DRINK IN THE POTTERIES.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43087, 2 May 1907, Page 1

DRINK IN THE POTTERIES.

a stipendiary’s strictures.

(Continued from last issue.)

Some of the forbidden features of the neighbourhood are perhaps inevitable, but the (ugliness of the slag-heads and clay pits need not be reflected in the character of the population, and in this busy neighbourhood there are not wantiug voices that speak of the more excellent way * Pleas for Temperance and for ideals above money-making are not lacking among this hardworking people, and such pleas have recently been powerfully reinforced byMr Harold W right the Stipendiary of the Potteries, who at a Mayoral banquet introduced a note that is sounded far/-too seldom on such! occassion*. Keferring to the prosperity of the district, he is reported to have stated - that trade was doubtless improving, for with increased earnings drunkenness was increasing. “In emphasising my point to a friend sitting near me. • .

I SMASHED MY WINE GLASS. It would be a good thing,” he added, “if all the wine glasses were smashed;” This only adds another to the already numerous expressions by judical authorities of the magnitude of the' evils of drunkenness and the need for the extension of Temperance. In the Potteries, as elsewhere, the demon of Drink enjoys his unenviable ? priority over other spirits of evil, and prepares the victims for.‘'the demons of meanness, lust and murder*

Yet still are to be met with who do not realise •he extent of the evils of drunkenness. No person can avoid meeting with cases of ruined lives through intemperance, and a short calculation should shew such a person that if out of his limited circle of acquaintance there are two or three dipsomaniacs, how large the number must be throughout the whole country. The fact is burked, however. If it were, faced, declarations such as that of the Stipenduuy would become the merest commonplaces, for every man iu a responsible position would feel bound to make such statements.

Still, the truth expressed so straightforwardly, and at a gathering of the nature iu question, is refreshing iu its candour, and if it only ..serves to keep alive in the Potteries a vigilant public opinion ou this most pressing of all problems, and if it encourages the Temperance organisations of that district and stimulate the licensing authorities to their plain duty as regards reduction of licenses, the Stipendiary will be able to feel that his courage was not in vain and his speech was not the emptyfustian that so often serves for postprandial speech making: