TEMPERANCE MEETING.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2131, 22 December 1880, Page 3

TEMPERANCE MEETING.

A very numerously attended meeting was held last night at the Academy of Musie for the advocacy of the principles of temperance. The gathering was mainly connected with the presence here of the representatives of the Grand Lodge of Good Templars, which has just concluded its sittings at Wellington, and was a great success throughout. The Very Rev. the Dean of Christchurch occupied the chair, and, after referring to the pleasure it gave him to be present that evening, said that during the past two years the temperance cause had made a marked advance. They as teetotallers were not now treated with contempt. On the contrary they were now treated with respect, both by the leading newspapers of the colony and the public. They also found the Licensing Commissioners discharging their functions in a rigid and careful manner, and the Government of the colony evincing their interest in the subject by bringing forward a Bill for regulating the laws relating to licensing. He would not detain them longer, but call on the Hon. Mr Munro, of Melbourne, to address them. That gentleman had been the president of the international conference on the temperance question in Melbourne, and would no doubt have much that was interesting to say to them. The Hon. Mr Munro, in the course of a most eloquent address, touched upon the social aspect of the temperance movement, referring, in strong terms, to the great waste of money and physical deterioration of the people which now went on through the drink traffic. It had been said that alcohol was a good creature of God, but he denied it, as nothing else that came from the Creator contained even a trace of alcohol. He concluded a very able speech by calling on the people, if they regarded the future welfare of this colony, to set their faces against alcohol being sold as a beverage. Rev. Dr. Roseby, G.W.0.T., next addressed the meeting on the moral aspects of temperance reform, in a very thoughtful and earnest address. He was followed by Mr Jago, who spoke on the political aspects of the temperance question. Other speakers also addressed those present, and during the evening some pieces of vocal musie were admirably rendered by several ladies.