TEMPERANCE LECTURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1431, 16 September 1878, Page 3

TEMPERANCE LECTURE.

A crowded meeting of Templars and friends of temperance assembled on Thursday night in the Templar Hall, Worcester street, to hear a lecture from the Q-.W.C. Templar of New Zealand South, Bro. J. W. Jago, of Dunedin. The District Deputy of East Christchurch, Bro. J. T. Smith, took the chair. The opening ode of the Templar Order having been sung, the chairman, with a few brief remarks, called on Bro. Jago to addi’ess the meeting. Bro. Jago commenced by heartily thanking those present for the cordial welcome he had received at their hands. The subject of temperance was one which had from his earliest youth engaged his earnest attention, and ho had during that time formed opinions and arrived at conclusions which he would proceed to lay before his audience. His subject that night would be the “Economics of the temperance question.” Men frequently said that temperance was made too much of, and it was thought by many that the earnest advocates of temperance were merely fanatics, and the opinion was freely held, and by many maintained, that it was an impossibility to put down the so-called “ social drinking” customs of the community. The argument of economy might be regarded as a sordid view to take of such a question, but the financial aspect of any question was one of the most important, and he would look at temperance that night from an economic point of view. Nothing gave so much importance and influence to any society, state, or country ns being in a good financial position. It was the duty, therefore, of every State to put itself in a comfortable position in this respect. What constituted the wealth of Now Zealand, for instance? The productive industry of the country. All the gold, wool, grain, wood, &c., which were produced in Now Zealand more than paid for the labor of producing them, formed the wealth of the country. This surplus—-that is wealth which remains after the first requirements are satisfied—might bo spent wisely or foolishly. Money spent by a man on anything (hat would do him or his fellowmen good, either mentally or bodily, was wisely spent. Trading benefited a community ; but trading which took money out of the pockets of the many and put it into the pockets of the few was not beneficial to any state or country. The employment of capital benefited a country, when such capital was employed in works, either of necessity or of a permanent description, which were of use to the country generally. It might be asked, what had all this political economy to do with the question of temperance ? Let them look at their expenditure on liquor, and they would see. In one year there was spent in New Zealand the enormous sum of £2,000,000 on intoxicating drinks. At the same time the population all told, including Maoris, was 388,000. So that, taken on an average, each family of five persons spent 11s a week on alcoholic drink. Some idea of the magnitude of this expenditure might bo gathered from the fact that this sum of two millions sterling would have paid the entire interest on loans both general and municipal, the whole of the educational expenses, both public and private, would have repaid the whole of the amount invested in Savings Banks, and still left a margin of £200,000 to bo applied to the public good. Comparing this expenditure with other items of general use, they found that only half this sura or £1,080,00 was spent on such things as ten, coffee, sugar, cocoa, rice, books and stationery. The next point was where did they get all this money to spend. Deducting the value of the wool the whole of the exports of the year were valued at £2,317,000 so that all this amount was spent in drink save £300,000, and that was spent in tobacco. Without going into the question as to whether this alcoholic drink, on which so much was spent, was or was not injurious per se, let them see if they could afford to spend this money on what at the best was a mere luxury. The answer came plainly and quickly—No. For while this colony was spending money in this reckless fashion on a luxury, it was obliged to go round to ether countries to borrow money to carry on necessary works, and most certainly while the need of borrowing capital from outside continued there could not really be any surplus to spend in luxuries such as tins. The two millions might bo roughly divided into four portions of half a million each, of which one part was sent out of the country to pay for imported

liquor ; ono portion was paid to tho Government as duty ; ono portion was profit to the importers and traders here, and the remaining portion of half a million was spent in the colony on colonial beer. Now did the spending of this money in any way come under the heading of beneficial ways for investing capital ? Did the liquor which was imported improve the people of the country in any way in taste, habits, morals, or health ? The answer comes again—No! Tho complaint was not that this half million of money went out of the country, but that they did not get any value for their money, and it was, as far as tliis community was concerned, lost irretrievably. Tho half million to the state was tho only satisfactory point connected with tin's expenditure, but, he would ask, could Government not got Od in a cheaper manner than by the citizens spending 2s ? Tho citizen had better pay tho 6d direct to the Government and keep tho Is Gd in his pocket. Tho half million profit to importers and traders came next, and tho question arose—what did these people do to increase tho wealth of the country ? This was an example of a largo industry, if it could be called so, and a useless ono. They did not by all their work add ono penny to tho wealth of tho country, but merely act as medium for circulating money, and most certainly as such did not pay tho country for their maintenance, and so were literally nothing but drones in this groat human hive. There was no system known among men which did so much towards putting money in the pockets of tho few by taking it out of the pockets of the many as this liquor system. When a merchant or publican built a fine large house, it of course was good for trade, but how many men wore houseless, and how many lived in hovels to enable such a house to bo built? Next came the half million spent on colonial beer. This at first sight looked like a real industry, as it to some extent encouraged farming, and employed a certain amount, though not much, labor. This, however, was only an apparent not a real industry. If they spent a largo amount of capital on a thing which was no good, it was labor and capital lost. Let them consider all the capital and labor employed, and a finished glssa of beer placed in a man’s hand, of what value was it ? Of course if it was thrown on the ground, it was lost, and all the capital and labor expended was lost too, and it might be boldly affirmed, and could be maintained that throwing it out was tho best thing that could bo done with it. All tho arguments lie had hitherto used were, they must remember, on the supposition that the alcoholic drinks obtained in the various ways by this expenditure were at the worst luxuries, and that they as a country could not afford to so spend their monev. But now another view of tho subject was opened up. This alcoholic liquor, whether it be imported spirits, beer, wine, or colonial beer, was alike injurious and hurtful to the person using them. Numbers of cases were then quoted by the lecturer in support of this view, one case being the world-known tool factory of Amos Brothers in Massachusetts, whore it was found, from carefully kept records, that the total abstainers in that factory earned 8 per cent, more than tho non-abstainers did. This did not seem much, but large employers of labor would readily credit the statement that in the State of Massachusetts alone, such difference, if extended, would add seventy-fivo million dollars per annum to the wealth of that State. A number of opinions from the highest medical authorities were then quoted in support of this view. An earnest and eloquent appeal to the audience to carefully weigh this matter and think out these things for themselves, concluded the lecture, which had been been listened to with earnest attention and was received with great applause. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the G.W.C.T., who much to tho disappointment of his Christchurch brethren, was obliged to return to Dunedin on Friday morning.