YOUNG MEN'S NO-LICENSE CLUB.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12633, 21 October 1905, Page 7

YOUNG MEN'S NO-LICENSE CLUB.

AN INTERESTING ADDRESS

At the we&b'.ng of the"-Young Men's License Club,- on Thursday evening, Chairman (Mr. Walter Grey) deliverthe foHowi'ng address:— 'GtantiLemen, —In a weak moment I to address this meeting, and now, iat this present moment, wishI was a hundred miles away. I feel much in tho same position a brickonce found himself in. This was the secretary of a BrickUnion in a smaM town in ' Engand, as occasionally happens, the went on strike. It was to call ia public meeting to dismatters, and this secretary was to speak ion behalf of the On the evening of the meetihe was ■called on to speak, but his failed him, and after gazing around he blurted out:— Ladies and gentlemen, you all know I'm Bill Jones, the bricklayer, and lall know that I am better fitted to on the scaffold than to stand on a pJatfonn." So, gentlemen, I hope will overlook any of m^' shortcom--as a speaker and make due allowfor my being, like you, a young I will first deal with this club—• aiiins and objects. The object of this is "to induce young men to pro-?c3i€3-ii" own intereerts by assisting the movement." The idea of this club originated in the HBninds of three or foua- young men about month age. They talked the matter decided to do what they could form 'Hie club, and got the tickets A fortnight ago a second meeting (held, omcere were elected, and it decided to do our utmost to secure cariying of No-jlicense at the foi-th-poll. We have already over two and fifty members enrolled, one a bona fide young man and electoir. I have, in my time,Jhad a to do \vitih. various populaa* and unmovements, but I know of not which has started with such a memI hope that w© will secure or 600 members 'before the election. oiiuinibea" can be obtained if we only our shoulders to the wiheal. It is (that nbitjhing succeeds like sucosss. is encouraging to know that comhave already :been received our seoretairy from various quarters for 'information, and wishing us and I understand that one of tickets somehow got up to New y^s the cause of a club formed on isimilar lines with tho object. Let me here.point out that club is quite cosmopolitan, and uo

questions are going ifo be asked. All we do is to induce, 'as our object states, " young men to promote tJheir own interests by assisting the No-license movement. We want a powerful membership of abstainers and inon-abstainers who are convinced that the carrying of No'licanse would mean increased general and material benefit to every young man. We then want you to influence all other young .men to vote No-license, and thereby Jhelp to shut up the beer shops in this town. Gentlemen, having briefly explained the aims and objects of the club, I desire to speak to you as j a young man to young men. During the last few years 1 have lived and worked in Sydney and Melbourne, in Australia. I lived in Launceiston, Tasmania, for ten months. I have lived and worked in the four big cities in New Zealand, besides 'Neleqn, Invercairgill, and last and not least Wanganui, and to the best of my ability, and I cay 'advisedly I know of no greater obstacle in the young main's path than this drink evil we are now 'fighting. There are not, in my opinion, any other half-a-dozen reforms that I know of, that unitedly, are more ! necessary to bring about than thisoiie of JNo-liosnse, because gentlemen, this no-license reform is essentially a moral and social reform. I am reminded of that saying that the boy is father to the man, and let me just here digress a little in order to impress you a little with the 'necessity of the liquor traffic being put out of our way. The. average duration of human life throughout the whole world is 33 years. Now, we know that ■where men grow to maturity they play their part, some well and .some badly", land then they pass away and make room for the newcomers. Looking back through th© centuries that have gone before, we see that in spite of revolutions' and •apparent setbacks that tho world has grown better all the. time, until now, gentlemen, in spite of all the croakers and pessimists, that burden the earth, the world is better to-day than it ever was before, and why is this eb? It is because the human race has been growing wiser, and as the old generations have died the younger generations have come into being, and, inspired by the ambition to leave the would better than they found it, have made the world a better place to live in. Now to com© to New Zealand. We know that New Zealand has gone alhead wonderfully during the last few years, 'but what of the future? There was once a settler who had -to pay heavy rates for the up-keep of roads ,and bridges, and. he was always- growling like a bear with a sore head about the fact. One day a neighbour tried to console-him iby telling (him that what he was paying would greatly benefit posterity. "Posterity be hanged," said the settler, "what has posterity done for me? " Don't let us look at the matter in this light. We admit that all the benefits of modern civilization were achieved by those who went, before us, and we gratefully accept these benefits. Now, what are we doing to merit the grateful thanks of posterity? We muist recollect .that'progression- is a law of nature, we must either go forward or backward. It is not sufficient that we are as the equals of our forefathers. We must 'be mor© than equal, must use their experience plus our own of thes world is to toe improved, iand we have a magnifioeaiib opportunity a^ hand of improving the conditions of life and truly advancing the bast interests of the community. Last yeair throughout NewZealand inhere were about .10,000 convictions for drunkenness, and for the next t!hree yest-s it is a fair assumption to believe "that the same number will be yearly iCcnvicted. That give a total of 30,000 convictions for the three years. Wanganui now has a splendid opportunity to check its proportion of this inglorious number. By voting No-License we can confidently predict a 66 per cent. decrease. This ds on last year's record : Drunkenness 208, helpless drunkenness 12, found /'drunk in charge, of horse and trap 4, drunk in railway carriages 3, ; ; 47 prohibition orders wore tissued. I have not 'been able to get the record for. serious offences. This its not a pleasant record to .(read, especially when we consider tthat it does not represent the true state of affairs, because we know that the number of convictions recorded in the^police court does net represent the lamount of, drunkenness that actually takes placSe. Referring specially to Nolicense, thence can foe. 410 doubt that if Np-ljieense fe carried" in - Wanganui it wiy.Mo an. immense amount of good to ntlnei.town.- As the years go by, ..Mid tile younger generation come 'ooi the -social .;<^dition of'the people^must greaitfj; impl'bve. Olutha. and Ashburtoii greatly deoreased theac/yeooa^s-^r^dra-iildenness, and I vejituije'itovpredict that the number of cqn<vieli(sn;p for drunkenness in Wanganui would "decrease if No-license is chained from 208 at present to about, 50 under Ncwlicense foa'"the first year, and that as time passes the record will still fua-ther decrease, and ato will look back and uhink of the wise step we took when we shut up the public-houses. As regards the outlools:, the future is full of promise. Last licensing poll over 151,000 voted for No-license, and if we make (the same increase this poll that was made then (30,000 votes) we must make a great impression. In ooncluding I wish to impress you with the necessity of doing your utmost to secure a victory at the forthcoming poll. We i have a splendid opportunity to wipe out the greatest curse that has injured the New Zealand people—<a business which, if we trace its record right down through the centuries to the dawn of history, has always been an evil and nothing but an evil. Let us then, when we leave this meeting, make up our minds that we are going to do our best to shut up the beer shops in this town. We can all do something; some can do a good dead, others mmy not be able to do all they would like to, but whatever our opportunities may be let us do what we can, and success at last imut^t crown our efforts.