GOOD TEMPLAR LODGE, HAMILTON EAST.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1296, 19 October 1880, Page 2

GOOD TEMPLAR LODGE, HAMILTON EAST.

Vs §tated>is our last isaue 'the opening -of* Jihw.jQflge.,was, celebrated on Friday evening by a tea-meeting and entertainment. Tea (supplied by Mr Black) was «m the .table at 6 o'clock,, and was partaken of by about 100 persons, ?£be following ladies presided :— Mesdames. PalmeSy. Siriitn, Ma'spn, , Jlaijris; j and Misses Thorpe and Dimes. < ' ' • After tea the tables were removed, and the entertainment commenced by Mr H Steele being voted to the chair. A 'vfery pleasing musical programme was then g6ne through, all the items of which we,re charmingly rendered : the first part of which contained the following -.—Pianoforte Duet, Mrs Ellis and Miss Culpan ; Son* " r^iss me aqd I'll go to sleep;" Mr Meacham' with chorus; Song "Dresden China," Mrs Ellis ; Song 1 ' Remember Me, " Mr Wright. The Chairman then introduced Mr W. J. Speight, M.H.R., to the audience. He said he had not much personal knowledge of Mr Speight, but he knew him by repute as an earnest and consistent advocate of the Temperance cause. He then referred in general terms to the distress occasioned in Hamilton by a too free indulgence in liquor. Mr Speight on rising was greeted with loud applause,, He sa,id the remarks which had fallen from the Chairman were sufficient to' give him' courage to go on with a lecture to them, but he hoped they would not consider him piesumptuous enough to do anything of the sort. I Further than this.he was suffering from a severe cold and was not in a fit' state to make a long:- speech,. Ijt was far from his mind to lecture them, but te express a few simple thoughts, such as might flow from the heart of one man into that of another, about the great work which they had in hand. He hoped they would .not look upon them as coming from an eldqr, but from a young fellow whose aspirations were' as, wtirm as theirs, and who hoped to liye hs long as any of them. They had come there that night to celebrate the opening of a hall for the Templars— a place where they could hold their meetings. What was their object in building- that hall ? He would try to answer this. Ho was aware that in Hamilton the Good Templars mustered very strongly ; that they had some 70 names on their books, a muoh larger number than many places larger than Hamilton could boa^t of. On this he congratulated them. But from what he could gather there was also a considerable number of warm sympathisers outaido the pale of the Order; as an instance of which he would mention that the land upon which their hall was built was the gift of a gentlemnn not in their ranks. .Now, no man who would prive a valuable allotment of ground could think meanly of the efforts they were pntting forth. It tttitght 'them that the majority] df the people of this town had faith in the good which the Order ;\vould accomplish, and that they expected the members to carry out their work honestly. Let them not give the lie to this confidence. It had itlso cotne to his knowledge that a gentleman outside the Order had given a very considerable sum of money to induce a man to join, and continue a member for two years. • All this showed that there was something in the principle of total abstinence which was recognised by most people. The name of Templar was nothing; it might be shaken off to-morrow; so long as the principle remained. The name was mearly a means to an end. It was, however, as such, felt to be of great necessity. They recognised the existence of the great and crying evil of drunkenness and the need for its cure. Drunkenness in the individual meant drunkenness in the cpmmnnity, and drunkenness in the community, meant drunkenness in the State, and this state of things might be expected to continue until the traffic of strong drinks was prohibited. There could be no telling how soon a man might become a drunkard if he partook of drink, but if he abstained ' there could be no danger whatever. Templary laid down two principles which ought to be butter understood. The first was, total abstince for the individual, the second, total abstinence for the community and prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors. These were what every temperance society of whatever kind aimed at. It might be said that they were difficult to accomplish, and he Mould not deny that they were. He would ask them why they had left the old country ; was it not becau&e there was no room there, and they hoped to make homes here? And yetwhat was it that had ground England down but the drinking habits of the people? There was no other obsticle to success at Home half so strong as the use of intoxicating liquor. Demagogues could be found there to raise a howl at the grinding land laws and oppressive taxation, but they ever forget to put the pewter pot to their lips ? He would say fearlessly that no land laws, no taxation wore half so much to bo dreidcd as the love of drink. If they expected to make for themselves a home in this new country they must first cast aside those things which had barred their progress in the old. There were hundreds of people here who could easfly raise themselves to the highest positions if they would but be true to themselves. What had dragged down the English working classes but drink ? In. England there were at the present time no less than 185,000 public houses ; was it hard then to account for the evils which encompassed the people there ? One public house for every 36 houses in the kingdom ! Let them turn to New Zealand and what do they see. A rery few years ago they came to this country, and assuredly they found no hotels here, but what is the case now : they had no less than 2003 publichouses, or one for every 41 houses injthe Colony. Let them weep over it and hang down their heads in shame ; but let them not be the less eager to wipe out such a disgrace. In England and Scotland there were no less than 975,000 paupers in the workhouses, dependent on the state. This number did not by any means represent the whole, for there were countless numbers sustained by private charity, and it was England's boast that she was a nation of charity. What made these people paupers? He would tell them from his own experience in this country ; for they had paupers here. It was true they were mostly ashamed to own it, and instead of being supported in Union Workhouses, they depended on " Charitable Institutions." There was an Institution of this kind at the Thames, and there was bpsUes an orphanage there, and he averred thai thore was scarcely a single recipient of relief who did not owe his or her degradation to personal indul. gence in strong drink, or to tho indulgence of parents. England possessed onofourth of the commerce of the world, and yet in one year she spent £142,000,000 in drink ! From 1859 to J865, the enormous sum of £850,000,000 was spent in intoxicating liquors in England — actually JEIB,QOQ,QOQ |n excess of the National

$ebt! In Npw Zeal&d in "1879 the amount spent in liquor, taking the Svholefrale pridi'was £3;046,999. ' They had heard a good deal ab?ufc the Public Works Policy, and the corruption to which the expenditure of the loans pave , birth, .bat ho would nsk them if anything i could ' argue a moi*e corrupt state of society than a tax of £6 1 5a per head for drink? When they commenced tho public works they had a debt of £7,O00,(!)0Oj mow they were liable for £2Z,a00,0Q0. If they, multiplied the amount spent in liquor in 1879 by nine thtey ''Would find that" there would be enough to ' pay the colonial debt, with a considerable sum to sparo. Perhaps it would be said the country derived revenue from the|sale of intoxicants ; very true, but he would a thousand times sooner contribute by means of direct taxation than nphold a system of indirect taxes which linked the country with an unholy traffic. > The .which led merit&i t& drink was Uie constaut temptation placed in their way by the frequency of publichouses. He might exert his influence for good) ' Bad so might they, but after all it was only a momentary influence ; but the influence of the public-house was continual" Some of the noblest minds of the centrfry were of the opinion that, although individual abstinerce was a good thing, prohibition by the State was necessary. There was a growing feeling in favor of prohibition, or at least placing in the hands of the people the right to determine the number of public-houses. Sir Wilfred Lawsons Bill had been lost time after time, but to show the state of the feeling: in England no le3S than 99 opponents of that measure had lost their seats at the last general election, and the principle of the Bill had wince bsen affirmed. The same thing had also been done in Canada, and in the Parliament of this country there existed a temperance sentiment as healthy as anyone could wish. He concluded his address by making an earnest appeal to the young men to adopt the principles of temperance, pointing out in vivid colours the evils resulting from an opposite course, and defending the constitution of Good Templars. Thehon. gentleman sat down amid loud applause. The second part of the musical programme was then gone through as follows:—Song and chorus, "I'm still a friend to you," Mr Vincent ; song and chorus, •' Sweet Little Jessie", Miss Culpan; song, "Don't Forget Me," Mrs Ellis; sons' and choru«, '• Beautiful Brooklet," Miss Gleeson ; Rnng and chorus, "Down by the Deep Sad Sea," Mr Meacham; song, "Still I Love Thee," Miss Thorpe (encored) ; sonjor, " Sleep on Dearest," Mr Wright. Miss Culpan played the pianoforte accompaniments with great taste and correctness. The usual votes of thanks to the ladies, the lecturer, the performers, and the chairman having been proposed, carried, and duly responded to, a very pleasant evening was' bronght.to a close. The Hamilton Volunteer Band attended and played some choice selections of music outside the hall.