GREAT PROHIBITION GATHERING,

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3357, 25 October 1911, Page 5

GREAT PROHIBITION GATHERING,

WELCOME TO REV. R. S. CRAY

WHAT HE SAW IN MAINE

(Abridged from Lyttelton Times, 17/10/11.) The Rev. R. S. Gray addressed a wellattended meeting at the King’s Theatre last evening on “Prohibition in America.” The chair was occupied by the Rev. S. Henderson. The' clxairxnan said it was one of the objects of the meeting to extend a hearty welcome home to the Rev. R. S. Gary. Mr Gray was a valued leader of the Prohibition party. . . .He had visited America to gain first-hand information on matters of great interest to New Zealanders, and had gained experience which would be of great value :u the odniing campaign. (Applause.) The Rev. Mr Gray proceeded to deal with the fact that in America, although 5,600,000 people were living under prohibitory law, the liquor bill was stiil increasing. . . There was no really efficient prohibition in America. Maine and Kansas had constitutional prohibition, and other States had “Statewide” prohibition, but the into restate Commerce Law prevented the prohibition of importations of liquor into “dry” territory. The “sealed) pajekr age” law, which protected all postal parcels in the same way as private let- ’ ters were protected in this country, ensured that there could be no examination of any sealed parcel of liquor posted into a No-license area. Until the Inter-State Commerce Law was amended there could never be real prohibition in America. Even then, where one State was “dry” and an adjoining one “wet,” it was impossible to patrol the whole of the boundary line—a line which was often merely an imaginary line. . . The Rev. Mr Gray then proceeded to describe some shades of “prohibition” in American States. And coining to the dispensary system, be ■said: The “dispensary system” in America did not prevent sly-grog selling. Sly-grog selling was rampant in cities where the dispensary system was in vogue. The system led men to buy liquor in large quantities and to get beastly drunk. M. Savannal, the Chief of Police, found it impossible to get convictions against breakers of the prohibitory law, because all the rec mt people in the town had purchased exemption from jury service, and in a city of 75,000 or 80,000 inhabitants only about 500 were liable for service. This remainder included all the drunkards and 'sly-grog sellers in the community. . . In Tennessee, in -a town of about 7000 'inhabitants, 'all the saloons were wide open, although Statewide prohibition was supposed to be m force. Convictions could not be obtained, as no jury would convict. In regard to Maine, there was not much now to be said on the subject. It was true that in Maine last year 657 Federal liquor license taxes were paid, but 460 licenses were held by druggists, who had to pay a fee; 200 were held by persons who sold medicinal . preparations containing alcohol, while 17 were held by persons using alcohol for medicinal or mechanical purposes. A sly grog-seller took out a license, and was allowed to do so even in a “dry” State,” because he had no desire to fall foul of the Federal authorities. The Rev. Mr Gray lias, in the foregoing extracts, stated exactly what the Anti-Prohibition party in New Zealand has been saying in the newspapers lor some weeks past, and licensed victuallers ought to be thankful for the Rev. Gray s thorough exposure of those miserable methods the prohibitionists of New Zealand would like to foist upon this country if prohibition is adopted ness and religion! Nearly half the people in America, Mr Gray says, are living under prohibition, and the drink bill is increasing. Then prohibition is a farce. The story about “sealed packages,” and the posting of liquor into prohibited areas, shows that the betterclass of people living in No-license States can get ally they want of good liquor, whereas the 7 working'man in the no-license area must put up with any rubbish lie can get on the spot. Prohibition, Mr Gray demonstrates, is “class” legislation. ' We like to hear Mr Gray talk of the line between “dry” and “wetV States, and the cost of patrolling that line to .prevent smuggling. Mill our readers try and imagine th : cost of patrolling and : policing the coast and inaccessible backblock territory of this country is prohibition is adopted in New Zealand:- 1 Mr Gray also dealt with various shades of prohibition, and he found “sly-grog selling rampant in cities where the dispensary system was in vogue,” and imagine the prohibitory law being held in such contempt that against the sly grog-sellers no conviction- could be obtained, the respectable people contracting themselves < ut < f the jury service. Sly grog-sellers weje tried by their, “peers,” and no eu h jury would; convict. Mr Gray, nad lit tie to say about Maine, but what lie did say showed that Maine had fully hulas many Federal licensed grog-sellers—-who were also the sly grog-selling gentry in Maine—as wc have licensed victuallers in New Zealand, and they fought on the side of the prohibitionists for the- retention of the prohibitory law. Mr Gray is a valued leader of the Prohibition party in this country, and he comes back to New Zealand to induce the people of this Dominion to accept prohibition, which he shows to be a failure in America. His own words are: “There is really no efficient prohibition in America.” Nothing more need be .said: Mr Gray has reached the limit. However, in view of all that the Rev. Mr Gray lias said, moderate men and women in this country, who are temperate in their use of alcoholic beverages, will surely decide on election day to vote for the continuance of the present system of licensing rather than vote for a method that has proved inefficient in America, and is accompanied by such a deplorable condition of local and State government as to be a disgrace to civilised and respectable people.***