GOOD TEMPLARY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 43, 12 August 1911, Page 8

GOOD TEMPLARY.

THE OPENING OF TUB HALL. The series of Good Templar meetings in the new hall was continued last night. The Kov. J. W. Burton presided, and Miss Grimley and Bro. U. Andrews, G.C.T., were on the platform. The Rev. J. \V. Burton spoke, on the necessity for and infinite value of personal effort. Too much was wasted is organisation, in making the imiehinery go. It was the mass of public opinion that would count in the temperance fight —moral suasion. Each supporter of the cause should single out some individual and inlluencc him or her towards the side of temperance and licensing reform. The telling argument in favor of nolicense was not so much on the lines of money savings to the individual, but that tile vote of the man would help someone else. That appealed to the nobility of every man. The no-license movement was not a selfish movement. The leaders of it gave not of their substance but their lives for their .fellowmen. Miss Grimley spoke on "Mistaken Notions." There were many of them, she faid, even amongst Hie enlightened people of New Zealand, in regard to strong diink. There were many people, for instance, who thought alcohol was a food, whereas the contrary was the ca-c, as shown by leading doctors and scientists. Food built up and nourished the body, but alcohol, even in small 'ji.-aiifilies, was injurious. Ju New '/mala.id -iHilO people 'annually died as the dii"el result of strung drink, apart altogether from tlio-'O who died indirectly from it. The daughter of a very moderate drinker was assured recently by the doctors who attended him that \ her father died from alcoholic poisoning! And he had never drunk to excess. There was a notion that alcohol was a good thing for use in the polar rc'/ions. The Antarctic explorers disproved that. And it was of no use in the tropics, either. One, good lady aired her mistake]., notions that it was the duty of the temperance people to see that people should lie able to obtain pure beer. But why? Temperance people didn't u=e it. There were people who thought drink was indispensable because of the revenue derived from the sale, but still ■» ,-,. money was spent on rppiiirbvr Ihn i r ; n-jes it caused than was derivi (1 ■'••( m the sale of it. There wera many mistaken notions about Good Templary. Some people—even their chairman of that night's evening—said it was a secret so.-iety. It couldn't bethere were too many'women in it. Mis* Grimley spoke of experiences in the work of Good Templary, and mentioned cases of v'scue of some men and women who seemed almost hopeless cases. This portion of her chat with her hearers was made very interesting, the underlying thought being that the Order of Good Templars was an organisation conforming to all the principles of good government. Christianity, and benevolence, and that the work wns a recognition of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Concluding, Miss Grimley reiterated the necessity for personal effort. Mr. Andrews aNo spoke on the beneficial influence of Good Templarv. He sought to correct the impression created by a remark of his on the previous evening that the recipients of charitable aid in the A-.hburl.ou district were widows—and mostly widows through drink. This was not the case.

A musical programme was rendered fit intervals as follows:—Pianoforte solo, Mr. S. Lewis; sons;. "Queen of the Earth." Mr. !S T . McTsnao; song, "Lead, Kindly Light," Miss Tneker; vocal duet. '■N'octurne," Misses Gilbert. The accompaniments were played by Misses Legg, Goodftjere. and Ifr. Lewis.

The singing of the Doxology and the pronouncing of the Benediction closed the proceedings.