Temperance Meeting.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3444, 8 January 1880, Page 2

Temperance Meeting.

A Temperance meeting—in connection with, the Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars, now holding its sixth session on the Thames—was held at the Presbyterian Church last evening. Ifotirithstanding the inclemency of the weather there^was a very fair attendance of persons interested in the Temperance cause, while the platform was occupied by a number of the Templar delegates, including the newly-elected officers of the Lodge. Mr W. J, Speight, late G V W.S., occupied the chair, and in the course'of a brief introductory address said that the object of Good Templary was to show the magnitude of the evils of intemperance, and to point out a means for their eradication. Some people supposed that their object was to get young^ people together for the purpose of amusement, but this was a mistake—they were banded together for the purpose of combatting intemperance. The Grand Lodge was at present holding its session here for the purpose of considering matters for the good of the Order. Whatever were the faults in their organisation, it was their earnest desire to have them purged out, and he asked those v» ho approved of their principles to join hands with them and assist them in improving the organisation of the Order.

Mr Jenkins, of Newmarket, the newlyelected Grand Worthy Councillor, prefaced his remarks by stating that the ! office he held was merely an ornamental j one, and had been given him in consequence of his appearance. Some of their officers represented quantity, some quality, and he must be taken to represent style. In the course of his remarks he would be very brief, as he did not wish to jump the claims of better men who were to follow him. The fact of the present meeting being held in a church has presented to his mind a subject, on which to make a few remarks. If the churches were doing their duty there would be no necessity for a Grand Lodge or any other Temperance organisation. The Church had been afraid of the Temperance question, but now they were getting a little up in the world, and this meeting being held in a church was a sign that they were getting on: Some men said they, could do better without liquor than with it, and though the idea had been pooh-poohed, icientists and medical men had now veered in their opinions, while the London Temperance Hospital . was an established fact. Drink was of no use whatever, and its use was, in Shakesperian language, like putting an enemy into their mouths to to steal away their braids. The address was replete with interesting and amusing ! anecdotes, which highly amused the I audience. The speaker was loudly | applauded when he resumed his seat. j Mr Johnson, of Wellington, Sir William Fox's successor in the Grand Worthy Chief Templar's Chair, said that some 20 years ago in Taranaki he had first signed the pledge, and .during the war they frequently had to get up at 2 or 3 in the morning, and scour the country for thirty miles before breakfast. In these marches they generally had a tot of rum served but to them, but he found that he could do better without it. He bad at one time thought that if a man had not the strength of mind to keep sober without pledge signing, the mere signing of the pledge would not assist him, but he had reason now to change his opinion. He narrated an instance in his own experience where the fact of 10 or, 12 soldiers signing the pledge had led t j the general sobriety of three regiments, in one of them there being 700 Good Templars, and in another 785. He appealed to the young persons present to abstain from drink, and spoke strongly against the practice of moderate drinking, comparing it to a narrow and dangerous bank which might give way and ingulf at any minute. He narrated several telling anecdotes, and his speech was very well received. Mr Price, of Wellington, the G.W. Chaplain, said whatever night be the quantity or quality of the platform, it was quite inadequate to do justice to the grand cause to wnioh they invited the attention of the audience, or to enforce the principles they professed. He held that it came next to Christianity. - They found the drink traffic impinging on everything with which man had to do. It touched his health, his wealth, and his brains. He wished to pass the moral aspect of the question, and take otHer views of the great subject. They were charged by the. newspapers with being intemperate in their language; but he asserted it was impossible to express in language the evils against which they contended. Their position now was just this; They had everything in science, religion, and politics on their side., lie said it was the bounden duty of every man and woman to become a total abstainer, and he would prove it if they would but grant him the premise that a in an was bound to do the best, physically and socially, for himself.' Alcohol was, instead of being useful, simply proved to be pernicious. * Disease could be' treated more effectively without alcohol than with it. He quoted the results of, Dr Richardson's inquiries. IVone could take a glass of wine without paying the penalty. It was calculated there were £2,000,000 directly lost in this colony every year through the drink traffic, and as much more indirectly. He pleaded for some little latitude to be given to, temperance advocates in order that examination might be made as to the truth of their statements. jZ Mr Donovan, of New Plymouth, whose foreign accent at once betrayed his nationality, then delivered a most amusing address in the somewhat erratic but still earnest style of a true son of Erin.. He spoke at great length, looking at the question from almost every point of view, illustrating his remarks with anecdotes told in a peculiarly racy and taking style. One was of three first cousins of his own who came 40 miles to take the pledge from Father Mathew, and got drunk on the road, being intoxicated while taking the pledge. He spoke strongly of the want of temperance education in Ireland, illustrating how the drinking of whisky was inculcated in Irishmen from childhood. He blamed the Church, .the Government and the doctors—who, he believed, were in league with the under- ! takers—for the evils of intemperance, jHe said that Good Templary was a | broad liberal platform which the Pope of | Borne or Archbishop of Canterbury could join without interfering with their religion one jot. Some of his fellow country-men thought they were a cross between Methodists and Latter Day Saints, but this was> # of course, absurd. He asked them to look at the drink traffic from the "pocket" aspect, and asserted that but for it many men iv New

Zealand who had been receiving the benefit of the expenditure of borrowed money would be now on farms of their own. And what had the liquor traffic done for the country. The brewery over there, for instance, might employ a dozen men, but he was bound to say it put 12 dozen en the labor market. At the conclusion of his remarks Mr Donovan received a hearty round of applause. Mr Dorrington made a few remarks on the insidious nature of drink, and shewed the saving that could be effected by being temperate.

The meeting closed with the usual doxology and a vote of thanks to the Presbyterian body for the use of their building. .