HOW TO ADVANCE OUR CAUSE.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43104, 13 June 1907, Page 1

HOW TO ADVANCE OUR CAUSE.

By Rev. T. H. Hunt,

Author of “ The Christian Citizen and Temperance Reform,” etc., 'etc, k_j * • ,r •' _' • (Continued from last issue.) ’ f ' ... -U But these poisonous beverages are so commonlynnd extensively used that not only the health of individuals, but [the health and efficiency of the whole nation are threatened. It is now common knowledge that for ~ some time past a process of physical deterioration has been going on. This is vouched for / by a Royal Commission, and 15,000 medical ' practitioner** have put their hands to a . memorial to Government in favour of Temperance instruction in elementary schools,’ As to the moVal effects there has never been any doubt. A succession of Home holding office under both Tory and Liberal Governments, together with judges, gaolers, ! workhouse governors, and others who had special means of know- . ing, having declared nine-tenths v of the serious crime of the'coUntry to be traceable to drinking. It is a fact serious enough, that the nation spends £160,00Q,000 a year on beverages that add no strength to body or brain, emptying the pockets of the people who can least afford, and depriving their homes of comfort ; but the worst of all isthat weak men are—tempted to badness, and barriers are put in the way of men who would otherwise be good, thus effectually hindering religious progress. These are <• among the indisputable facts that the last seventy-five years . have done so much to confirm.

The two mam principles ih the Temperance reformation ai« expressed in the simple formula j “ Abstinence for the iudividutl and Prohibition for the State.’- • Nobody will venture to state today that total abstinence injures the abstainer, in health or chaiv acter, or comfort; much less will they assert that his abstinence is an injury to his neighbor. The benefits are too evident for drinkers to deny them. Prohibition, both in smaller and larger communities, has proved i's value in lessening the consumption of drink and the baneful effects that follow it. Whole j states in America, the colonies, | and some towns, and portions of towns, nearer home have shown the soundness and safety of that principle. Sometimes the Veto has been exercised by one man, and sometimes by communities who have been entrusted with the power. We would spread the knpwledge of these facts, advocate and defend these principles, until Parliament shalladopt and apply them. Happily at the present "time Government and Parliament are with us ; but Governments and Parliaments can only do what the people permit, and will only do what the people demand. It is for ns, then, to communicate our knowledge, to democracy, and to bring the - ' masses into line with us To do this it is necessary tliat w e who take upon ourselves to he the educators of others should ourselves know our principles, so that we can expound and defend them with force. More, it is necessary that our knowledge should not simply be knowledge, but conviction, and then we should be true to our con vie', ion. Men are judged to day more by what they do than by what they A man -who has au opinion be tempted aside from it by or ambitiou .consideration, /hut the man ands in ,the evil men are needed at this ju. c'ure more than ever —warriors, and not u wobblers. 1 ’

iTo be Continued. )