WHAT THE ARMY DOES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1076, 17 October 1883, Page 4

WHAT THE ARMY DOES.

T,- ‘VFnjm Information received,” as the 'police are apt to say, we (New Zealand Times ) have reason to believe that Wellington is suffering from a fit of teetotalism, superinduced by Salvation Army conversidfts. ‘ The evidence is ypnpiiy though unmistakable. ft is to ffelMraiPpaftly ih- State - statistics, partly in daily observation of people’s ways, and (“ tell.it not in Gath ”) partly in bankruptcy records. An inquisitive reporter on our staff has been inquiring into the origin of things, and got con- » a ’belief in the efficacy of ' iabral‘Siiasioh to abate if not abolish the drinking customs of society. It is . jipt:only’=in Wellington that publicans riand wbrewets complain, for the same cdjtrrial istory ‘domes from “the trade” ■ •’lnjiDOtt’edrft, in ! Christchurch, and in Auckland. The smaller centres of population can doubtless add their several, affidavits to the same effect. The "Canterbury Journal of Commerce says: “The number of publicans;. who have lately become bankrupt is exciting general comment.” This “ general comment ” appears to be general to the whole colony, and apparently indicates a common cause. What is the cause ? Major Atkinson has stated that the working classes have been more fully employed throughout the colony during the past winter than during any winter for tern, years past. Wages have therefore been in regular circulation, and have been spet^.-apparently in the customary charin'els, excepting this one item of decreased consumption of drink. Trade (fiepfessipnf npay account for some renucndn in drinking, though this distinction should be observed, that if trade depression lately has meant excessive stocks of merchandise on hand, and reduced ;Values ,to effect a quittance, it will logically “follow' that this peculiar of the wholesale trade cannot account for. a large decrease in the consumption of liquor, because reducdu values of general merchandise ujbuld be directly beneficial to the working classed increasing their spending power. There remain two other presumptive causes of decreased drinking, namely, the Blue Ribbon movement and the Salvation Army campaign,”’ IlbVf ffiddh of the change is due.tO ;either, or how much _to both, caqnpV.be., stated, with ;precision; but this broad concession may be made, thatnSalvation' services and Blue Ribbon preaching have together reduced the “takings ”,of numerous hotels, and sent many publicans into bankruptcy.