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New Zealander, Volume 10, Issue 883, 30 September 1854, Page 3

We invite the attention of our local community to the announcement in our advertising columns thai a Meeting of Persons favourable to the promotion of Temperance will be held in the Odd Fellows' Hall on Tuesday evening next, "in order to lake into consideration the propriety of forming a League with the view of extending amongst the people at large a desire for the prohibition by Law of l,he Sale of Intoxicating Drinks,"—in other words, of forming an Association having for Ms object, not the instant forcing through the Legislature (if that were possible) of a statute coercing the people into a course on the propriety of which only a portion of Ihem might be satisfied, but of taking steps, by the diffusion of information and the influence of moral suasion, to bring about m the public mind such a conviction of the utility and necessity of the measure as will render its adoption a concession lo the public voice itself, and secure for it that general cooperation without which its introduction by the mere strength of legislative authority would confessedly be ineffectual for the attainment ef the highest ends contemplated by its promoters.

"Leagues" intended lo accomplish similar purposes have been recently organized, or are at present in process of organization, in most of the Australian Colonies, where—especially since the Gold Discovery —intemperance lias increased so fearfully, and has developed its baneful results in so many appalling forms of crime and misery, that even the most apathetic have been quickened into an acknowledgment that some prompt and energetic steps are indispensable to stem the torrent which is sweeping so many private and public interests onward in the course to ruin. Hire, although the evil has not reached an equally gigantic magnitude,—and although, notwithstanding all that has been said on the subject, we still believe that, as respects drunkenness as well as other forms of vice, Auckland would ginn, rather than sutler, by a comparison with almost any of the seaport towns of England—yet the prevalence of intemperance |is unhappily sufficiently extensive, not merely to justify, but loudly to call for zealous efforts, directed towardsboth the suppression and the prevention of so fatal a hindrance to individual and national prosperity. With regard to IhcNalivcs, the case appears peculiarly urgent and painful. Notwithstanding the existence of a colonial Ordinance which, with respect to litem exceeds in stringency the .Maine Liquor Law itself (inasmuch as ii prohibits not only the sale but the gift of Spirituous Liquors lo persons of the Native liace), our streets unhappily exhibit unmistakeable proofs of the increase of drunkenness amongst the Natives of both sexes. Any measure therefore which, on a full consideration of its whole bearings, may seem judiciously adapted lo shield ihem from an evil which, perhaps more than any other cause, would tend to precipitate that extinction of their Race which many apprehend—and which, at all events, would inevitably prove to them, as it has proved lo other aboriginal Jiac.es, the most destructive calamity resulting from their intercourse with Europeans,—would, on this ground alone, be entitled to immediate and cordial attention.

The urgency of a requirement, and Uic best mode of meeting it, are, however, obviously distinct questions; and perhaps ii would not he easy to name a subject on which men who have entirely agreed as to the necessity of some steps being taken, have yet entertained a greater variety of more or less diverse views as to-what those steps should be, than on the question now before us. An this is presented in an able leading article in one of the last received Sydney papers, the Empire of the 2nd inst. Thai Journal has for a long lime devoted much, and evidently sincere and earnest, consideration to the best means of grappling with ihe monster of Intemperance in New South Wales. The lone of the article before us is that of deep anxiety,— anxiety that the evil may be effectively removed, but anxiety also arising from the difficulty of devising a plan which "will fully roach the evil and yet be capable of general use,"—possessed of a k4 practicability" commensurate with '-the nature and extent of the evil," and capable of reaching it through its wide ''net-work of ramifications." Asoucuuporlaut expedient of immediate applicability, the writer strenuously advocates a law prohibiting all drinking on the premises in public houses, except in the cases of bova fide travellers or lodgers;—an idea which, we think, merits the consideration even of those who most sanguiuely anticipate a speedy establishment of the Maine restrictions, as being a step towards the attainment of their ultimate objeel which, there is little doubt, might be

sooner effee ed, -which would check one of the most fertile sources of iniempi rance,and the puimt of which, as an interim measure, need in no degree slacken their efforts for the accomplishment of the more comprehensive object. Both politicians and moral reformers know that instalments, pending the attainment of the whole, are not to be despised. It is needless to say that the Maine Liquor Law has gained so much ground as it now occupies, only in the teeth of formidable opposition; lor the radical character of the remedy it proposes—being at once a laying of the axe at the root of the treenaturally leads many to hesitate and investigate, before they give in their adhesion to a plan so sweepingly subversive of old social usages and modes ol* thinking as they considcra Law to be, which absolutely prohibits the sale of all intoxicating liquors, (except, under certain strictly guarded conditions, for medicinal or manufacturing purposes), and provides for the destruction of such liquors, if they be found under circumstances warranting the conclusion that they are intended to be sold either directly or by wav of barter.

An article copied into our Saturday's Supplement from Tail's Magazinchns laid before our readers a clear and connected narrative of the progress of the movement for the introduction, ofthe Law, which ilwould be seen, has beenjmarked by great success especially in the United Stales of America, We find, however, that the warfare; has not been ended even by the formal adoption of the Law; for acolonial paper now before us, (the Geelong Advertiser of July 7) contains an abstract of a Report from the majority of a committee of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, recommending a repeal of the Liquor Law of 1852, and enclosing a Hill framed with that object. But the minority sent in their Report also, urging thai it would be "wise policy to let the law remain [intact, so far as legislation is concerned, ""until its friends shall have ample time to lest its usefulness and strength," and arguing seriatim against the conclusions and assertions of the majority. It is won by of remark that both the majority arid the minority of the Committee avowedly recognised '• public sentiment" as the foundation on which the decision of the Legislature on the subject should rest: a point primarily in dispute between them, indeed, being whether the Law really is, or is not, in unison with the mind of the people of the State.

Substantially in accordance with this deference to the people was the view expressed in the vigorous Resolutions against Intemperance lately adopted by both houses of the New Zealand General Assembly,— viz., that the present representatives of the people having been chosen without the attention of the electors having been specially turned to the question of restrictions on the trade in Intoxicating Liquors, it must, on constitutional grounds, be a necessary antecedent to legislation on that subject, that the people should by Petitions give expression to their opinions and wishes. It is, as we understand it, with reference to the carrying out of this principle that the proposed "League" is to be organized; associating together, in the first instance, those who have already made up their minds in favour of the plan ; adding to their number, as fel-low-members, or f«sl o\v workers in some form, such of the now undecided or even hostile as the original movers may bo able fairly to win over by argument or legitimate moral influence into concurrence with their views. We are satisfied from our knowledge of several of the gentlemen who, we believe, have originated and conducted Ihe preparatory steps of tin* movement here. that, even it were in their power, by ihe strong arm of legislative coercion, to impose the Maine law on a dissentient community, and to surround itsadministration with penalticssufficiently stringent to enforce obedience, they would nevertheless shrink from that mode of accomplishing the end, and prefer waiting, until, by the milder—-but ultimately more effectual—means of appeals to the reason and the conscience, they had obtained that enlightened and hearty concurrence on the part of the gnat bulk of the community, without which, indeed, in this particular case more than in most others, penal legislation would prove utterly inadequate to secure any permanently or universally satisfactory result. We anticipate that the Meeting on Tuesday evening will be very numerously attended. Besides those who will be present from a previous acquaintance with the proposed plan, and a more or less complete agreement in it, many others who deplore the prevalence of intemperance will be anxious to hear and judge for themselves as to the nature and merits of a remedy which, startling as, at the first blush, it may seem, has already obtained the support of popularly elected Legislatures in other places, and which will be brought under their notice on the approaching occasion by Ministers and Laymen, some ot whom are old residents in New Zealand, and most of whom are sufficiently known and esteemed, not only within but beyond their own immediate circles, to give prima facie weight and authority, in almost every part of thecolony, to any cause in which they are found uniting their exertions.