A NEW TEMPERANCE DRINK.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10040, 10 May 1910, Page 4

A NEW TEMPERANCE DRINK.

The late Sir Wilfrid Lawson recognised long ago that one of the greatest weaknesses of thejj-temperance

movement lay in the fact that no thoroughly satisfactory substitute could be offered to seduce the inclinations of those who had formed a taste for the stronger waters in the direction of a preference for liquids that might cheer but not inebriate. Kecognition of the fact that the drinking customs of our race are grounded upon some more solid foundation than a mere animal desire to imbibe purposelessly fluids of any given kind of potency,has set temperance reformer? a difficult problem to solve. The mere i cutting off of supplies has not availed < much to change the general tenor of the public idea of what medium is most suitable to employ at social cele brations, while up to the present all substitutes for alcoholic beverages have failed lamentably in their purpose. The very term "temperance drink" suffices to conjure up recollections of artificially coloured, ex-cessively-gaseous, and extrava-gantly-sweetened compounds, suitable for children in strict moderation, but repellent to the matured tastes of adults. It is interesting to note, therefore, that by means of a new beverage it is not longer contemplated to rob the poor man of his beer, but to wean him from it with something to which the tempting description is applied that it "looks like beer; tastes like beer; is brewed from malt and hops only, and has no preservative in it; comes up with a head on it, and has a satisfying 1 effect." Lest there should be any misapprehension as to the exact meaning of the last recommendation, it is hastily added that the amount of alcohol produced by the new beverage is nine-tenth? of one per cent, as compared with two and a half per cent, to be found in many forms of giDger ale and other temperance drinks. A company has been formed in London, with a capital of £167,000, to exploit the manufacture of the new compound. The ale, it is stated, has the flavour of light beer, while the stout is claimed to taste so like the best London porter that it is difficult to tell which is which. But whether a compound which is even more innocent of guile than the gin-ger-beer, so well-beloved in childhood days, will make a successful appeal to those who have formed definite predilections and prejudices in the matter of drinkables, remains to be seen. No doubt many will regard the experiment in much the same light as they were wont to view the demonstrations of maternal duplicity when there was senna tea to be distributed, and the exigencies of the case demanded that it .should be masked in the guise of some other and more palatable liquid.