GOOD TEMPLAR MEETING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5260, 1 February 1878, Page 3

GOOD TEMPLAR MEETING.

A tea meeting and entertainment was held at the Odd Fellows’ Hall on January 22 in connection with the Grand Lodge of Good Templars now sitting in Wellington. A large number attended both the tea meeting and entertainment. The proceeding* were presided over by the Ven. Archdeacon Stock, who, on taking the chair, said he was happy to state that there was less drunkenness in Wellington now than there was when he came here twenty-two years ago. He spoke strongly of the evils arising from drink, and thought it should be treated more as a crime than a ■ weakness. He did not see that the drunkard was more deserving of public sympathy than the thief. He was of opinion that if drunkards were sent to gaol without the option of a fine it would do much to abate the evil. With regard to compensation, although the publican might have no legal right to be recompensed for the closing of his house, yet there was a kind o£ right established by custom, as he was led to believe that if he conducted his house properly he would get a renewal of his license. ■ Before he was granted compensation he thought the publiean should prove that he had not infringed the law in regard to adulteration, Sunday .closing,. and keeping strict hours. If these conditions were to be taken into account he did not believe that there were many hotelkeepers who would receive compensation. The llev. Sir. Edges spoke of the evil effect of alcohol on the moral, spiritual, mental, and physical condition of man. John Bright had' said that by the liquor traffic the nation was getting a revenue out of the graves of the people. He would go further than that, and say it was getting a revenue out of the tortures of the people It was an infamous principle to attempt to build upthe national prosperity of tbe people on their moral and spiritual degradation. . Mr. Tamron, the Grand Worthy Secretary for the order in the South Island, spoke of the great strides the temperance movement had made in the South, and the good results which had followed therefrom. In several towns after lodges were established the public-houses had decreased in number, and in some cases had been abolished altogether through the sober habits of the people. The Hon. Mr. Eos said he never addressed a meeting in Wellington with more pleasure than on the present occasion. It was the first time that Archdeacon Stock had presided at a temperance meeting in that city. It showed the progress of the movement, for the Chairman was one of those whom it was 'Very hard to reach, for they had never felt the evils of drink in their own persons,' The Chairman’s resolve to abstain was the result of studious thought. He thought, however, that punishment in gaol would not cure the evil. The drunkard was punished greatly in himself, in his wife, and in his family. He would punish the man who supplied him with drink. Every time a drunkard was seen in the street a publican should be sent to gaol. That, lie thought, would be a better plan for putting an end to drunkenness. A colonel in the army had informed him that he had witnessed numbers of men flogged, mostly for druukenness, or offences arising from drink, and he had never known the punishment in one single instance to do any good. At present there was only one man in every two hundred authorised to sell drink in this colony. His remedy for preventing drunkenness would be to take away the right from that one m in. He ridiculed the idea that the Local Option Bill aimed at the liberties of the people. The Licensing Bench now had the power of deciding on the fitness of a man to sell rum, that the house was a fit place in which to sell rum, and whether a public-house was wanted in the district. All the temperance party wanted was the third power—the right to say whether or not they would have a public-house in their neighborhood. Mr. Eox then spoke of the great obstacles thrown in the way of the Permissive Bill by tbe Resident Magistrates proclaiming nearly in every case very large districts. He was happy to see that tbe Government bad issued instructions to them that in defining the licensing, districts they were to take as tile boundaries the smallest division in their ffistrict, whether it was a school district or a highway ward. Before next licensing day he trusted they would be in a position to exercise their vote. Mr. Speight and Mr. Humas delivered short addresses, and on the motion of Mr. Harding a vote of thanks was accorded to the chairman and the ladies and gentlemen who got up the entertainment. Between the speech', s a number of songs and recitations were given, a young lady ' llic-cutly presiding at the piano. The proceedings were brought to a close about half-past ten o’clock.