The Rev 



EVIEWS 



AIKHET, XlBT.RnUKKE. 



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THE HISTORY OF THE MONTH, 



Melbourne. Decembei 20, 191 1. 



New Zealand has done magnifi- 

 New Zealnnd (.^ntiy iu her recent contest with the 

 Prohibition. li'iuor trade. At the poll held on 



7 th December the Prohibition party 

 polleil 55. Q3 per cent., while all of the twelve No- 

 license districts maintained their position. The re- 

 sult must surely make the Trade gasp. Only the 

 barest fraction over 4 per cent, was necessary to 

 wipe the Trade out of the Dominion, and the Tem- 

 perance party may look forward with the greatest 

 confidence to winning at the next poll three years' 

 hence. It is noteworthy that the Roman Catholic 

 Church issued throughout all its churches a direc- 

 tion to its people to vote against Prohibition. Had 

 that not been done, it is certain that the issue 

 would have been carried. The result more 

 than ever proves that the people of ' the 

 Dominion have been unfairly handicapped by the 

 imposition of the 60 per cent, majority necessary to 

 carry the issue. Here is a result which would be 

 counted a fijue victory in any political conflict, but 

 in this fight the losers win, although in numbers 

 they are far behind. It is certain that the Party will 

 do its utmost to .secure an amendment of the law 

 in the direction of getting the handicap removed. 

 E\en a 55 to 45 majority would not be so bad, but 

 there is no valid reason yet put forward as to why 

 the simple majority should not prevail in this as in 

 other questions. The New Zealand reformers are 

 to Ije congratulated u]>f>n their splentlid fight. For 

 the first Dominion struggle they have done nobly. 



The final figures show that 255,864 

 lDteresti''g declared for Prohibition, and 202,- 

 Ctmparisons. ^-,-,3 ag;,ins.t it— a majority of 

 53,256 in favour of bani.shing the 

 Trade. Last time the electors voted, the total votes 

 for Dominion prohibition showed a majority of 

 alxxit 30,000, so that this poll shows a huge in- 

 crease, and will put cheer into the hearts of the 

 workers. Evidently the larger issue of National 

 Prohibition has oversliad<)wed the local one of No- 

 license, for the tot.il electoral votes for No-license 

 fall short of the Prohibition vote by 26,302. That 

 is to say, 26,302 more jieople voted for wiping the 



Trade out of the Dominion than voted for its 

 electoral extinction. On the other hand, among 

 those who favoured the Liquor Trade, 14,076 more 

 people voted for local than for national retention. 

 These comparisons are interesting, as showing clear- 

 ly that there is a large section in the community 

 that wishes to see an end of the Dominion Trade 

 here and now. This is the more e\'ident from the 

 fact that of the 458,472 persons who voted on the 

 rjuestion of National Prohibition, 12,226 ignored 

 their Local Option papers altogether. One cannot 

 dogmatise on the situation, but it seems to the 

 advantage of reform that the national issue has 

 appealed so splendidly to the imagination of the 

 people. What an object-lesson for the world would 

 be an experiment in the Dominion. The totals of the 

 record show — 



For Prohiibition 255,864 



Against 202,608 



For local No-license 216,684 



Against 229,562 



The elections, which were held or> 

 New Zealand ^'^V ''"^^, day, gave rather_ a sm- 

 Elections. prise. i he Liberal Party m New- 

 Zealand has held power for so 

 long that it seemed as though it was invulnerable. 

 T\Ioreover, the Conservative Party in New Zealand 

 is so very Lil>eral that there was little difference 

 between the policies of the two. The Opposition 

 was strongly opposed to the Government's policy 

 of borrowing, and has been advocating the con- 

 version of ])erpetual lea.ses to freehold, but on 

 general questions there was not much to 

 choose between. For twenty-one years under 

 Mr. Ballapice, Mr. Seddon and Sir Joseph 

 Ward, the Government has held on its way, some- 

 times with such overwhelming force that opposition 

 has seemed f<x)li.sh, but it looks now as though the 

 (lavs of the G.nernment were numbered. It is of 

 nxirse possible for men to remain in power for so 

 long that they become stale, finding it difficult to 

 keep up warm interest in new departures, and that 

 may be what has happened in New Zealand. It is 

 regrettable that Mr. Fowlds lost his seat. .Some 

 time ago he resigned his seat in the Cal)in<'t in 

 order that lie might be freer to promulgate his own 



