NO-LICENSE LEAGUE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2181, 10 September 1907, Page 1

NO-LICENSE LEAGUE.

A modera tely-attonded mooting under tile auspices of tlio No-Licenso League was hold last evening in the i >y< ■bley Schoolroom. The Rev. W . Grant presided. DRINK AND DEMORALISATION. Mr. C. Balk, the organising agent of tlie League, delivered an interesting address on “Drink and Demoralisation.” “Thero is nothing,” lie declared, “that compares with -the liquor trallie for its demoralising tendency.” No matter how respectable the personnel of a Government might be, tho very moment it legalised this iniquitous traffic and drew revenue from the vices of tho people, that Government demoralised itself. With reference to the manufacturer, tho speaker contended: “It is well known that in no trade is there such open and unmitigated adulteration and fraud as obtains in the production of alcoholic liquor. Everywhere and always the drinker drinks by faith, for ho is utterly ignorant of the vile concootions for which he so dearly pays.” Instancing the demoralisation of the seller, Mr. Balk said it was an open secret that tho average liquor dealer Was tihe greatest law-breaker in the community, having about as much respect for law as th e burglar had for public opinion. Further, the traffic so hardened their better natures as to make them, as a rule, utterly impervious to poverty’s need, sorrow’s cry, or suffering’s pang. The drink traffic, the speaker maintained, also demoralised tho defenders of it, in two ways. It rendered dormant their intellect and callous their feeling. People who were able to converse intelligently on other subjects, talked absolute twaddle when defendnig the liquor business. Although sympatheitc in regard to suffering that sprang from ordinary sources, they were strangely callous when confronted with, the fearful and

perennial sorrows entailed by tho drink traffic. The dethronement of reason and hardening of feeling was so universal amongst defenders of tho trade as to bo remarkable. The physical demoralisation of the drinker also was convincingly dealt with, both in regard to drink in moderation and in excess. It lessened the appetite for solid food, gave birth to disease, and undermined tho whole system. Taking a higher standpoint, tho speaker dwelt upon the effect of alcohol upon man’s mental nature. It was enough to stir one’s deepest emotions, he said, to see reason dethroned, and the human frico stamped woth imbecile vacancy or dembniaoal madness. Yet strong driiik was doing this for thousands, rendering them incapable of selfcontrol, causing them to bo sport of the thoughtless and dupes of tho dosigning. When a man. became the stave of tho drink curse, it made a complete moral wreck of him. It blunted his finest suscoptibilLtcs, froze his warmest affoctioiis, aroused his worst passions and caused him to say and do what liis better nature would revolt against. It also had a fearful influence upon man’s spiritual nature. “No one can possibly describe the full demoralising effects of the drink traffic,” continued the speaker. Tho statistician gave only •an approximate idea of the vast amount spent in the consumption of liquor. The physician could tell of its disastrous results upon the complex human system. The philanthropist could tell of tho outward poverty and misery that it caused. The Judge upon his Bench and tho policeman on his heat could testify how it filled the gaols, asylums, poor-houses, and kindred institutions with its victims. But there were worse results still which figures could not give, language describe, thoughts grasp, nor imagination conceive. Who could describe the devastated homes, the ruined lives, withered hopes, and desolated hearts that tho traffic was responsible for? Who could describe tlio poignant anguish of tho poor mother'who had. to refuse her children the necessaries of life because the husband and farther had given his money to feed and clothe the family of the publican ? The decimating wars, the uprearing earthquake, the gaunt form of famine, the raging pestilence, the destructive fire, and the devastating flood, all left behind them ample proofs of their awful power, “but all combined fail to produce the ravages for which the liquor traffic is responsible.” Passing on from generalities, the speaker sought to show the connection between drink and demoralisa-tion-in New Zealand. He referred to many gorgeous processions and pageants, and asked his audience to look upon one far more impressive, Viz., that composed of the victims of tlio blighting drink traffic. These, unfortunates had no bands of inspir-

in" music to set their march, no decorations to attract special attention, no ringing oheers to greet them from admiring crowds. “Look at ■ them,” he said, “as they file down a !1 street ten miles long, lined on. one ’( side with nothing hut public-houses. ;j its the vanguard of this procession, i there are 20,000 drunkards, six in a : tow, two yards apart, and extending nearly four miles in length. Look at :) them ! Four miles of maudlin and jj 'broken-down humanity: some realising their sad position and others liar- |' dened by llihiit and _ association; t many of them rend the air with their m oath's. And, alas! many in the van- - guard of this procession are voung men over whose moral graves moth- : ers are breaking their hearts. ' As these drunkards pass from our view there follows a huge contingent of sorrowful specimens of Immunity, out of which peer faces gaunt and sad, Nature’s written biographies of the crushed spirits and hope-aban-doned hearts of the poor women who have silently and long borne unspeakable sufferings through an unspeakable traffic. In their rear is the ‘tramp, tramp, of a vast host of children of Various ages, appealing .to •us with all the pathos of helplessiness, the innocent victims of cold ne;gleob and heartless cruelty. Then comes with slow and measured tread |a lwrge contingent of paupers, _ for which the liquor traffic is responsible. ILook at them ! —3OOO, six in a row, three feet apart, and covering a disjtance of over a quarter of a mile. ■Each of these is an illustration of : individual degradation, and the whole is a mass of human waste and national encumbrance. Then followed 1020 of the 30.19 luna.tice in the colony. The tragedy of it ! that a traffic should be licensed that was inflicting such irreparable mental injury upon the manhood and womanhood of this country. Next appeared a vast concourse of criminals of every grade, a burden to themselves, a menace to society, a trouble to their friends, and a drain upon the nation. There were 9000 of them, the produot of the drink .traffic. ” The speaker went on to speak' graphically of the 800 hearses, representing the victims who had gone

down inito a premature grave., Al! these were the prod nets of the uquoi traffic for one year only I The foregoing figures were the proportions directly attributable to tlio drink business. “Some good people tell us that we exaggerate the evils wo .deplore,” added Mr. Bilk; “but this-it is impossible to do.” It was possible to number the victims of a railwav accident which, happily, was only occasional, but they could not even approximately tabulate a list of the killed and manned by the perennial activities of the liquor traffic. Who could penetrate every nook ami corner o.f the world, or gauge the .manifold forms of sorrow and suffering caused bv drink? They eluded 'the vision and baffled the conception of man. And yet large numbers of people, both inside and outside the churches, were criminally apathetic concerning the drink evil in their midst. A man who escaped unbuilt in a railway disaster seized his bit of luggage and departed oblivious to ,the many cries for help around him. He was justly reviled for inhumanity; yet was’ lie worse than thousands in the community who thought only of their personal interests, and were utterly indifferent to the appalling and concrete evidences of the bitter fruitage of the licensing system which they upheld? That otherwise intelligent and humane men and women should assume this indifferent attitude towards an evil which they had power to remove was at once the most* amazing phenomenon and the greatest moral tragedy of modern times ! GENERAL. The Organiser’s report showed that •the work of house-to-house visiting had been continued during the past month, with good results. The treasurer’s report evidenced that people were supporting the League well, hut that owing to prospective heavy expenditure greater attention would have to be given to raising funds. ■lt was stated in tlio committee’s report that in lieu of establishing a monthly paper an arrangement had been made with the daily press for the use of a certain amount of space per day. This plan, it was thought., would save members of the League a great deal of work, and allow more time to get a thorough knowledge of the districts for the purpose of checking the rolls.

Beference was made to the recent crisis in Barlianient, and the proposed amendment of the Licensing Act to provide that in the event of a dissolution a poll on the No-License issue could be taken. This rendered it necessary, the report set out, that tbe electorate should be thoroughly organised ‘without delay. The League’s organiser was on tlio spot, and Would lmni out systematic work at once.

During the evening songs were contributed by Miss Vera Warren and Mr. Church, inn. At the close of tbe formal proceedings tlio ladies handed round refreshments.