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GLEANINGS FROM VARIED FIELDS.

Canon Fleming states ;— •'* One hundred and thirty-one milliots of money are spent m drink annually. And what do we get for it all ? A flood of intemperance, a deloge of pauperism, a harvest oi crime *,tid lvmaoy ; a multitude of premature deaths. I oan understand a man giving op other ends, if ambition, or honor, or fame, or wealth be his goal. Bnt for men with all these proipects to sacrifice health, wealth, talent, honor, character, Influence, for drink — this is to throw away body and soul for nothing," The author of a standard work on '• Physiology " emphatically deolaies that 11 Beer, wine, and spirits are neither useful nor economical aa food ; they de ptnd for their pepnlar use on their stimulating properties, which are due to ;he alcohol they contain, and vary m degree according to the quantity of alcohol. The teß-lnvny of all the great authorities who brvve U e'.y had the oppor tunity of observing their effects on maaies of men exposed to exoeiaive cold or heat, and on thoEe who are required to exert great and cmtlnuons labor, is aeoldedly against the übo of these stimulants. Concerning the Use of alcohol, Mr John W. Kir ton says :— " Strong drink strengthens the motive power to do wrong, and at the same time weakens the Inclination to do right, Ons of the earliest things I met with In my experience of this movement was a working man getting op and saying he had been a teetotaler so many yeara, and he could do anything. Bat there wa baman In the body of the meeting who cried out, " Yon can't 1" " I oan," he said. " Yon can't, Jaok ; for when you used to drink you used to thrash yoor wife two or three times a week. Can you do that without drink?' "No, ladles and gentlemen," said the man, "I beg to apologise. I ought to have said 1 can do anything that ought to be done without intoxicating drinks.' Mr W. Orossfield, J P., of Liverpool, relates the following Incident :—" Not long ago I was passing along one of oar public streets at* nine o'olook at night. There was a disturbance going on In the pnbHc-houße. I was first made aware of this by seeing a number cf children clambering on the outside of the wiadows, on the gr»tlng which covered the window m order that they might see over the screen which you have perhaps observed is always plaoed m the window of a pablichoune, that we may look for m vain m the wiodow of any of any other tradesman that we know of. And when one knows what goes on inside the publio house one is not surprised that those who keep them should desire to keep their doiags as aecret aa they can. A gieat dUturbanoe was going on, aud bye-and-byo, with more boldness perhaps than wisdom, I ventured to go lot He the publio house, to ace what it was that was being done, and there I found the form of a weman on the floor. The very life of her was being stamped, yes, trodden out by her companions, who wore m a state of intoxication. Now the appoaranoe of a respectable person put an an end to everything of this kind at ouoe. There was a sense of shame on the part of the keeper of the public-house, and even on tne part of bis coßtumers that if there were respectable eyes there to look this was sot a respectable thing to be seen. These things 1 have Been with my own eyes, bat of them there Is no public record. I have bad to investigate cases whloh to any ordinary citizan wonld be called murder, but which, from certain cariosities of law, never came ander such a designation." The Rev Jos. Barry, of St. Albans, says:— Take the case of farmers. la the good old times produce was dear, and land comparatively cheap. I have seen the con of land more than paid for m a Bingle year's orop. and ao have you. What became o' the money then ? How much of it want into the publican's till, m the daya when the average expenditure m str.mg drink was £1 per week for every adult male m the colony 1 How much, too, was wasted m that other Intoxication, Almost aa bad, that awoke m men a greed for more land than they could pay for or profitably cultivate, and has left them m the grip of the mortgagee? The taxation of to-day would be Jight, but for that other taxation which 1b self-imposed, and the result of our own folly. We have to-day iv our hospitals and public institutions, and In tho reoeipt of charitable aid, old colonists who have wasted many fortunes. God knows Ido not mean by this statement to harden anyone's heart against their relief. It ill becomes any man to throw m the teeth of an unfoitnnate brother his past tine We could none of u« affotd to have such measure dealt out to ourselves. Still even obarlty mast not le&d as to disguise the trath when we speak of the condition of the country and the causes whioh have led to it. Oar expenditure In strong drink during the last sixteen years — extending, that is, over the time covered by the Publio Works policy— amounts to £41,0C0,000. What have we to show for this waste, savt disease and crime, and pauperism? If this money had been la the pockets of the people, or had been spent m reproductive industry, how differently we could have borne extra taxation or diminished prices of exports ? No remedies will meet the oaee tbat do not go to the roots of the disease. No meaiures of reform can bring real and lasting prosperity to New Zealand that leave the drink question untouched, and do nothing* to check the gambling that even yet riots m our midst

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG18870910.2.5

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1659, 10 September 1887, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,001

GLEANINGS FROM VARIED FIELDS. Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1659, 10 September 1887, Page 2

GLEANINGS FROM VARIED FIELDS. Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1659, 10 September 1887, Page 2

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