ALLIANCE CONGRESS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1154, 15 June 1911, Page 6

ALLIANCE CONGRESS.

ENTHUSIASTIC DEMONSTRATION. IN THE TOWN HALL. THE SILVER. WEDDING CELE- . BHATED. The "Dominion demonstration" of the twenty-fifth convention of the New Zealand Alliance, in the Town Hall last oven-' ing, proved to bo a gathering of about two thousand people. The large assembly, which included members of tho community of all ages, was swept' with enthufhisin throughout the evening. On tho stage were the leading representatives of the Prohibition movement in New Zealand. Mr. Wesley Spragg, of Auckland, president cf the New Zealand Alliance, presided. Tho hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers," was sung, and the president said a brief prayer. Colonel Birkenshaw's Address. Mr. Wesley Sprogg then briefly introduced tho speakers of the evening. The first was Lieutenant-Colonel Birkonshaw (officer in charge of the Salvation Army in Uie North Island). In opening his addross, Colonel Bi.rkeushaw declared that God was testing His people by His plumbline. Ihero was no room in the. universe for what was out of plumb or untrue. A "yes-no" attitude was unworthy of anv professing Christian. All over 'tho world the organisation the speaker represented was sound on the question of the drink traihe. Strong drink was denounced in he Scriptures. Yet the strong drink thsre named was by no means so strong as the drink that to-day was cursing and blighting thousands of lives up and down the British Empire. The attitude of the Christian towards the drink traffic should J' 1 ". 0 "? of opposition and self-denial. Jhmking of tho men and women, the hoys and girls, he had seen in the last thirty years in his travels about the world, Mid Col. Birkenshaw. was enough to make him faint, but Prohibitionists did not feel like fainting. In tho name of their God they would atU'ck the drink curse that was ruining and blighting so many lives. In the 'Old Country, ' the speaker declared, he had seen children .sucking beer from their feeding bottles. He had seen mothers put rags soaked in Bin between the lips of their infants. If the Dominion of his hearers' children and grandchildren was to be a Dominion of treedom, no effort and no pains must be spared to prevent any such terrible state of affairs arising in this country. Colonel Birkonslmv concluded with an impassioned appeal to his hearers to sweep away the curse of the drink traffic, nt tho "next general election, from the.fair Dominion Zealand. "Herpjs a very good keynote for this evening,' said tho chairman, who next called upon tho Rev. Mr. Mitchell to sing, "Arm, arm. ye.brave." The solo was enthusiastically applauded. A Lady Speaker. Miss Anderson Hughes, of Auckland, who has just returned from London, spoke of the beauty of the homes of the rich in England, and contrasted them with tho habitations of tho poor in the slums. She had loved the greatness and beauty of much in the Old Country; but it was the people nfter all in whom her greatest interest had centred, and among the people there was. tho greatest misery, and tho dark shadow had been cast by the drinkcurse. She described her experience amongst tho-gaols, so many, of the inmates of which had been placed there through drink. Distressing scenes among the slums, for which drink was responsible, were described. In one cdeo a younj man, arrested for drunkenness, had been unable through a stupidity from drink, to give any account of himself, and tho authorities had advertised his description. That advertisement had brought 1000 answers—there were thoss " 1600 homes in which sorrow existed through the drink curse. _ Every land, she continued, was watching New Zealand in its prohibition campaign. Wo here were fighting not only for ourselves, but for luhny'other hndf. The speaker gave this as'the result of personal conversations with leinpcrnncs workers in European countries. Hero in New Zealand we should be thankful that we had no law between us and our. rights. She thanked God elio was a New Zealandor, and was able to strike a blow at this terrible curse. (Applause.) Miss Muriel Bennett, who has an.exceptionally pure and well-trained soprano voice, sang "Willi Verdure Clad" (The Creation) very delightfully, anil was enthusiastically encored. Rev. L. M. Isitt. The next speaker to address (he meeting was tho Uev. L. M. Hilt, who remarked with regret upon the absence, of Mr. T. K Taylor. M.P. To-night, said Mr: Isitt, they were celebrating the twentyfifth anniversary of the New Zealand Alliance. This was its silver wedding. "1, , saiil Mr. Isitt, "was 0113 of the blushing bridegrooms who we.ro led up by Sir William Fox; k>l up to swear fealty to the cause of temperance reform as embodied in the New Zealand Alliance." It wa; mainly owing to Sir William Fox, continued tho speaker, that tho various temperance forces of New Zealand were bound together under, one central head. To-day they owed a huge amount of their success to the fact that they were not divided Members of the party were tremendou belligerents, but they managed, to tin intense disappointment of Hie gentlemei on the. other side, to keep a united party After twenty-five years' experience, the' (the No-Licens3 party) were more con vinced of the logical strength of thei principles than when they started. Non< of the political parties could say a. much. They were always explaining win they had held one thing five or ten year ago, and held another now. A voice: "Ten weeks ago." Every point in tho propaganda of (hNew Zealand Alliance, continued Mr Isitt, was upheld to-day as it had beei twenty-five years ago. Then, as now, tin Alliance held that the liquor traffic wa ! Ihe dirtiest, vilest, and most contemptibl< traffic on the face of the whole earth - Twenty-five years ago members of the Alii : ance said, as they said now, that tin ! only thing to be done with the liquo: tratlic was to end it, because they couli ' not mend it. Then, as now, they main ; .tained that the crux of the whole posit ioi ' was this: "That alcohol was a drug tha ' created a diseased appetite for itself.' [ So lov.j as alcohol retained this seductivpower, though the Angel Gabriel wer brought down to run a bar, the evil 0 alcoholism would not. be remedied. I ever there had been a time when sonv improvement from within of the liqii«: traffic might have been expected, Mr Isitt remarked, it was the present time "When the Devil was sick, the Devil i saint was he." Yet even at this time when the existence of the trade wa ! threatened, yet those who carried it 01 had not effected any improvement. Fo ; this they should'not be blamed. The; t could nnt. mend the trade. So long a ' liquor bars were run, they would abso iutcly defy restriction, t When the Alliance had only forty-fivi \ thousand votes to sot against two bun 1 dred thousand votes, pursued Mr. Isitt - they said that the people must decide thi: 1 question. They took up that attitude be f cause they know that their platform wa: t a sound one. Ever since that time, thi 1 Alliance minority had iiicreascl until i j was a. , majority, although it had (0 stain f againrf canluws of custom and apnetiti 1 and huge wealth. Tho forces of liquo; ; had pone down anil down, until now the} 1 were in the minority. The Inst hope 0: ,- the Trade to-day was the maintenance ' of the three-fifths' majority, and they wen not going to have it much longer. Tin s day was not for distant when Bacchus : covered with the iniquities of the cm 1 (uric, would bo down. "In that day," ' condudrd Mr. r.'-f-, "in- shall have 0111 heel upon hi? neck, and shall cry. Bnc dins the groat is fallen, i:i fallen.' " In nskinß for n 'large collection, 'tin Rev. ,T. T'fiwson, secretary of Ihe New Zen !«nd Alliance, said it was a sure thins ihat tho liquor traffic wa« iroing to di< 1 snon in New Zealand, and they wanton ; sufficient mnncv to bury it. (LaushteiO 3 Mr. T. Cu!forth sang in good styh ? "Youth." Mr. A. S. Adams. f Mr. A. S. Adams (Uunedin) said (lull 1 twenty years ago the temperance moremen! had been describe:! by :'. leading Auckland supporter as l.he "women's- question.' The drink placed its u .Ivily hand upnr the sanctuary of woman's life and. il

ink • her children and made (hem retched. It was essentially a woman's ovi'hient. (Applause'.) The women of lo Dominion were determined to make a ■pat women's crusade fur the iinproachig campaign. A Resolution, lie would move as follows:— "That this meeting, recognising that women are most deeply concerned in the question of the prohibition of the liquor traltic, rejoices to learn of a movement to organise a. women's cnisado in connection with tho coming campaign; and the women present voting for t'his resolution promise to join the crusade and to do all in their power to forward its object and carry both No-License and National Prohibition at the polls in November next." The resolution was seconded by Briadier Albiston and carried by the ladies resent showing their hands. Mr. Adams said that Wellington was rominent in tho liquor traffic. The proortion of men arrested for drunkenness •as one for every thirty inhabitants of ho city. A Glasgow Lady, Mrs. Barton, who was enthusiastically eceived by tho audience, and was freuently interrupted by applav.se, claimed hat it w;is a happy omen that a ciauglier of New Zealand and a daughter of icofland should stand on the same platorm devoted to a single reform. In the ourse of a brief address she referred to hn drink traffic in Scotland. She also old many humorous stories. Mrs. Baron poured lidiculc on the claim that he liquor frame was of value as a prolucer of revenue. It was all loss, declared the speaker. New Zealand had ;iven Britain penny postage, the weekly lalf-holiday, and the old age pension. Hie ast-named, she was able to say, as a jlasgovr administrator, was one of the -reatest boons of recent , years. Now she iskcd New Zealand to give them someMiiß better still-give (hem (he lead in ho prohibition of the licjuor traffic. (Apilause.) The sum collected during tho evening ,vas .€32 16s. The accompanists to the singers were Messrs. 11. W. Doddier and J. Allen. THE CONVENTION. "THE SIMPLE MAJORITY." The annual Dominion Convention of Ihc New Zealand Alliance was continued vesterday in St. John's Schoolroom. The proceedings were still in camera, but tho following summary was supplied to the press:— The Rev. W. J. Williams occupied the chair, the convention opening iu committee to consider legislative matters, introduced by Messrs. A. S. Adams and J. Harrison and the liov. \. Doull. A num. bcr of notices of motion were dealt , with relative thereto, and the convention once again demonstrated absolute unity in demanding those principles i'or which the parly stands. During the session Mrs, Anderson Hughes (just arrived from England) and Lieutenant-Colonel Birkenshav-. were enthusiastically welcomed, and tho,\ suitably responded. The conference pass <?d the following motion unanimously:— "That (his convention reaffirms (he principle of simple majority ruling in licens ing legislation; it maintains tho cqua yaluo of every vote; it condemns as tin just and intolerable the three-fifths hail dicap which has obtained for seventeei years,.and it urges electors to refuse ti vote for candidates who support three fifths majority." The convention resumed at 2.30 p.m. Mr. A. S. Adams, of Duncdin, bein' chairman. A paper written by Mr. H. E Pacey, of Auckland, was read by Mr Sprajrg. Th-s writer strongly advocate! tho formaliou oC a Dominion Campaigi Fund on the lines of the. efl'orts made oi behalf of the. Y.M.C.A. Buildin* Funds A lengthy and animated discussion too! place. A paper on Women's Work iu the Campaign, written by Mrs. Colo, was real by Mrs. A. li. Atkinson. The subject o literature was also discussed, and. ar rangements made for its distribution.

To-night, in the Town Hall, Concert Chamber, a woman's crusade for No Licpns.fi and Dominion Prohibition will be. held. Mrs. A. R. Atkinson .will preside, an*'musical-items will bo rciulcrcl during the evening.