TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1981, 30 June 1880, Page 3

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

[Edited by O. M. Q.I Who bays thb Maine Liquor Law is a Failure ?—Speaking in the presence of some friends, about liquor selling, and the efforts made for its suppression, General W.T. Shaw, of America, said :—Prohibiting the sale of liquor, public or private, reminds me of my experience on a late visit to Maine. Soon after arriving at Portland I met an old sea captain, a former old chum and intimate acquaintance, and after the customary salutations of old friendship, I naturally asked him—- “ Captain, is there any rum sold hero now? ” Captain—“ Just as much as e-v-e-r! " General —“ Well, where can we get a little for old times’ sake ? ” Captain—“ General, you see they can’t sell it publicly now, but you come down to-morrow and I will have a supply.” On the morrow the friends metagain. General —“ Well, captain, how much did you get ? Let’s go in hero to Capt. Smith’s and take a drop.” Captain—Well, General, I called to see Captain So-and-so, who always has a good supply, but he was just out ; he told me I could get plenty at Captain Farmer’s, about three miles in the country.” General—- “ Well, shall we go out there?” Captain—- “ Well, y-e-s.” Getting a gig we drove out ; had b pleasant greeting, and a genuine sailor’s welcome from our old friend, and after the preliminaries of meeting were over we broached the object of our errand. The good wife replied that they used generally to keep some, but a month or two ago they let a sick neighbour have the last pint they had; they hadn’t got any since. The husband hero spoke up—“ General, you can get some at Captain ’s, of the smack, who brought in a keg on his last visit down to New Brunswick, and he keeps it out in the bush.” Our visit over, we returned to Portland. A few days after, meeting again, I proposed to the Captain to hunt up that “ keg,” On inquiring, we found the Captain lived fifteen miles up the bay. A trip up there found our friend. We old fellows hugely enjoyed our visit. We spun yarns of the past, dipped in a little about the war and the great West, and wo compared the old and the new. The “ keg ” that was smuggled in turned out to be a “ yarn ” of the stiffest kind. “ Why,” said the Captain, “ I haven’t had a drop of rum for the last half-dozen years,” and intimated pretty strongly that “ being out of sight it was out of mind.” General Shaw’s conclusions on the subject of rum or whiskey are evidently that “ out of sight is out of mind ; that habit keeps the custom alive; to prohibit its sale is to keep it out of sight, and out of sight is*out of mind.”. That alcohol in every form can be done without, but few will deny : that doing without that which can just as well as not bo done without would be a gain equal to its cost—to the individual—to the family—to the town—to the city—to the State—to the nation. What is saved is wealth. People all, quit drinking, get rich and be happy. A Pill fob the “Moderate” Dbinkeb. —lt is a fact that if the “ moderate ” drinkers wore to at once abandon drinking, in twelve years drunkenness would become a thing of the past. Good Templaey in Christchurch.— The six Good Templar lodges in this city contain upwards of 450 philanthropists.

Mb Gladstone and Consistency. —The great Liberal leader, before the election, told the electors of Midlothian that he was in favour of the principle of “ Local Option ” in reference to the liquor traffic. After the election, and when in tbe House of Commons, he strongly opposed Sir Wilfrid Lawson’s abstract resolution on the subject. How is that for consistency ? Juvenile Drunkenness. —At the City Police Court, Hulme, on the 28th April, Thomas McMahon, beer-retailer, was summoned for having permitted drunkenness on his premises. On the 10th instant two constables passing the defendant’s heard a great noise inside. On entering the constable found five young girls and a number of boys in an intoxicated condition. The attention of the landlord was called to the state of the juveniles, and he maintained that they were not drunk. On going outside the boys ran away, but the girls commenced to create a disturbance in the street, and they were apprehended for being drunk and disorderly. The defendant was fined £5, his license to be endorsed. Again, on April 26th, at the Ashton-under-Lyne Police Court, a girl aged thirteen years was charged with being found drunk in Stamford street. A police constable proved that at 11.30 on Saturday night he found the prisoner, who appeared even younger than she was, lying insensibly drunk on the footpath in the principal thoroughfare in the town. The girl, after being questioned as to where she obtained the drink, was discharged with a cantion.

Juvenile Templars. There are fifty juvenile Temples within the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand, numbering upwards of 2764 members. Testimonial to Bho. J. W. Jago.— Forty eight lodges of Good Templars have contributed the sum of £52 16a towards a testimonial to Bro. Jago, P.G.W.C.T. Bro. Jago filled the office of Grand Worthy Chief Templar for three years in succession, and was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Roseby, L.L.D. It is expected that when all the lists are returned the amount will exceed £IOO. The Leayen that will leaten the Whole Lump. —According to the latest returns to hand there are upwards of 15,000 members of the Independent Order of Good Templars in New Zealand. Everywhere Responsible. —The drunkenness of England was everybody’s responsibility. It impoverished the people, it increased taxation, it limited the producing power of the nation; it was therefore a question for the statesman. It deteriorated the race, it rendered life less worth living by multiplying its sorrows, by aggravating its evils ; it was therefore a question for the philanthropist. It bound the will, it clouded the intellect; it was therefore a question for the advocate of liberty and political emancipation. But it was their question before all others. If they who,called themselves Christians were indifferent, unenthusiastio, temporising in the presence of those overwhelming evils, they would do better to call themselves heathens, since they were false to their conscience, false to their Master, false to their profession.—Canon Wilborforce.

Tbmbebanoe Dxnnbe. —A dinner was given in the Market Hall at Hastings, on New Year’s Day, at which 200 gentlemen attended, presided over by Sir U. E. Shuttleworth, Bart,, M.P., supported by Mr T. Brassy, M.P., Mr 0. J. Murray, Conservative candidate for theborougb,and other local notabilities. No intoxicating liquors were used, the dinner being organised by the Good Templars of the district.

The Liveepool Town Hail is now, says the “ Watchword,” governed on temperance principles when let for dancing and other festive purposes. No one is to be admitted after midnight; the building may not be used after three in the morning ; smoking and the sale of intoxicating liquors are prohibited ; and the price of tickets is to include all refreshments.

Half Depopulated County Gaols. —In a late address before the Massachusetts Sunday School Teachers’ Conventions, L. T. Chamberlain, D.D., cf Norwich, Conn., said — Last year’s no-license in Norwich and New London, though encountering a defiant and desperate epposition, reduced crime in general to less than two-thirds, lessened drunkenness to leas than one-half, and halt depopulated the county gaols. Neyeb Too Late to Mend. — l believe that as a church all the mechanics’ institutes in the country might have been under our control if we had taken up movements of thst kind earlier. And so with other great movements —that of temperance work among others; if we had taken hold of them in the beginning, and held them in our own hands, and wielded them in a Christian manner, I believe we should have been more powerful in connection with the great humanising movements of the age, and in connection with the general impression that our body has made in reference of those movements, than we are today.—Eev. W. Motley Punshon, L.L.D. DEFEAT OF THE BEE WEES. Afteb Gladstone. There were three jolly Allsops who sallied forth to woo : One came to grief at Droitwich; then there were two. Two jolly Allsops ttill for Parliament did run ; East Stafford declined Charley; then there was one. One jolly Allsop would still keep up the fun ; But East Worcester settled him j then there were none.