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Story: Arts and social engagement

Temperance cartoon

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Temperance cartoon

Cartoons were one way early lobby groups promoted their causes. In this 1905 temperance cartoon Herbert Beecroft takes on alcohol, blaming it for the fall of empires. Wild claims like this never got in the way of a good political cartoon. 

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-313-1-008

by Herbert Beecroft

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, Arts and social engagement – Colonisation and social change, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/45282/temperance-cartoon (accessed 21 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 15 May 2014.