YOU

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Issue 41, 4 March 1899, Page 4

YOU

call prohibitionists ignorant onesided, fanatics do you '? \V\jll, it's a froa country ; but what paper do you read 1 A large daily. As none of the largo dailies suppp.i Piohibition, I ta,kd it that jou read all that can be said against Prohibition, six days a week. Wha,t do you read m support ot no license, the Prohibitionist ? Wouldn't look at such a onesided rag Do you read any prohibition joui'na! ? No. You then read all that can hi said foi' one side and nothing of the other. The average prohibitionist reads as the literature of his party, say the Prohibitionist published fortnight! v, and some of. the many woiks on various aspects of the liquor question. He reads a large dailv, necessarily ono hostile to his party, and so sees all that the liquor party can place before the public in opposition to no license. Who then is ignorant and onesided? That the ignorance and apathy blocking the way for no liceuso may be overcome, the Temperance Party has adopted the plan of purchasing columns in the various newspapers.

A Westport paper published a Temperance Column, and was boycotted by the local publicans in consequence. The following comment is from a Christchurch journal, which, while deploring the social evil, loses no chance of supporting a traffic which rescue woikers speak of as their great obstruction ; and publishes those advertisements nhich are the ruin of so many. "Why not? why should the Westport ptlb"licans suppoit a papei which publishes " matter inimical to then inteiests ? Thesa '■ ' I'empeiance Columns' aie paid foi, like " any othei adveitiseinent, and sometimes "aie as intempeiate in tone as the speeches "of the Pump oiatoi, If the Westpoit pub- " hems objected to allowing their ads to ap- " peai aide In side with the matter supplied " by the Prohibs, why should they be blamed ? "The Fiolubs would giowl loud enough if " their organ weie to publish a ' Biewera* " Column ' 01 a ' Wine and Spiut Column.' >r That last is untrue. The Prohibitionist, which has a circulation of thirty thousand, offered the Liquor Party free space in order to set forth the liquor side, and the offer was never accepted. If the Waitaki Licensed Victuallers Association will buy the column next to this, and do for its side what we are doing for ours in this column, the present writer is prepared to guarantee half a sovereign of the cost. We want to face facts in the open ; chasing liquor lies from ambush is tedious* work, ••

As a sample of the work clone for the liquor party by the daily papers, take the following, in the one column the Otago Daily Tunes version of the Canadian Prohibition Plebiscite, and in the parallel column the official i*eturns. Statement m Leader. Official Ee f urns. 1 The total vote 1. The total vote recorded was, in lound recoided w,xs, 278 477 numheis, 63,000 m in fa voiu and 204,552 favour of the proposal against, or a net proand, 51,000 against, or hibition majoiity of a maionty of 12,000 13,925. in favour of piohibition. 2. No less than 13 2. At the recent cities in Ontauo voted plebiscite there was a majontips for piohibi- inajonty of 39,224 for tion in 1894, while at piohibition in Onthe lecent plebiscite a tiuio. majonty ot 8200 was cast against piolnbition. 3. As a matter of 3. The total names fact only about one- on the voteis' list fouith ot those on the weie 1.255,077, and roll thought it worth the total votes rethen while to go to coided weie 542,9,53, the polling booths. or 43 per cent, of tbo possible vote-.. The plebiscite was taken as ad\ ice by the Government. The majoiity for Prohibition was proportionately larger than the majority cast for the piesent English, Government — ''The strongest Government of modern times.' 1 By the way 1 The women of Canada who were not permitted to VQte on thig occasion have, when voting formerly, cast six out ot seven votes agamst liquor-.

Look out for the Limelight Lecture cm May 16th.