“WOWSERS.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 884, 27 August 1910, Page 3

“WOWSERS.”

Speaking at the Forest Street Methodist Church, Bendigo, the Rev. T. S. B. Woodtull said that in fighting evil they would, like Wesley, be called names. One name he could never understand the meaning ot was “ wowser.” He had been called a “ wowser ” many times. As far as he could make out, “wowser” meant “joy-killer.” He was a happy man himself, and he had a great deal to make him joyful. If there were any ferocious joy in lust, in gambling, in drinking, in the harsh cry of the bookmaker, in the soul blackened with evil, then he was a “ joy-killer,” but if there were joy in saving child life, and in breaking the chains of sin, then he was not. The real “ wowsers,” continued Mr Woodfull, were the gambler and the man who supported gambling, the drunkard, and the man who supported drink ; and those who had vested interests in evil and malicious purposes. There were in Melbourne gangs of crimebreeders, blood relations of the devil, standing for spoilation, vampires seeking the blood of maidenhood and youthhoood, persons who stopped at nothing to gain evil. It did not do for the leaders of the land to have lax views on moral laws. He admired the Premier’s work in regard to drinking and cigarette-smoking, but Mr Murray must know that there was as much harm done by gambling as by the other evils. He was sorry that the Trades Hall, which was supposed to stand for the working man and the right use of mom y, wanted to take money obtained in a most vicious form.