The Wairarapa Daily MONDAY, JUNE 1, 1891.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3824, 1 June 1891, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily MONDAY, JUNE 1, 1891.

The people of Sydenham. Oamaru, and Master ton are in favour of prohibition, that is, a majority of them, through the ballot box, have declared that it is good for the communities of which they form the larger proportion. We are face to face with a new socialistic movement which is perhaps ts important as either the Salvation Army or the Trades Unions. Prohibition in the past has been regarded lightly, in the present we are compelled to look upon it as a live and important factor. What will be its future ? We have been accustomed to regard Temperance Societies as mutual admiration assemblies, where a good deal was said and very little was accomplished. Now the Temperance Societies seem to have fallen into line as Prohibitionists, , and to have been recruited by large numbers of outside sympathisers, till it is found that in important and populous districts they constitute a majority of the adult male residents. The question which will now have to be faced is whether the Prohibitionists will seek to rule the coußtry. If prohibition is good for Sydenham, Oamaru, and Masterton, it is also good for Wellington, AucklanJ, and Dunedin. Why should Masterton hotels be closed and Wellington public houses remain open? This is a question which will have to be faced in the Assembly and decided. It is very unlikely that the Colony will long remain contented for one area to be a closed district and the next one, an open district. Assuming that the six Masterton hotels were now closed the borough would lose £240 a year in license fees, but probably the JRoad Board would encourage a corresponding number of licenses to be granted on the outskirts of the town with a view-to appropriate the revenue surrendered by the town. This would give rise to considerable friction! Difficulties of this kind would crop up which would absolutely force the House of Representatives to intervene and either cancel the present local option act or make prohibition compulsory all over the Colony. It is I pretty evident that when another} general election comes "prohibition" I will throw into the shade the "labor" I \ cry, which was the tramp card last],

year. A. politician anxious for a seat could not possibly, overlook the fact that a majority of the people in the principal centre of this elector- j ate had declared in favor of prohibition. Even Mr Hogg, if he stood; again, would be almost compelled to adopt prohibition colors, because the Knights of Labor are pledged to this policy, and he could not afford j to let some other candidate annex his old supporters. We in common with many others are only just beginning to wake up to realise that prohibition is a new factor in politics, which, like Aaron's rod, will swallow up all the rest. Of course it is possible that the Temperance party, though the game be in their hands, may mull it, but we have more respect for their intelligence and organisation than we had this day last week, and if they are equally capable tacticians in other districts of New Zealand as in Masterton it is quite possible for the prohibitionists to sweep the colony. Movements of this kind have succeeded over larger areas and populations in th 9 United States, but we thought that New Zealand was about twenty years behind America in the temperance movement. However, it appears that in this colony the temperance organisation is no longer toberegarded as "the ugly duckling." It has suddenly become a swan! Whether a black or white swan remains to be seen I