1897

The eleventh Annual Meeting of the Alliance was held in June, 1897. Sir Robert Stout, the president, occupied the chair. There was an attendance of about seventy delegates. The Constitution of the Alliance was then in the melting pot; and at the Annual Meeting an amended constitution was discussed, which provided for the appointment of page 87 an Executive, the members to be elected partly by the Convention and partly by the Provincial Councils.

1898

The Rev. L. M. Isitt returned to the Colony after a two years' temperance campaign in Great Britain. Mrs. Harrison Lee came to Auckland under engagement to the W.C.T.U., and then undertook a tour through the Colony for the Alliance. The president, Sir Robert Stout, was made Chief Justice, and the appointment necessitated his retirement from the active work of the Alliance. The organizers included Rev. F. W. Isitt, Mr. W. J. Judkins, Rev. J. B. Finlay, Miss Kirk, and Miss Powell. All parts of the Colony were worked. The Executive were encouraged by numerous requests for help from outlying places. Special aid was rendered by Mr. T. E. Taylor, M.H.R., in conducting a campaign in the North Island. Papers devoted to Prohibition included The Voice, Wellington; The Crusader, Auckland; Liberty, Wanganui; while the circulation of the Prohibitionist increased. Nothing was accomplished in 1898 in the way of legislation.

1899

This was a memorable year, for the Local Option poll held therein showed a marked increase in the number of No-License voters. A number of electorates secured a substantial actual majority for No-License. Mrs. Harrison Lee's meetings in Auckland were most successful. Mr. William Richardson, from New South Wales, was engaged by the Auckland League, and held large open-air meetings up to the date of the poll. The circulation of the Crusader reached 12,000 copies. Vigorous cam- page 88 paign work was carried on in many centres, the Rev. T. F. Wills giving addresses in Hawke Bay, Taranaki, and Nelson. Ministers of all Churches gave valuable aid. Bishop Julius came out for No-License, and appeals to the people were largely signed by ministers in the chief centres. Mr. W. H. Judkins resigned from the position of secretary to the Alliance. Mr. A. R. Atkinson and Mr. G. H. Fowlds entered public life as supporters of No-License. The Trade was conspicuous in agitating for a nine year period between polls, and for the closing hour of liquor bars to be fixed at 11 p.m. in all boroughs.

1900

The Premier, Mr. Seddon, proposed to license the sale of liquor in the King Country somewhat on the lines of State Control. The announcement was received with great indignation by temperance workers and many others throughout the Colony. A vigorous campaign against the Premier's campaign was conducted by the Alliance, the several Churches as well taking up the question, with the result that the Government's plan was abandoned. The Rev. F. W. Isitt was appointed to the vacant position of secretary to the Alliance, Mr. H. H. Ostler being made assistant secretary. It was expected that Mr. J. G. Woolley would visit the Colony again, but he was prevented from accepting the warm invitation given by the Alliance, supported by many ministers.

1901

Several valued workers were removed by the hand of death, including Mr. Geo. Grant, Rev. T. J. Wills, Rev. C. M. Watson, Rev. W. C. Woodward, Mr. Ben Crisp, and Mr. Thos. Scott. page 89 Organizers and lecturers included Mr. John Smedley, J. P., Miss Balgarnie, Mrs. Harrison Lee, Mr. T. W. Glover, Mr. C. H. Poole, and Miss Powell. Great regret was expressed by the Alliance that ten electorates had failed to carry Reduction just because No-License voters did not use their vote for that proposal as well as for the major reform. As there was some misunderstanding on the question, Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice, supported by Mr. Justice Cooper, gave the opinion that the right to strike out the top line only, enabled voters to declare for both No-License and Reduction. By this time the Trade had taken alarm at the trend of events, and published in the Trade Review an article urging the danger to which the Trade was exposed by the activities of the No-License party and the sympathy of the public. The Alliance had occasion to vigorously protest against scandalous evasions of the provisions of the Licensing Act on the part of the various Licensing Committees, the most flagrant instances being those of New Plymouth and Maungaturoto. These are referred to at greater length elsewhere.

1902

A year of signal victory at the Local Option poll. The liquor party had feared the result, which the temperance party had viewed hopefully; but the magnificent vote cast for No-License exceeded all expectations. It was estimated that by the corruption or incompetence of some registrars and returning officers thousands of votes were lost for reform, yet notwithstanding all discreditable efforts on the part of its opponents, the Alliance had a lead of 3,075 over the liquor party. No-License was carried in five electorates and retained in Clutha.

For the first time, this year, it was possible to secure a recount of votes. In every case where Reduction or No-License was carried, a petition against the validity of the poll was lodged by the Trade. General dissatisfaction was expressed at the persistency with which the Government had in many instances appointed or retained unsuitable men as Local Option poll officials. During the year Miss Balgarnie addressed about 150 meetings; Mrs. Harrison Lee worked hard in the same direction; Mr. John Vale, secretary to the Victoria Alliance, spent six weeks in the Colony visiting the roughest backblock country districts; Mr. E. J. F. King worked for some months in Canterbury; and the Revs. F. Stubbs, G. Walker, John Dawson, W. J. Elliott, and Messrs. C. H. Poole, and F. Berry also gave good service.

1903

This was a year of litigation. The Licensing Committees of Newtown and Bruce, in an endeavour to give effect to the desire of a majority of the voters for No-License, had refused all applications for licenses. Litigation dragged on all through the year, with the first result that the Supreme Court of New Zealand upheld the action of the Licensing Committees, and the further result that an appeal was taken to the Privy Council in England, which judicial body reversed the decision of the Supreme Court, and enjoined the committees to grant licenses.

On July 12, 1903, a deputation from all parts of the Colony met in Wellington and waited on the Premier to set before him their legislative demands. They requested that proper provision should be made to ensure fairness in the taking of a poll; page 91 that the results of a poll should be safeguarded; and that the Maori people should be protected from the drink traffic. The Premier promised to lay the requests before his colleagues; and at the same time informed the deputation that he advocated Local Option for the King Country.

The Alliance deputation was soon followed by one from the Trade asking the Premier for National Option once in nine years instead of Local Option once in three, also compensation for loss of licenses, and the elimination of the Reduction issue. The Premier received the deputation graciously, and responded sympathetically.

When Parliament met, anxiety was felt by the Alliance lest the Premier should give undue weight to the demands of the Trade. This feeling was justified when the Premier introduced a licensing bill favourable to the Trade, but the Alliance was well represented in the House, and no important alteration in the law was effected.

In the work of organization the following agents rendered good service, Messrs. G. B. Nicholls, D. Whyte, and C. H. Poole.

Two vice-presidents, Rev. Canon Webb and Mr. E. C. Carr, died during the year. Both were staunch workers for No-License.

The Rev. John Dawson went on a temperance mission, and spent six useful weeks in N.S.W. and Victoria.

1904

The year was marked by little litigation, but of legislation there was rather more than enough. At the beginning of the year came the annual Licensing Committee meetings, when it was seen that the Trade was rashly determined to pursue its old page 92 course of opposition to the expressed will of the people. In many electorates attempts were made to obtain additional licenses wholesale or retail, and though in most places the protests of the people prevented high-handed proceedings on the part of the committees, yet in two places new licenses were granted in defiance of the urgent protests of voters.

The Licensing Bill of 1904 included a clause providing for a vote on the question of liquor or no liquor in a No-License district. This clause together with other objectionable ones was thrown out by the House, and the Bill, as finally passed, was amended on the whole in favour of the Alliance Party, though there were some concessions to the Trade.

Organizers who did good service during the year were Rev. A. Doull, Rev. N. A. Davis, Miss Hughes, Miss Powell, Mr. T. J. Fleming, Mr. C. B. Nicholls, and Mrs. Harrison Lee.

Mr. J. G. Woolley returned to the Colony for a mission to the Churches; Rev. L. M. Isitt, after a very successful temperance mission in England, began work again for the Alliance in Canterbury; and the Rev. John Dawson was appointed chairman of the Executive.

1905

Another campaign year with a most encouraging result. The No-License vote for the Colony exceeded the vote for Continuance by a majority of 15,000. No-License was carried or re-affirmed in six electorates, Reduction was carried in four, and a bare majority vote for No-License was given in thirty-two electorates.

Two towns securing reform were Invercargill and Oamaru, each place well calculated to afford page 93 a valuable object lesson as to the success of No-License.

Bruce fell short of the required majority by five votes. It was afterwards remarked that one picnic party including more than five prohibitionists had set out on election day before the polling booths were open, returning after they were closed, confident that No-License would be carried, and so not troubling to record their own votes. Had they realized their responsibility more clearly, Bruce would not have been doomed to suffer for another three years from the miseries of the open bar.

By the carrying of No-License in Oamaru, Invercargill and Grey Lynn, and of reduction in four other electorates, fifty-one publicans' licenses, seven wholesale, three bottle licenses, and one club charter were cancelled.

Within four months of the poll, four club charters were granted by Cabinet.

Important services were rendered during the campaign by Mrs. Harrison Lee, Mr. J. G. Woolley, and Rev. L. M. Isitt. Mr. Woolley had to conclude his mission sooner than he intended, owing to a nervous breakdown.

As at former polls, grave dissatisfaction was expressed at the character of some of the men employed as returning officers or registrars of electors.

The influence of the Alliance was felt in the election of Licensing Committees in that in each of the four great centres and in several smaller towns committees were appointed on the understanding that hotel bars would be closed at 10 p.m. instead of 11 p.m.

The Colonial Drink Bill for 1905 showed a decrease of £30,000.

1906

By this time the Trade had become more carefully organized, and the struggle between the two opposing forces was intensified in consequence. One result of the influence of liquor interests was that it became increasingly difficult to secure a just administration of the licensing laws. The Twenty-first Annual Report of the Alliance includes the statement that ‘the Police Department has unhappily been administered for many years in an unsatisfactory manner,’ and that ‘dissatisfaction exists with regard … to the light sentences which in some instances are inflicted upon those who commit breaches of the licensing laws.’ Complaint is also made that the Liquor Party had been able to take advantage of the inperfect licensing laws by erecting beer depots close to a No-License boundary, and by selling two-gallon kegs of beer within a No-License area.

The question of the bare majority vote had by that time commanded very full and earnest discussion in No-License ranks. It was felt, however, by the leaders of the party, that though the justice of the bare majority vote was fully recognized, it was wholly inexpedient at the time to press any such demand on Parliament as then constituted.

A new departure in propaganda work was the establishment of the New Zealand Home Journal.

The year marked the death of several comrades in the No-License ranks, including the Ven. Archdeacon Williams, Mr. E. Taylor, Revs. J. Doull, W. B. Marten, J. C. Patterson, and J. Elmslie, D.D., Mr. George Manchester, and Mrs. Fraser, wife of the Hon. F. H. Fraser.

1907

This year marks the twenty-first Anniversary of the formation of the New Zealand Alliance. At the Annual Meeting in July an amended Constitution was adopted, the main provisions of which were as follow:

The Annual Meeting of that year was marked by the hearty and enthusiastic re-appointment of Mr. A. S. Adams to be president for the sixth year in succession, and also the sincere appreciation of the labours of the general secretary, Rev. F. W. Isitt.

The work of local organizers for this and the campaign year following was strengthened by the advent of speakers from abroad. The Rev. R. B. S. Hammond was one of the most effective of these. The Rev. H. F. L. Palmer, also a member of the Church of England, who came from N.S.W., threw himself into the work with much energy. Mrs. Harrison Lee worked with undiminished force. Miss Hughes returned from a visit to Australia to aid the cause in New Zealand. The duties of secretary and general organizer had become so numerous and pressing that the services of the Rev. John Dawson were secured as an aid to the work of the Rev. F. W. Isitt.

1908

This, the last campaign year of the decade, marked a signal advance in the progress of reform. The six electorates under No-License prior to the poll retained their freedom, and six more, viz., Ohinemuri, Eden, Masterton, Wellington South, Wellington Suburbs, and Bruce, gained the required three-fifths majority, thus making twelve No-License electorates in the Dominion. Of the whole seventy-six electorates, only fifteen carried Continuance with a majority vote for liquor; sixty had a majority vote for No-License, and of these no fewer than fifteen secured a fifty-five per cent. majority.

The total vote for No-License had increased from 198,768 in 1905 to 221,471 in 1908. Of the whole Dominion, the majority for No-License was 33,331.

Encouraging as these results were, they only served to emphasize the injustice of the conditions under which the Alliance had striven. By all rights of democratic government, instead of only twelve electorates being under No-License in 1909, there should have been sixty.

It is no wonder that with such evidence before it of the trend of public opinion in the direction of the abolition of the liquor traffic, the Trade should have used all its influence later to deprive the people of the right to Local Option.

Notable features of the Campaign were: (1) The advertisements of the Auckland ‘Band of Business Men,’ who used the columns of the daily press to assail the greed of the Trade, and the unethical conduct of its business. (2) The publication of the Auckland Home Journal, under the able editorship of the Rev.

Hon. Dr. Robert McNab,
Notable for valuable Parliamentary service in connexion with the prohibition cause

Geo. Grant,
Founder of Palmerston North Convention; resourceful prohibition warrior

Dr. Rutherford Waddell,
M.A., D.D.,
Outstanding Presbyterian Minister and advocate of the abolition of the liquor traffic

Rev. P. R. Munro,
Co-editor ‘Prohibitionist,’ and strenuous worker

Rev. H. W. J. Miller,
Eloquent orator, and organizer

W. J. Helyer,
Veteran worker and supporter of the prohibition cause

page 97 L. M. Isitt, the copies issued aggregating a total of 840,000, which did much, by its fearless proclamation of the truth about the liquor evil, to gain votes for No-License.

One regrettable feature of the poll was the record for the Manukau Electorate. The vote there for No-License was 59.45 per cent., or only thirty-one votes short of carrying reform. But for the fact that the inebriates in the Pakatoa Asylum were allowed to record their votes and did so record them for Continuance, Manukau would probably have secured No-License in 1908, never to lose the advantage.

The Liquor Party left no stone unturned to rob the Alliance of the victory gained. Steps were taken in every case to upset the poll; but only two cases were proceeded with, viz., Masterton and Ohinemuri. In each instance the Trade was defeated.

The death roll for the year included the names of Rev. W. Gillies and Rev. A. Davidson.