W.C.T.U. CONVENTION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 460, 19 March 1909, Page 3

W.C.T.U. CONVENTION.

The opening session of tho W.C.T.U. Convention was held in tho Vivian Street Baptist Schoolroom yesterday , morning, Mrs. Cole (New Zealand president), and Mrs. Don (Dunedin), leading tho devotions. Sixty-threo delegates from unions in all parts of New Zealand answered tho roll. Tho announcement by Miss Powell (recording secretary) that tho convention was the largest ever yet assembled in tho Dominion was received with applause. Tho appointment of Convention Letterwriters, Reporters, and Committee of Courtesies and Proxies occupied tho early part of tho morning, after which the minutes of the closing session of convention 1908 were read and confirmed. Enthusiastic applause greeted tho New Zealand president when sho rose to speak. Her address comprised a summary of reform work through tho world during last .year. . The membership of the W.C.T.U. in New Zealand is, now 1855—an increase of 300 members having been registered since last convention. Miss Powell conducted devotions during the noon hour, after which arrangements for tho Resolutions Committee were proceeded with. Greetings from Nelson, Greymouth, Gisborne, and Port Chalmers Unions, and from Mrs. Blackweli (Kaiapoi), Mrs. and Miss Webb (Orinondville), were read. Mrs. D. L. Wright (Wellington) opened tho afternoon session with prayer, and the minutes of morning session were read by Miss Powell, and confirmed. Mrs. Upton, New Zealand Superintendent of Evangelistic Report, presented her report, an interesting discussion following. Many members expressed various opinions as to the best ways of creating the desire for goodly ways in tho hearts of men and women. The report of work done in the Home Meetings Department was sent by Sister Moody-Bell, and the report of Work Among Young People was read by Mrs. Cole, in tho absence of Mrs. Spence, New Zealand Superintendent of tho department. Much helpful work had been done by many unions in connection with befriending lonely girls in the cities, providing flowers and dainties for the sick, etc. The Cradle Roll has made tremendous strides during the year. Five new rolls have been opened during tho year —thirteen unions having taken up the work. , ■' Miss ' Barton, New Zealand Superintendent of Maori Work, presented her report, discussion following. The session closed with the Benediction.

The annual report presented yesterday afternoon shows that the membership of the union has increased to 1855, and expresses the belief that with an organiser in the field there will be a greater addition to the membership list this year. It hopes that the members of tho W.C.T.U. will give all possible help to the agitation for the removal of the three-fifths disability from the Temperance section of tho community, and expresses the union's intention of educating people in the use of the reduction vote. It considers that now that the No-License party has gained in numbers and influence it is time to claim from Parliament the right of Dominion option by the bare majority, and gives reasons for that belief. Dealing with scientific temperance instruction in the schools, the report expresses disappointment that the School Journal has in two years contained only two articles dealing with scientific temperance teaching. To be of any use, the lessons should be graduated and continuous, and tho.union should not let the matter.'rest, until the'.ischool children receive proper instruction in temperance- physiology'. Temperance sentiment was rapidly growing, but, with the three-fifths majority handicap, it must bo years before the liquor bar 3 are abolished, and, meantime, boys and .young men are learning to drink through not being fortified against tho habit by tho knowledge that alcohol is a dangerous and insidious poison. The report commented on the fact that at the volunteer camps and in some of the orderly rooms the use of alcohol is permitted, if not encouraged. Drinking on trains also affected thousands of tho travelling public, and was a menace to the comfort of all classes. Recently tho complaints against this custom had been frequent and strong, but nothing had been done to put a stop to it. Women are often annoyed by unseemly conduct on the part of drunken men, and travelling by train should not be accompanied by this disorder, added to other unavoidable discomforts. The C.D. Act still remained on the statute-book, an insult and a menace' to every woman in the Dominion, and no longer to be tolerated by the enfranchised women of.New Zealand. They must make a determined effort to gain the repeal of this Act, though tho law might be at present a dead letter, for a law that contained such awful possibilities should be abolished, and that speedily. The opportunity of serving as a member of a school committee should be gladly welcomed by the White Ribboners, and the presence of women on these public bodies snould have a good effect on the school lifo. Men and women are so constituted as to be a complement to each other, and the model school committee, like the model home, is that'where men and women deliberate together for the welfare of the young. The health of school children should be the special care of women, and cleaning and ventilating the school, as also the water supply and sanitary arrangements, will be all the better in most instances for their scrutiny.

The children' in the New Zealand schools and the suffragists in England were the subjects dealt with last night by the public meeting held in connection with the AV.O.T.TJ. Convention. Mrs. Cole presided, and Miss Macarthy read a paper by Mr. T. B. Taylor, M.P., dealing with the question of scientific temperance instruction in State schools.. Mr. Taylor said that a great disappointment awaited tho Prohibition party within the next five and twenty years unless this country were to follow the example set in the United States, and take care that its children were thoroughly grounded in a knowledge of tho properties of alcohol as a drug. A great deal was being said to-day about the nccossity for cultivating a spirit of patriotism, and tho fetish of Imperialism was steadily kept before the children during their school course, but the importance of this movement could not be compared with tho question of safeguarding and saving the people of New Zealand from the calamities which followed in the wake of the drinking custom. Instruction with regard to alcohol should bo extensive, thorough, and compulsory. The Government of to-day was strong enough to carry out this policy, and no Government should require a more definite authority than that contained in the magnificent No-License vote of November 17, 1908. He urged that tho convention should make the strongest possiblo representations to tho Ministry, and that it should express displeasure at l tho unsatisfactory attitude of the Ministry during the past two years. Miss Macarthy moved a resolution, "That this meeting urges tho Government to immediately introduce a definite scheme of scientific temperance instruction in tho State schools, to bo taught as a compulsory subject." Speaking to tho resolution, the Rev. AV. J. Williams suggested that the convention as a whole should form itself into a deputation to wait upon tho Education Department. Mrs. Don (Dunedin) showec how tho knowlcdgo on this subject obtained by tho children in the American schools through them reached the parents, and sho pointed out that when the present generation of No-License workers died out they must have younger peoplo to fill their ranks. Miss Powell and the Rev. F. A\'. Isitt also spoko to tho resolution, which was carried unanimously. The next resolution was moved by Miss Powell, as follows: — "That this meeting expresses its deep sympathy with the brave women in Great Britain who, at such bitter cost, arc fighting for that political freedom which the women of New Zealand onioy, and expresses i the conviction that before long the.v will pos-

sess tho long-coveted right to protect their homes and their children at the ballot-box." In support of her resolution, Miss Powell read somo very interesting extracts from a speech inado by Mrs. Pankhurst from tho dock when she was prosecuted last October. The discussion thai followed was an interesting one, and was, with ono exception, in support of the resolution. Miss Powell told a littlo story to show how lightly women were regarded in countries where they had no political power. It was during a by-election in England that tho Women's Liberal Club offered their services to the Liberal candidate. "Oh, yes,'' said tho gentleman, "let thorn come. They'll do to lick stamps." As an offset to this, another story was told concerning Frances Willard, who, on hearing of tho way the franchise had been won in New Zealand, said, appreciatively, "What fiuo men you must halve in New Zealand." One lady in the audieuco suggested that it might be difficult for/a temperance convention to express full sympathy with the English suffragists siuco they had adopted the policy of on all occasions opposing Liberal candidates, though the Liberal Government had made the most magnificent stand made by any British Government against the liquor trade, a view that Mr. Williams sympathised with, though ho also sympathised very strongly with the suffragists in their attempts to gain ths franchise. Miss Powell thought that the convention would not commit itself to approval of all the suffragists did by this resolution, and she pointed out that it was difficult for New Zealand women to understand the desperate position of the English women, the oppression and disabilities to which they were subjected. The resolution was carried.