NO-LICENSE QUESTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10117, 12 October 1910, Page 6

NO-LICENSE QUESTION.

WHAT A PLENARY COUNCIL PASTORAL LETTER SAYS ' ABOUT TEMPERANCE. (To the Editor. Sir,—ln view of the correspondence I which lias recently taken place in your columns in reference to the question of No-license, it may interest your readers to know what the Roman Catholic Church has to say upon the subject. , In a Plenary Council Pastoral Letter (copy of which I attach), which was addressed recently to the clergy and laity of the Dominion of Quebec, some interesting statments are made. The Letter I shall allow to speak for itself, but I trust that it will be carefully studied by all who have at heart the preservation of the human race. —I am, etc., WILLIAM H. HOSKING, Physician and Surgeon.

COPY OF LETTER.

The first Plenary Council of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada was held at Quebec last year, beginning on November 19th,' and ending on December Ist, 1909. Following it, a pastoral letter was issued, addressed to the clergy and laity throughout the Dominion, and embodying a great deal of counsel and instruction relating to different matters. One of the subjects discussed was the Temperance question, and that part of this letter we have pleasure in reprinting for the information of our readers. It reads thus:—

Among the social evils which have already wrought untold harm in our country, we wish to specially single out that of intemperance. Few are the vices more prolific in destructiveness than it is; none there are that open more surely and more rapidly the way to every abasement, physical, intellectual, and moral. Alcohol is a poison whose awful property it is to attack at the same time both soul and body, of which it paralyses every energy and dries up every life spring. The gross, insatiable and abnormal appetite that it develops in the senses is one of the most degrading and the most hopeless passions known to men. Its victims are an object of scandal and horror to society, until at last they go to swell the list of those who fill up hospitals and insane asylums.

An already long-standing and everrenewed experience shows us the fate of wealth when made subservient to this all-absorbing passion; it shows us, too, how the wages of the working man, instead of bringing to the home the daily bread and the modest comforts it requires, are often wasted on the way, to fall into the hands of the genial tavern-keeper, who sells for that paltry gain the dishonour of the husband and father, and the misery and shame of the wife and children. An examination of statistics reveals to us an annual expenditure in our country for intoxicating drink of more than one hundred, million dollars. Now, the bulk, of this sum represents the fund that goes to support vice, while squandering the treasures of physical strength and intellectual and moral vigour with which God has bo abundantly endowed our people.

The Church, therefore, is not giving way to visionary fears, in calling upon her children, and in banding them together beneath the standard of the Cross, to organise an energetic campaign against one of the most dangerous enemies of religion and country. In this she stands faithful to helj office and to her traditions. The war against the scourge of intemperance goes back to the very beginning .of our country. When the traffic in, strong drink threatened to destroy the new-born civilisation on our shores, one man boldly took a stand against the greedy traders, encouraged though they were by the more or less open support of those in power; that man was our illustrious first Bishop Monseigneur do Laval. In the exciting struggle that then took place, the conflicting parties of which now appear to us in full light of history, the nobler part is on the side of the valiant apostle of Temperance. He it was who acted the true patriot and the far-seeing champion of the interest, both material and religious, of the infant colony* Successors of this great Bishop, we feel it our duty to continue to-day the crusade of which he was here the fearless initiator. Following this example, we would deliver our people from the ever-abiding peril of strong-drink. We firmly trust that our endeavours will not be in vain. Already very considerable results have been attained, and everything inclines us to hope, that they will bo lasting. Almost everywhere the civil authorties have, given their weighty co-operation, and have devoted themselves in a truly Christian spirti to the checking of this plague. It has above all been realised that the evil should be attacked 'at its source—namely, that the traffic in intoxicating liquors should be suppressed, or where that is not possible,..at least restricted and more severely controlled, and that legislation should be enacted on the point, tending to restrain vite and render easier the task of good citizens in averting danger and putting a stop to disorder. We most heartily congratulate all those who have' laboured in this cause of social uplifting; we encourage them to persevere in their noble endeavours, and to extend their zeal to every undertaking tending to the preservation of moral healthfulness.

The pastoral letter containing the foregoing statement was signed by thirty-eight Archbishops, Bishops, and Administrators, the full list of

signatures being as follows : Donatus, Archbishop of Ephesus, Apostolic Delegate. Louis-Nazaire, Archbishop of QucL.P. Adelard, Archbishop of St. Boniface. Paul, Archbishop of Montreal. Charles Hugh, Archbishop of KingEdward Joseph, Archbishop of Halifax. ' Fergus Patrick, Archbishop ol Toronto. John, Bishop of Antigomsh. Thomas Joseph, Bishop of HamilRichard Alphonsus, Bishop of Peterborough. Andre-Albert, Bishop of bt, Germain de Rimouske. James Charles, Bishop of Charlottetown. Joseph-Medard, Bishop of V alley; field - , Michel-Thomas, Bishop oi Clncoutimi. Paul, Bishop of Sherbrooke. Narcisse-Zephirin, Bishop of Pem-

broke. Francois-Xavier, Bishop of Ihree Rivers.

Timothy, Bishop of St. John. Emile, 'Bishop of St. Albert. Thomas Francis, Bishop of Chatham.

Harmann, Bishop of Nicolet. Poseph Alfred, Bishop of Joliette. David Joseph, Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie. Alexis-Xyste, Bishop of St. Hyacinthe. William Andrew, Bishop of Alex-

andria. Albert, Bishop of Prince Albert. J Alexander, Bishop of Emile, Bishop of Ibora; Vicar Apostolic of Athabasca. Gabriel, Bishop of Adramyta, Vicar Apostolic of Mackenzie . Gustavo, Bishop of Sicca, Vicar Apostolic of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Elie-Anicet, Bishop of Catenna, Vicar Apostolic of Temaskaming. Zotique, Bishop of Polga, Auxiliary of Montreal. Paul Eugene, Bishop of Eleuthero, Coadjutor of Athabasca. Celestin, Bishop of Arcadiopolis, Auxiliary of Quebec. Emile Bunzo, 0.M.1., Prefect Apostolic of the Yukon. John Welch, 0.M.1., Administrator of Vancouver, sede vacante. J. 0. Routiner, Administrator of Ottawa, sede vacante. J. E. Meunier, Administrator of London, sede vacante. Wheal will the Catholic Clergy of New Zealand take a similar stand to that taken by the above Church dignitaries?