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Story: Alcohol

New Zealand Alliance postcard

From 1886, when the New Zealand Alliance was formed, the focus of the temperance movement became legislative prohibition. Under an 1893 law voters could prohibit liquor licences in their electorate, and from 1910 there was a vote on national prohibition.  This postcard was issued in 1911 by the New Zealand Alliance. The top line on the voting paper was continuance of liquor licensing, so the Alliance asked voters to strike this out and prohibit liquor both nationally and, on the second paper, in their electorate. The focus of this postcard is the harm that alcohol caused to the family – a common theme of prohibition propaganda.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-ALCOHOL-Prohibition campaign-1911

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

Jock Phillips, Alcohol – Prohibition movement, 1880–1919, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/40670/new-zealand-alliance-postcard (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 11 January 2013, updated 1 April 2016.