MASTERTON UNDER NOLICENSE.

White Ribbon, Volume 22, Issue 255, 18 September 1916, Page 14

MASTERTON UNDER NOLICENSE.

One of the l\iliuers\on North papers sent a reporter to Mfcsterton to judge of the success or otherwise of NoLicense in Masterton. The result was a serie. of articles wfitten for the “Dunedin Star,’' from which the following is taken:— Conclusions. The general results of ray investigations into No-License and its effects as seen at the present day in Masterton may be summarised thus: 1. It has resulted in the decrease in the use of alcohol to about one-fourth of the average per head in the Dominion. 2. There is an unquestionably steep decrease in all offences against the law. 3. The town is just now in a higher state of solid prosperity than ever before in its history. Once it had settled down after the first shock of change, progress has been steady and substantial. 4. The accommodation for the travelling public has not been adversely affected. 5. The sly-grog trade is not large, and is steadily on the wane. 6. As no organised effort has been made to provide congregating places to take the place of the b.irs, the town lacks something of brightness and of cheer. 7. The townships of the neighbouring License areas have not benefited in any way as a result of No-License in Masterton. These conclusions are the plain truth, and are the result of an investigation conducted with all the impartiality that I could bring to bear on my task. My bias certainly did not lie at the outset towards the No-License side. 1 have never been a teetotaller, and so far have never voted Prohibition. I dislike and distrust the motives of that section of the No-License party wno are in the movement mostly with the obvious hope that the hotel takings will be diverted to their businesses. I believe that the only true measure of human progress is the growth of human fellowship, and there is something coldly lacking in that respect among the leaders of the No-License campaign. I find more beauty in a faultless three-year-old thoroughbred than in the most perfect rose in a church garden, and the spectacle of good horses fighting in the

firing line at the finish of a mile handicap gives me more intensity of enjoyment than any other sight on earth. I can claim, therefore, that I must not be credited with any party feelings when I set out on my quest. I have set out the facts exactly as I found them, and precisely as they appeared to me.