INVERCARGILL FROM WITHIN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2230, 24 October 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

INVERCARGILL FROM WITHIN.

LOCAL PROHIBITIONISTS IN

DUNEDIN

(From (the ‘ 'Southland Daily News”, October 2.) (Published by arrangement.) A most> successful prohibition rally took place in the Early Settlors-' Hall, Dunedin, on 'Wednesday evening, when Messrs. J.-J. Wesney and J., S. Baxter, of Invercargill, lectured on the no-license question, explaining how it was carried .in Invercargill and what had been) its -result. The lecturers met with a splendid hearing from the '2OOO present, and much enthusiasm was manifested. A few interruptions from the back of (the hall occurred, but the Jtharrman (Rev. W. Slade) deserves great kudos for the able manner in which he controlled the meeting. Mrs. Harrison Lee was -also present, and her address caused no small amount of interest. From the enthusiasm expressed there is no doubt that the No-license party in Dunedin received a great fillip as a result of this meeting.

In introducing the speakers, the chairman expressed great pleasure at welcoming them, and said that those present had heard many astonishing reports from far countries, but now they would get them from a near country, where .they could verity them for themselves. The speakers wore business men in Invercargill, who had devoted their strength and money to the cause. They had. given their time, energy, iand money to this work, and they were voluntary witnesses to the effect of uolicense in Invercargill. Both speakers were of higthstanding, and were not afraid of having their statements published, and ho even understood that many people in Invercargill had voted for no-license because that was on Mr. Baxter’s side.

Mr. Wesney, in coming forward to speak, was , received with loud applause, excejit from the back of tiie iiall, where an antagonistic party were in command. Me said that it was a great pleasure to speak in a city ii'ke lnmedin, and with such an old iriend in Mr. blade as chairman. Mr. Wesney said it was a great factor to be able to point to America and say chat fully a seventh of the people there were living in territory governed by prohibition law, but people said tnat- America was very far off, and what ivas being'done near at home ? In Invercargill tnere was an object lesson as regards the merits or demerits of no-license. He would place before them the conditions before the last poll, -and, first he would say that there were originally 34 pubiicnouses. Under the Act of 1881 they were greatly reduced, first by 7 and then by and when no-license came into force there were only 16 left. With every publichouse that was closed they reckoned on 20 votes being left out —those of the hotelkeeper, his wife, and certain relatives, -the servants, and their brothers and sisters, and also the mortgagee. (Laughter.) Therefore, if they knocked out a publichouse tpey knocked out 20 votes. At- last election they found they had carried a majority of 1331 votes (applause) three-, filths, with nine votes to spare. It might be of interest to them to know how this success was achieved. It was the result of a great- deal of organisation and work. In Dunedin there had always been a good deal of work, but in Invercargill no one was missed. They had conveyances ready to lead them to the polling booth, and they had the satisfaction of knowing that they had done good work. One of the great problems they had had to meet was to- obtain not only those in favor of no-license, but those in higlu positions, the merchants, doctors, and other leading men. They •were able to do it* througli tlie Gliristian Endeavour Society, (interruption.) A meeting was organised, and the young people of the Society were, able to obtain the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, the chairman of the Bluff Harbor Board, a mayor, schoolmasters and others. The meeting was held on the Sunday evening berore the poll and the building was packed from end to end. There were people there who had never been at such a meeting before, and who would probably never be at such. a one again, and the president of the Society took the chair. There were gentlemen on the platform —business men—and they all gave their allegiance to the no-license cause and gave it- the tliree-filths majority. What a splendid thing it would be if such a meeting could be organised in Dunedin on the Sunday before the poll. (Applause.)Would the leadin ct men be afraid to do it ? Mhy should they be afraid to go on the platform? In Invercargill they could hardly find one man who strongly advocated the “pubs”—they were all silent. One of the first things noticeable on the disappearance of the bars ■was tlie disajipearance ot all the loafers iand the liangeis on at the street corners. (Loud applause.) They disappeared from. the streets like magic, and went into other electorates (laughter) and to-day, one of the first- things one would notice was tlie -absence of the loafer, the lounger, and the liangeron. Many statements had been made that no-license was a failure in Invercargill, but the experience of Invercargill would altogether controvert those statements. It reminded him ot the fytory of the man who, as a lastresource, put his hand clown ’ho tiger’s throat and, pulling his tail, turned him inside out. (Loud laughter.) It had been said that if nolicense were carried land would go down, but when the Government valuer went round nine months afterwards it was found that the value had gone up £139,904 (applause) and, laterf another increase of £41,420 and that very morning the Town Clerk had told him that the Government valuer had prophesised that there ■would be a great increase this year. (Applause.) Did they put,that down to no-license? No, it was one of a„ number If the Invercargill land valSes wSt hp to £139,940, what was to prevent them from going lip in punetlin too ? Again-, they said that if they Closed the hotels they would spoili the properties, but taking, the g miblichouscs m Invercargill, this was Kt the case. The Albion was an hotel three stories- high ancl rm<le. licence was bringing only P ei ” . e . With sub-rental it was now bringing m £2l Then- there was the Imperial, and'£6 a week under license liccame £B. Then came the reliable Club Hotel, which the proprietor, as he did not think , license would come . again (and there was n°t a ghost of l chance aHfc. fiWg

. j sold the goodwill for £IOOO, a most | satisfactory figure. Opponents said that if licenses were taken away the rates would increase to make up the loss on licenses. This was a difficult question at the time, because one coukTnot say what would happen. The loss from tlie licenses meant a drop of £875 co the revenue, and there was loss contemplated on gas and, strange to say, water. (Laughter.) However, the Mayor, shortly before Iris election, told his constituents that although the licenses liad ceased, he values had gone up so much that the rates' would not be increased. (Applause.) The general revenue increase was £IOB2, while gas and. water, instead of showing a decrease, increased £560 and £413 respectively. The corporation added two men to their staff, increased the wages of employees and added £SO to tlie Mayor’s salary. He should advise Dunedin, should the question of rates bo brought up, to remember Invercargill. Again it had been said that if they closed the bars the travelling piiblic would suffer. Well, when Mr. Harnett, of football fame, made the statements they all knew, the Mayor asked the inspector to make an inspection of the condition of the boarding-houses, and his report stated that the boarding-houses were now as good as, and in somo cases better than, under their former circumstances. Should anyone go ti Invercargill, they would find Mr. Harnett’s calumny to bo unwarreTited. The next statement to be considered was that which said that there was more liquor consumed under no-license. (Cries of “So there is!”) Supposing that to bo tlie ease, what would be the net result? Decreased drunkenness? No. In the year preceding no-license there were 145 drunks, while last year there wore only 83. Therefore the cause was the bars, and it was the bars that- the no-license people were fighting. (Applause.) It was the bar they wanted to close, what they had closed, and what they , intended to close in the future. They did not admit that there was more liquor drank under no-license and he was prepared to prove there was not. In his circle in Invercargill there were two brewers and all the publicans, and he had asked one of the brewers whether there was less beer consumed now than was the case under the old system.' (Interruption.) The reply was that most of it went to the adjourning electorates. (Applause.) Again 250 hogsheads per month that used to come down from Dunedin, did not do so now. While on the one hand Invercargill "was a no-license area, on the other hand it was the Customs centre for the adjoining electorates. The total quantity of beer on which excise duty was paid in Invercargill two years before no-license was 240,240 gallons, and in addition to this the 250 hogsheads per month (282,120 gallons per annum) came from Dunedin. For the two years of no-license, according to the returns presented to Parliament, only 114,673 gallons went into the electorate. The duty on imported whisky, wines, an dales showed a decrease of £3855 6s, but what about the other imports? This was the actual position of tilings following on two years of no-license. The total increase of imports had amounted to £286,167, or an increase of over a quarter of mil- , lion of money (loud applause). During ' the same period, in Dunedin, the total increase in the value of imports was £734,777, while the duty on imported liquor increased £23,430, the duty and excise being proportionately 31 per cent, on the value of tlie imports. In proportion to the increase in Dunedin, Invercargill’s increase in duty and excise should have been about £9250, out instead there had been a decrease of £3324 6s. Someone had said that there should be no beer in Invercargill at all, but by law they could have it in their homes and it could not _do much harm there. There were 12,507 people in Invercargill, and if the total amount of beer consumed were divided up, it would produce three pints per month each. As the boys and girls did not drink the consumption among adults would be 5 pints per month each. Deleting the women the 4000 men- would be entitled to .9* pints per month (interruption). Again, taking 2575 who voted for continuance in Invercargill, the beer would give them half a pint per day. During the two years that had elapsed since no-license was carried only six persons who had been charged with drunkenness obtained the liquor in Invercargill. (Applause.) During September only two people lrad been charged with drunkenness, in August only four, and in June and July seven —a total of 13, and not one of them got the beer in Invercargill. (Loud applause.) He ventured to say that should Dunedin carry no-license, the same would take place there. In conclusion, he asked those present, in the spirit of manhood, to put down the cursed drink. (Loud applause.) Mr Baxter, for the most part, contented himself with the relation of numerous ‘’distress” cases that had come under liis own personal experience, with particular reference to the East Road outrage, and with satirical references to the liquor party and their “chaplain, but not champion, leader.” They had, no doubt, heard a lot about the sly-grog in Invercargill, but while the fines’ in Invercargill had fo rone year amounter to £45, m Dunedin the amount was £290, and in Wanganui £125. In Invercargill the consumption of beer per head, per annum, was 4% gallons, but in licensed areas ,it_ran. to 10-J gallons, and if the whole colony were as abstemious a® Invercargill the drink bill would go down £2,000,000 per annum. (Applause.) Their esteemed ’friend, Mr. Thompson had been worrying himself about the birth rate (laughter) but he did not know what that had to do wih no-license. (Laughter.) However, the number of-births in no-licensed areas last year %d far exceeded any previous year —it was a record and there had never been anything like it before. It proved that children did not object to be born in a no-license area. I (Laughter.) Business men said that Invercargill was the soundest city in the Dominion and the savings bank accounts had gone up from £285,000 before no-license to £405,000. after. (Applause.) There was no jostling now on the streets on Saturday nights and the hospital authorities cases (such as D.T’s.) had gone down greatly (applause). The ministers said that the moral tone had inuch improved, and the Salvation Army stated that self-denial week showed a marked increase in the returns.. (Applause.) Mr, Baxter closed amidst applause, with a passionate appeal that Dunedin should realise the degradation of®bhe drink traffic, vote against it, and work enthusiastically for its abolition;

MARVELLOUS VICTORIA FALLS.

THEY /AllE TWICE AS HIGH AS NIAGARA AND 'ALMOST „ THREE TIMES AS WIDE.

(By Frank Carpenter, in the ‘‘New

Orleans Times-Democrat.”)

I have .been wandering for days about the Niagara of Africa. Its awful wonders grow upon me and I am appalled at its grandeur. Away off here in the 'vilds of the black continent, far below the equator, several hundred miles south of Lake Tanganyika, as far liorth of Cape Town as Galveston is distant from New York, hundreds of miles west of the Indian Ocean, and still farther from the Atlantic, is one of the grandest natural features of old .Mother Earth. It is the falls of the mighty Zambesi, one of the greatest rivers of the globe. It has been compared to the falls of Niagara. Now that I have seen .both, I find it almost impossible to liken one to the other. Each is of its own kind, and each beyond description beautiful. From the point of striking views, and. as a raging • uvulsion of nature, I should call Victoria Falls by far tho greater. The two may be compared to a play. Niagara is a drama with but one act. Victoria is equally .great, but of many acts and many scenes, eacli of which has features of its own. As to the volume of water, the Niagara Falls probably surpass those of the Zambesi, for over them pours the watershed of half a continent. Iho great basin of Lake Superior is COO feet above -the Atlantic, and almost one-third of its drop is at Niagara. Tho Zambesi has its source in a swamp which lies a mile above the sea, and its waters haVe already fallen 2000 feet in their course of SOO miles before they make their mighty drop into this basaltic gorge. The. falls of the Zambesi are twice as broad and more than twice as high as Niagara. The river is two miles wide above the falls, and it narrows to a mile where it plunges straight down over the cliffs into a gorge which is more than 400 feet deep. 1 heard the thunder of its waters when I was more than ten miles distant, and the spray, which rises up in five great columns, can be seen fifty miles away. The natives call the falls “Thundering Smoke,” and they are said to worship them. IN THE HEART OF THE WILDERNESS.

Of these two mighty wonders of nature ,tliat of the Zambesi has by far the best natural setting. Niagara has been destroyed by commercialism. One goes al o iig its gorge in an electric trolley ;upon landing lie is fought for by guides and hotel keepers, and the peddler and fee hunter tags at his heels. The manufacturing cities of Buffalo and Toronto foul the air with their smoke, and the factories which use the power turn the sublime into the sordid. Victoria Falls is in the heart of a wilderness. It is surrounded by a forest filled with monkeys, baboons, antelopes and other wild game. There are birds of strange plumage in the trees, and the great river itself has many hippopotami. Standing here wooded. With a powerful glass you can see nothing but ibis vast expanse of green, broken only by the windings of the gorge at your feet, and by the pillars of mist which rise dike the vapor from five volcanoes until lost in the low-hanging clouds. Tim only settlements near the 1 alls are Livingstone, which is seven miles off, and the group of iron bungalows which comprise the hotel, the railroad station and the post office. Everything is in .harmony with the surroundings, and it is the intention of the people to keep it so. AH the land within a radius of five miles of the falls has been set aside as a public park, which is to be left as nature made it. Outside that radius is another of fifteen miles on one side tho river, and on the other a block of forest fifty miles square, which will prevent farms or buildings _of any kind marring the falls. In these woods no shooting is allowed. I have met droves of monkeys as I wandered from fall to fall, and at times have made my way in the very tracks in which hippopotami had travelled the night before. RAILROADS AND HOTELS.

Notwithstanding all this, .the Zambesi Falls may be seen with almost as many comforts as Niagara. There are now trains de luxe, witli dining cars, observation cars and bathing accommodations, which brin" one from Cape Town or .Beira; and the little hotel here, although it is built of galvanized iron, is almost equal to those at Niagara in comfotts and prices. All the rooms are on the ground floor, and some are well furnished. I have a suite of four, including a parlor, dressing room, bedroom and bathroom. My apartment is lighted by electricity and is cooled by an electric fan. The parlor is, carpeted, and it boasts a piano. • The rate I pay for myself and son is lodols per day, which is not extravagant, considering that we are far off in the wilds. • As to our meals, wo have three, every day, and in addition a cup of coffee on .rising, and an afternoon tea. Our table waiters are natives in uniform, and our chambermen are black boys in white gowns. ON THE ZAMBESI BRIDGE.

But come with mo and take a look at the falls. We shall first stroll down to the Zambesi bridge which crosses the gorge through which'"the mighty river flows after it leaves tho falls. You liavo .probably heard of this bridge. It is tlie highest in the world and one of the biggest. It was made in England, and brought out here in sections and put together. It is 400 feet above the water, and it jumps from rock to rock i f n a span of 550 feet. The spray falls iipon the cars of the Cape to Cairo railroad as they •pass over it; and travellers will have a glimpse of tlio falls as they go by. Standing upon this bridge a great tower or mass of green rock rises before us. .It bisects, as it were, the narrow gorge, and the whole flood of the Zambesi .boils and seethes below. The waters are yellow and they look like a vat of steaming molasses. Opposite the tower is a mass of green far down in a seepne] gorge. Is is made up of palms and other trees. It is known as the palm kloof, and is a great botanical garden kept only by nature, and infested with, and baboons. It contains date, trees, tree ferns, baobabs and a junglo. of smaller trees. TEtE EASTERN FALLS. Leaving the bridge, we tako our (irpt view of the cataract froni its

‘eastern end. Tho way is along green paths, under g-rcon trees* wlxeiv the Jj&ftnd is <?o level that not see MIN until \&t are ease to them. fupon us all at <micc% It'nb€ashing over the rocks, falling hundredsjjOf feet, striking with a noise like a Jannonade of artillery. Hero the liiistJs so dense tliat,wo ca*. only see offe! distance across, Tho falls are over a mile wide; and we can hardly catch sight of Livingstone Island, which lies in the centre. Notice the rainbows? The sun is slnnin" through the foam. There are rainbows above and below us. Wt> can see some in. the great gorge. One, a thousand feet long, has stretched itself from wall to wall, about 300 feet under where we are standing. It is a perfect bow and its colors are more gorgeous than those of any raftibow I have ever seen, A child stood here the other day and asked her father why men did not lower themselves down by ropes over tlio rocks and get thp-great bags of gold which the fairies say are always found at the ends of the rainbow. ON LIVINGSTONE ISLAND.

The most remarkable view of Victoria falls is from Livingstone Island, which divides the Zambesi in its centre. This island is on the very edge of the falls, and when tho rver is high there is hardly a perceptible mark of division, the great cascade of a mile wido going clown, in one mighty sheet'. It was upon this island that David Livingstone took his first view of the cataract in 1855. He readied -tho island from tho upper Zambesi, coming down in. a canoe. While there Ixo cut iliis initials a net tlio clato of his discovery upon a tree, and tho letters and figures are still to be seen. It is said that lie also planted an orchard, but if s 0 this has long since •been eaten up by hippopotami. Tlio trip to Livingstone Island is so dangerous that it should only be made when tho river is low. It is now much too high for safety, and had I been aware of tlio danger, i should not have thought of making the trip. As it was, wo several times -narrowly escaped going over the falls, and upon our return the negro boys who paddled us had to get out and lift the canoe through certain of the shallow rapids to keep us out of the current. As it is, I esteem the excursion one of the greatest experiences of my life. I am, however, much like the proud Texas father who was strutting along the street the morning after his eleventh baby was born. He acted as though he owned the earth, and when asked what he thought of the new arrival, replied : “Well, I would not take a thousand dollars for this one, but 1 would not give a nickel for another.” THE UPPER ZAMBESI. The Zambesi above the falls is two miles wide. Iff is full of green islands, which are covered with a dense growth of papyrus and small trees. The 'banks are low and we saw tho spoor of many hippopotami as we made our way up tlie river. We did not attempt "to cross until we were perhaps a mile above the fails, and we rode in our canoe far out into the stream before we attempted to steer ourselves down to the island. W hen we started the water was quiet. The current was swift, however, -and the vapor of the falls could be seen rising in clouds. We had four canoe men, half naked blacks with bracelets on their arms and bands of brass wire tied about their legs between the knee and the calf. As wo made our way on into the stream we could see little droves of hippopotami swimming about. They looked much like the rocks, and it was not until they raised up their black heads that we knew what they were. Our ooatmen were afraid of them and' wo paddled off to one side. }Ye went by one beast which threw its head high into the air and opened its mouth almost in our faces. It looked as though a side of beef had been split apart and opened in two halves. Iho teeth were as big around as my wrist, aiid I could see the great white tusks imbedded in the red jaws. When wo reached the middle of tfic river the canoemen stopped paddling and began to steer. Our speed increased as we went down and we had great trouble making our way through the rocks. We soon came into the lino of the spray. It fell down like rain. The thunder of the waters was now so great that wo had to yell to make ourselves heard, and at times we seemed to be rushing right into tho Devil’s Cascade. After a number of narrow escapes we fought our way out of the current and came to tho black rocks of Livingstone Island. Here we fastened the boat and waded through the woods and across the pools to the knife edge of rock over which the Zambesi pours in its mighty cataract.

IN THE MIDST OF THE FALLS. If. you could double tlie height of Niagara and make it twice its width and then imagine yourself standing in tlio centre upon a space barely wido enough for your feet with the raging torrent oil either side, you might have my position as I stood there in the midst of tho Zambesi. I was on a little section of bare black rock in the heart of that mighty cascade. All around, above and below me was a anist so thick that I could see beyond it only when the wind came and blew it away. The water rose in great clouds, dropping down in a warm rain which, notwithstanding my .rubber’ coat, drenched me to the skin. There were times when I could not see ten feet in front of mo. Then tlie mist would break, and 1 looked down into the bottomless pit filled with steam, which rose up m clouds and extonded for a half mile into the sky. .1 tried to take notes, but the rain poured down, upon my paper, obliterating the pencil marks and- washing them off as fast as I made them. ' . . " Holding tight to the rocks, I picked my way along the knife edgo of the falls as far as I could, looking down, now and then into the gorgo, as the wind 'blew away the rain. It was like peeping into an inferno, a howling, foaming, raging hell, that needed" only brimstone and flame to lit it for the devil and tho damned. I did not are look long for fear an insano ■desire might come-and'make me jump' down into, that, boiling _ mass—down, clown, down into that wide gorge, up which the winds were hurling those clouds of spray, ; Going hadk, we had-a hard struggle to get to land. The current' down', which wo floated was impassable, and it was tough work t 0 reach the places : where the river was shallow. ißy wading and pushing,, paddling and fighting the rocks, wo at last got into , smooth water, and tired out, came tyaofc tkp ]io,uk§ whore, wp started* '