Story: Referendums

The capitalist brewer 'Bung' and the 'wowser' prohibitionist both plead with the soldier for his vote, in this 1919 cartoon from New Zealand Truth. The April 1919 referendum, held shortly after the end of the First World War, was the first to require a simple majority to bring in prohibition of alcohol. The first count gave a narrow victory to prohibition, but there were still nearly 40,000 special votes to come in from soldiers overseas – on troopships, in camps and in hospitals. The thirsty soldiers voted 31,981 for continuance versus 7,723 for prohibition – enough to give continuance a majority and keep New Zealand 'wet'.