THE LICENSING QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 276, 16 November 1908, Page 3

THE LICENSING QUESTION.

MR. A. BRUNTNELL AT THE I THEATRE ROYAL. Mr. A. Bruntnell, No-lieense lecturer, addressed a meeting in the Theatre Royal last night, at the conclusion i the church services. The building was c crowded to its utmost capacity, and I many turned away rather than endure 1 the discomforts of standing in such a e press. Rev. J. Guy presided. After \ singing and a lesson read by the Rev. t John Laird, Mr. Bruntnell delivered his j c address, which was perhaps the moat! r powerful heard here during the present s campaign. He had been asked once or twice in sneering tones why he didn't I lecture the Christians, and he was go- I ing to appeal to them now. He would C base his remarks on a verse from Habakkuk, 2-15: "Woe unto him who I giveth his neighbor drink, that puttuh I the bottle to him, and makest him S drunk alsb." Mr. Bruntnell said that £ this verse disposed effectually of the C senseless habit of shouting. He quoted Y a case in which a hotelkeeper who had liquor in his veins and who was trying to conquer the drink habit was tempted by another, to break his abstinence, ind t was found dead a few days later in an outhouse adjoining his hotel. He went tl on to say that perhaps he had been h attacking the drunkards and the dispensers too much, for the fault lay with 8 the people who had the bottle. He G would ask people to break the "home S: bottle." It might be "toney" or "soci- V able" to keep it, but many a drunkard Ai had had his first drop in a private T house. To get a dean street every man Yi should "keep his own doorstep clean." G He would appeal to them as Christians, V on high ground, to be free from r-- B proach, to risk offending the many ra- II ther than injure or hinder the progress of one life. The Christian should be j able to say, not "Do as I say.'' but "Do as I do. - ' Then he appealed to the people with regard to the "public bottle'' yi m the liquor bar. It was idle to rail jp. at the liquor-sellers uuless they.took. the right attitude with regard to the responsibility placed upon them by Hie legislature of the country. Every year of license brought victims to this evil, this appetite and habit. Let them by l M their votes make straight the way for •>; the young people. It would be a great t ( blow to him if one of his children fell ,-li a victim to the drink 'habit, but how s could he face the mother of another t( boy who had gone down under this )i- t< cense system if he had nothing to end a it? Mr Bruntnell appealed strongly to p his hearers to lift this reproach from j, the country, and remove the champion j curse which Christianity had to fight. s , In God's name, for the sake of the sj weak ones and the tottering ones, he asked the people to awake to a full j sense of their responsibilities, and re- 3 move the temptation from the path, t Let it not be said of any of these Ws v hearers that "inasmuch as yet have no: i done it unto the least of these My j children ye have done it unto Me." 3 The meeting closed with the Benedic- 1 tion. ( UNIQUE DEMONSTRATION. ( By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Saturday Night. • Long before 2.30 o'clock this aftei- ' noon, a crowd which gradually increas- s cd to within 4000 to 5000 people, assembled around the Grey statue at the ] foot oi Grey street, the starting place ( of the 'great no license demonstration. \ Gaily decorated lorries, filled with ' 'dainty attired children, followed by < many other smaller vehicles sufch as 1 pony and dog carts, each wearing banners and no-license emblems, paraded along Queen street, the children waving small flags and singing no-license songs, every now and then shouting: "Strike out the top line." The sight was a remarkable one, and was a manifestation of the intense interest which the liquor question has on this occasion aroused in Auckland. At the conclusion of the procession some stirring speeches were made. DEMONSTRATION AT WELLINGTON Wellington, Last Night. A No-license demonstration took place at Newtown Park yesterday. There was a procession from the Basin Reserve to the Park, thoss taking part comprising sympathisers of all kinds. The procession was about half a mile long. The attendance of the public at the Park was much larger than was expected, and two platforms had to be provided for the speakers. It is estimated that 500Q or 0000 persons were present. DEMONSTRATION AT WAXIJAXUI Wanganui, Last Night. A great demonstration in favor «f No-lirni»e was held in Queen's Park this afternoon. The liquor party ha,l engaged the Opera House and Drums Hall, though using neither, so that their opponents had to take recourse to the open air. This proved a good thing, for the crowd could not have been accommodated in cither or both of the halls.