THE N.Z. ALLIANCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4775, 17 July 1894, Page 3

THE N.Z. ALLIANCE.

F *" The 7?et/. E. Walker at J Jlasterton, | The Rev. Edward Walker, of the N.Z. Alliance, addressed a public meeting at the Masterton Temper- \ ance Hall last evening, Mr G-. W. | : .' Woodrooffe presiding, His address iL. " was dovoted to a review of tho re|(Hi«iJ~ "uP the ..Prohibition i; movement.nndtoitspresentstrength :'i and prospects Ho gave an account \i of the Bills introduced last session, '■l dealing with the liquor question, ,; . ' seven in all, of which only the v Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act ''. became law, This Act was very fc' , defective, and unfair with respect to | theprovisionsfor voting, butit placed upon the Statuto Book the acknowledgement of the principle that all j V the people have the right to vote on j; .4* the liquor question, and that that ■; right oxtends to tho complete snpij' pression of licenses. In the late I '-' , * House of Parliamentthe liquor trado |—-*> was powcrfnlly represented, but at s the recent general election theHouso 1 was swept almost clean of this comj; pact body of trade supporters, j; arid a considerable numerical ac- | cession of strength was secured for the Prohibition party. The \ ' recent local option polls were p>' another, great indicator of the I public mind. Putting together | the whole of the Southland, Otago, ( and Canterbury, there were 1503 more votes for "No license" than for " Continuance" and" Reduction" 1 combined. Over the whole Colony I 41,000 votes were polled for the con-

tinnance of licenses, 15,000 for re.4k_k_, Jsptipn and 43,000 for" No license." The Cilyot Dunedin needed only 741 votes to carry'!" No license" and there were 1922 infoimal votes. If the majority of those who voted had determined tho issue, " No license" ■would-have beon carried in the folcowing electorates: - Awarua, Invercargill, Wallace, Mataura, Bruce, Taieri, Caversham, Dnnedin, Port . Chalmers, Waikonaito, Waihemo, „,; i Oamaru, Ashburton, Selwyn, Riccar- ;.','> ton, Kaiapoi, Waiapu, Thames, and jjrf "VVaitemata, nineteen districts in all. Therewere at present 700,000 people in the Colony and probably 30,000 who werenotold enough tovoteatthe recent elections would bevoters three years hence, a great hulk of whom would vote on the Temperance side. "What the Temperance Party now specially sought from Parliament

';' was that the triennial ballot papers -'■•"' V' should, until Colonial Prohibition ~••,. was earned, contain two simple questions only: "1, Do you favour the ■ if roposal that tho sale of liquor be T prohibited throughout the colony ? Yes—No.. 2. Do you favour the proposal that tlio salo of liquor be prohibited in your district? Yes—No." While tho whole licensing law was ■ - bjingoverhauledbytlieHouse,Bottle \ Licenses; New Zealand Wine, Condi- ■•';: tional, and -Railway Licenses, and '"*• Qi -■'•' licenses for small steamers trading in rivers and barbel's, might be suppressed by a legislative strokeof the pen, Otherimprovements might also bo effected, but the main demand was for untrammelled power for the people to suppress the liquor traffic, both locally and colonially. The Honse.kd already promised well by an example to the i county oy theprospectiye supprcs-liquor-selling at Bellamy's, • ; . and it was theconfident anticipation ': .■ of many who were noting the signs of the times, that the new century, six years hcnce,would be inaugurated ?■[ with Colonial Prohibition, Several ; ' questions were put to the lecturer and answered, a voto of thanks to the chair concluding tho meeting,