THE PROHIBITION WAVE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2556, 17 July 1909, Page 2

THE PROHIBITION WAVE.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. The spread of prohioition principles over America, goes on unabated (writes the San Francisco correspondent of the “Melbourne Age.”) Long before this the. liquor interests expected the “craze” would have reached its apex and started to recede. So far from that being the case, not a month goes by but some State or county or city or town —some political unit, big or little —Votes to oust the traffic. There are to-day seven States enjoying what is known as “State-wide prohibition.” They are Maine, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. In those States the sale or manufacture of intoxicating liquors ds a crime. But in many other States the dry territory is considerable. For instance, the .prosperous and populous State of Ohio is 90 per cent, ary, and Illinois and Indiana and Kentucky are running Ohio close. The city of Chicago itself in half its wards enjoins the sale of intoxicants. Those who observe the working of the prohibition laws say that in these States, in which part is dry and part .wet, the anti-saloon laws are strictly obeyed. But in the southern States that are supjiosed to be absolutely prohibition a very lax .condition ■prevails. The New York “Sun” has been gathering reports -from its correspondents as to whether prohibition really prohibits. In tho “driest” States “blind tigers” (the American equivalent for “sly-grog shops”) abound; even in Georgia, the strongest prohibition State, it is stated that a “dollar to the right person will always bring the desired result.” It seems impossible to entirely prevent the distribution of . whisky. On the other hand, wine, a comparatively harmless beverage—and, as many claim, a positively healthy one —is entirely shut out when prohibition laws come into effect. No one cares to run the risk of conviction for law-breaking for the sake of dealing ill such a bulky article as wine. The wine-makers of California have been disastrously affected by the prohibition movement. They .generally make and sell about 40,000,000 gallons a year. Last year their sales fell to below 30,000,000 gallons, and this year avail be still lower. The distillers of whisky have not had their output so seriously curtailed as the result of the movement. The liquor trade, fearful of the abolition of the. business, is all over the nation combining in the organisation known as the Model License League. Tho principal object of the. League is to conciliate public opinion by promising to eliminate lawlessness and vice from their present association with the salobn business. If allow'ed to continue in business, the saloon keepers sav they will discontinue, the sale of liquor to minors and habitual drunkards, eliminate side door entrances for women, close up the dance hall adjuncts with women who tempt men to buy drink, tear down lewd pictures from their walls, and, in short, conduct their establishments on model lines. It ig a queer situation. NEAV ZEALAND FIGURES. Instructive statistics regarding the progress of the no-license movement in New Zealand were given at a nolicense meeting by the Rev. J. Dawson, secretary of the New Zealand Alliance. He quoted figures covering the whole period from the passing of the Licensing Act and the taking of the first poll under it up to ,the present time. At' the last election tho whole of New Zealand polled a total majority of 33,331 in favor of no-license. One-seventh of the .whole Dominion, or 12 electorates out of 76, carried no-li-cense, and in 60 of the 76 a bare majority vote in favor of no-license was cast; in other words, 56 per cent of those who went to the poll voted against the liquor traffic. In Auckland AV ellinstbn, and Dunedin, majorities of over 2000 were recorded, and in the fourth city (Christchurch) there _ was over 400 of a majority. In 1893, with a population of 686,128 people (exclusive of Maoris), New Zealand had 1(19 licenses, or one to every 341 inhabitants. To-day, with a population of 960,642 (exclusive of 47,000 Maoris), the proportion of licenses had sunk to one to every 765 inhabitants. There had been a. decrease of 462 licenses in 16 years—from 1719 in 1893 to 1257 in 1909. There had been in the lost 14 years a reduction of 308 in the number of licenses as a result of the reduction issue being carried, and 154 had been reduced by the carrying of no-license in various electorates. In the 12 years from 1893 to 1905, 76 licenses were voted out by no-license. In the three years 1905-1908, 79 licensee were voted out by no-license. In the_ 12 years 1893-1905 there were 280 licenses voted out by reduction. For the first 12 years the reduction was at the rate of 29 per year, and for the last three 36 per year.