TEMPERANCE MANIFESTO.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3029, 28 October 1908, Page 6

TEMPERANCE MANIFESTO.

TO THE MEMBERS AND ADHERENTS OP THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NEW ZEALAND.

Christian Brethren,—ln compliance with the resolution of last General Assembly, and in its name, we most earnestly press upon your attention the continued destructive effects of the licenssd liquor traffic, and the great opportunity of suppressing it at the coming local option poll. During the past three years, in spite of the threat implied in the steady growth of public opinion against it, the results of the liquor traffic have been obvious and melancholy. Drunkenness has net been diminished in license electorates, and its consequences have been as widespread as in former years. The liquor traffic has shown itself to be an enemy of homes and home life. It has robbed little children of innocence, security and joy. It has destroyed many a wife's happiness and comfort, and brought frequent disgrace and shame to husbands and parents. It is the persistent degrader of the ideals, ambitions and purity of youth; it saps the strength and usefulness of manhood; and often destroys the comfort and honour of old age. It tends to under mine physical health, mental soundness, integrity of character, and vital Godliness.

It does not spare even those who leave it alone, for the e .aU weight of its crushing miseries is often borne by abstaining wife and children; and many are to-day suffering—though abstainers—from neglect, blunders, or accidents brought about by drinkers. No home in the Dominion is secure from its ravages. The number of first convictions for drunkenness in New Zealand for the last seven years is over thirty-five thousand. The liquor traffic is, by common consent, a prolific mother of crime. It is the source of many evil and degrading influences. It does not, to our knowledge, serve a single elevating purpose. And indulgence in alcoholic liquor tends to creat an irre- [ sistible craving, which, in many : cases, completely enslaves the victim. 1 There is also increasing evidence ' that the use of intoxicating beverages, even in what is called strictest ' moderation, is a grave mistake. It 1 ministers only delusive comfort or pleasure, and gradually tends to blunt, if not break down altogether, the higher and more complex and ' sensitive faculties of reason, affection ' and will. As a Church, we maintain ! that the supreme wealth of the world , lies in Christian character, which is to be sought above all else.j but when its growth is in the slightest degree arrested by alcohol, or its sensitiveness dulled, the grace of God is to , that extent frustrated. Such indulgence as doe 3 this, however moderate it may seem, is nevertheless excessive. We have made careful and extended enquiries year by year into the ' conditions obtaining in No-License electorates. We have had numerous and extended reports from the minis- [ ters and elders who live there. They report a welcome absence of drunkenness; many reclaimed to sobriety; greater prosperity; increased comfort in many homes; and \ an improved moral tone throughout , the community. They also report that NoLicense has not been followed by any serious increase in home drinking; that the sight of drunken men is now a rare thing in their streets; and that the young people are saved I from the temptations attending the ; open bar. The community has not , been a loser either financially or i morally by the adoption of this i policy. in the face of such facts as these, the Presbyterian Church has, for a ; a number of years, declared herself i in favour of No-License, and now , urges all her loyal sons and daught ters to honour her declaration by ; voting for ■ NO-LICENSE AND REDUCTION ! at the coming local option poll. For the sake of our fellow-citizens, 5 whom the liquor traffic is corrupting at the rate of five thousand first convictions for drunkenness per annum. For the sake of the peace, purity i; and prosperity of many homes at "• present desolated through drink, For the sake of the honour of Christ's Church, confronted by this ' destroyer and corrupter of the people, and thus 1 FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, ] we exhort you to vote for No- [ Licen.se and Reduction at the coml ing local option poll, by striking , out THE TOP LINE ONLY. ALEXANDER DON, I Moderator. r* | ALEX. DOULL, 3 / Convener of Temperance Committee. 1 October, 1908.