same, in my liion he is net vvor',h voting for. At last election the people of this Do in { in ion demonstrated their wishes in n f very strong manner, In fifteen years 1 tho Temperance Party has grown I from almost nothing, until now out of the half-million votes they coin- , mand a majority of (53.296 votes. The eecnt elections showed that in 76 licen. sing districts there were only eight which gave a majority against National -Prohibition. Tire number of votes they could muster against tho movement averaged only 146 for each j electorate, whilst in tho other Go electorates, the number in favoir- J averaged 559 for each electorate. If tho iniquitous three-iifths majority had not operated against tlje Tern-' _ perance Party, the Trade would have i been wiped out from the North Cape to the Bluff. This is not due to fana- > ticism,' but is the result of the steady I i growth of public opinion against the i h liquor traffic, The people of the Do- ■ minion know the harm drink is working in their land, and they have set themselves sternly and quietly to rid [ tho country of the dreadful curse, fi .It simply means this, that there will be war on both sides, and in my opi- / ~ nio-n wo will have to use some of the I weapons used by our opponents ;,t I last election and, secondly, I main ■ tain there is no reason, nor is it the > intention of the N.Z. Alliance or any. one else to disfranchise themselves If there are three candidates in the field, and neither will pledge them- s selves to vote for reduction for the ! I three-fifths majority on the liquor " question, it will be an easy matter tc H find a candidate who will; especially in these day,s when every other rnnn g you meet is a politician. There are plenty of good men who will come , ''j forward if they are promised a sub- ( stantial vote. We are not going t,e c , allow* the. shadows of the past to obscure the hopes of the future. So tl much for the day before yesterday The outlook to-day is not cloudless J r ] but it is immensely clearer than :M has ever been. This is not a cinf-s-- j- ( tion for the Aillia ; nce alone, but r question between man and woman especially fathers and mothers. To day woman is being given real power, political and social. She is gaining || the vote, a.nd how to use it. and the ffl vote is the greatest- weapon she can m rise for the uplifting of society. .To- M; day in New Zealand woman has many of the rights which her sisters else-/ jj where are struggling to win, and 1 I j retain we woidd bo more than /. foolish did we not. exercise our nrivi- ( leges. % Tfc it only by party vote wo | can hope to win against the brewers' gold.—l am, etc., NELLIE M.TLLISR. Perry St., Masterton, October 14th. (We have bee-n compelled to excise I portions of our correspondent's looter. So far ac. the pledge is concerned, wo maintain that it is offering a J gi-atuitous insult to intelligent men I and women to ask them to surrender | ail pt-hcr considerations and pledge themselves to vote for the candidate who undertakes to reduce the licensing majority. It was only the other day that the leaders of the Licensing Party themselves fought for the three-fifths majority. There- are many conscientious politicians who believe, that to secure stability the 1 ) three-fifths majority is necessary. We, ourselves, favour the bare-ma- I jority. But we would not pledge our- | selves to vote lor a candidate who supported the bare majority unless that candidate possessed sufficient qualifications as a politician. Would our correspondent pledge herself to vote for a gambler, a revolutionist, a political hucksterer, an opportunist, an atheist, simply 'because jio pledges himself to vote for a reduction on the licensing issue, while his clean-living, . able opponent favours the three-fifths majority? That is what the pledge asks men and' women to do. Wo contend that it would be simply madnofss for people to -surrender their franchise to such a proposition.—Ed. . Age.)