Mr J. W. Jago's Paper.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 171, 25 September 1886, Page 6

Mr J. W. Jagos Paper.

The " Temperaripe Record" ' says :%- The paper contributed by Mr J. W. Jago, of Dunedin,. opens with an enthusiastic description 1 .of'^the' cliipat'© and resources of New' Zealand, \ but goes on to say : "The trail of' the serpent is' over it! alh" The scourge of Britain has followed, Her sons and 1 daughters' to New Zealand. The founders of the;;" colony brought yviin, them from the old land the industry, th!,e courage, 1 the'enterpriso of the 'true ', Briton, but they also brought niariy of 'his vices,ari<i with them that of intoxication, y^hen the gold 'discoveries were , made, and the rush, took place to where the precious, metals lay, the liquor traffic grew ' into gigantic proportions, and dnnkiqg and, drunkenness bobame rampan'i. During the, past decade the population has averaged 500,000. aou][s," but the liquor, bill h^as been run up to two millions. One quarter of the expenditure had been upon liquor imported j one quarter upon colonial -made, tieer/ one quarter has gone to the distributors of the drrnk' , ami one quarter ,to the State as a duty! It speaks well 'for the ' resources 'o£ this colony that the people have .been, able ,to stand this strain, and yet preserve sq . much of the appearance of prosperity. Of course thia expenditure has, led to the us.ual evils that follow in the wake of drink, go.' .that th'eoutlay eptailed, direct and indirect" would come to 1 ., aoous "four and a-half millions sterling a year— a, sum nearly equal « to the entire revenue of the^colony , Tha'hks it' 6 tb'e'greatjDroduptive'nes^of'her minerals and the fertility of Her soil, New Zealand isi able 'to bear' even such a strain as this., 5 Now,' as to the efforts to' counteract it. Ir£ 1868 the Order of the Rechabites was introduced into Wellington, and was followed by 1 a division of the Sons of Temperance^ but several total abstinence societies had previously , existed. All united, they 'ppposed but a feeble barrier to the continuance of the liquor truffic and the drinking customs. In 1873 the " Temperance Advocate was published, and the firsfc number contained an ' eloquent statement as to the, nature and ( extent of the evil and the need for greater remedial agencies. The first effective blow againsfc the, drinking customs was struck by the introduction of the Good Templar Order in, 18*72, It seized imagination arid enlisted the sympathies of the population, and they wera enrolled by hundreds. For the time Good Templarism absorbed allotherforms of temperance effort. Just prior to its introduction, the drink traffic was said by a competent writer to have " reached the culminating point of ita,malignity." Sincethen Good Templarism haa lost its freshness and with that much of its pow6r. Many lodges have been closed, and in some places where it was most active its name is almost unknown, "tnd yet its fruit remains." A wonderful change has been effected in the habits of the people during the last ten years. ' " Shouting," that is treating with drink, has become almost a thing of the past, ' and hun dreds of th youn« men are growing up as total abstainers. The glory of the liquor trade has departed, and much of its former political influence has been lost ; whilst those engaged in the traffic are in a fair way of losing the money they have previously made. Of this, several striking proofs are given in. the paper. The Good Templar movement haa been succeeded by the newer sensation of the blue ribbon, and the Churches have taken up the work as they never did before, and are more or less associated with that phase of the movement. The visits of ita chief apostles have been received with delight, and enormous audiences have been attracted to hear them —particularly by Mr R. T. Booth. In the four chief cities 13,000 persons signed the pledge, but many have broken away, though a good leaven remains. Other special visits are also referred to, particularly that of Mrs Levitt, whose appeals to women have proved most " effective, rVsulUng in the^ organisation of the Women's Christian Temperence Union foi ; New Zealand with, branches in all the large cities and towns." The aecular Press has in the main shown but little sympathy with the movement, and a eimilar remark will hold ' good as applied to" a large portion of the religious press. The temperance friends have thus been obliged to circulate their own literature, which they have done in a judicious way, but of late years the Press, seeing the direction in which public^ opinion was flowing, has become more favourable. In iBS 2, the drink expenditure was £2,654,09^, and in ISS4 'it was* £2,289,514. The Rechabites have fully I,ooo' members, the Sons'of Temperance 420, and the Good Templars about 6,000 (vide the reports), whilst the Blue Ribbon Army iarepresented as an "unnumbered host." A very large portion o£ the ministers of religion are to'al abstainers In regard t(\, legistlation, up to 1873 the sale of liquor was regulated in several provinces. The first decisive move was made in that year, by Sir William "Fox, as Premier, in a bill, which consolidated the laws for the sale of liquor, and make new provisions for that ' sale' throughout the entire world. No. license ' was granted unless two-thirds of the inhabitants by signature were in favour of it. r There was a distinct acknowledgment of the right of ' the people to veto the sale of drinjs. Several spasmodic attempts were made to •• attain the unattainable"—that is to regulate the liquor traffic '; „ and the more recent Act of ISSI provides for submitting to the ratepayers, once in every three years, the question whetner or not the number' of licenses for the sale of - liquor in their several districts should be in- „ creased; and there are ,other important olnuses. ' The power thi s legislation has conferred upon thenv but the educational process is going on .",, The great objection.* to the method, of local control provided, as, in this case, by an elected licensing author- , ity, IB' the . strong personal element . which enters into ' the election, and then 'lnto the discharge of its functions. Instead of.the'peqple saying ihe final w^rdl, they are only allowed the veto as to who ia, 1 to '■be ' the licensing ' committees, , and' , experience "during the ,l** Bt l five years * has led temperance ,• reformers to ,theeonclUjSibn that, tjiqy " are ',little more than delusions and', a l that ( nothing vvill, . suit the requirements of 'the' case but the, 1 prohibition of the » liquor, traffic by thelocally expressed will rth© people. This view has led': to the formation' of the, f s New Zealand Alliance for the, Suppression,, ofthe'Dri'nk Traffic," .of wbich'Sir William Fox a is president. The 'outlook' for, the,, fdtuira is altogether bright. ' '

, Some; homes arq full of lave and sunshine > for, stranger?,, and,, all. ugliness and gloom}, for jthe ; ones. for .whom, jbhey exiat. To constitute ajtruly happy home there should be-> pretty' little '.personal, adornments on the. part, of £he, wjfe, * ;wso hereby shows adesire td ( pleaee her hus>a;nd,and to add to the ar- • tractiona f pf h,er home. A (pleasant; word onher;part, \yhen the^oy-erwor^cd man comes,,, home,,p i ftev.eatsa.wayjthe raw edge of some, , trouble o,n hislmjnd, .and'draws out:, c ; orres- t ponding deairja tip i^e' bpth", agreeable, and • reBp^cjiful,wwhion,ohar,acter;iB^icB are always . - adbqmp^nied^by^/^ffeiQtior^.^.j^cheerfulneea \ and- amia^il^y-ta^e n^t cultivated^ rudeness, t followed by insolence ; and when Bweeb temper, gives way, to anger and discord the home circle is no longer attractive, and is - almost, certain to be shunned.