Pages tagged with: temperance

Temperance was one of the most divisive social issues in late-19th and early-20th century New Zealand. Social reformers who argued that alcohol fuelled poverty, ill health, crime and immorality nearly achieved national prohibition in a series of hotly contested referendums.

Dawn of the New Zealand temperance movement, 1881-1893

The ‘three-fifths majority’ was a major hurdle for the temperance community, but they soon mobilised to campaign for people to vote for it.

The First World War period brought total or partial prohibition to several countries: New Zealand came within a whisker of joining them

Alcohol remained an important issue after the war, and the prohibitionists slogged it out with the liquor trade throughout the 1920s.

The November 1908 licensing poll saw Masterton electorate introduce ‘no-license' and vote itself ‘dry’. Its 15 pubs closed on 1 July 1909, and remained closed until the town voted to restore liquor licenses in 1946.

Letter in the Evening Post lays out the arguments for no-license legislation in Masterton.

Prominent temperance leader Reverend Leonard Monk Isitt, 1911

Graph showing the changing prohibition vote at national elections from 1911-1987.

This 1919 cartoon  refers to the prohibition vote being decided by the New Zealand soldiers still overseas at the end of the First World War.

The Blenheim Blue Ribbon Branch Band of Hope Temperance Society's abstinence pledge card from 1888.

1914 postcard showing NZ being destroyed by prohibitionists

This cartoon from Truth refers to the huge expense that would be incurred trying to track down illegal alcohol manufacturers in remoter areas of New Zealand.

This cartoon from Truth illustrates the concern among some parishioners about churches being used to hang prohibition placards on.

Cartoon showing the contrasting reception of the Church and business to visiting United States temperance advocate 'Pussyfoot' Johnson in 1922

William Eugene 'Pussyfoot' Johnson, American Prohibition advocate and law enforcement officer, 1920.

A Loyal Temperance Legion pledge card from the 1930s.

This Independent Order of Rachebites poster-calendar from 1913 includes portraits of temperance leaders W. A. Platt and W. Johnson.

Pro-temperance poster urging Masterton citizens to keep pubs closed in the 1911 vote.