TE AWAMUTU.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2153, 27 April 1886, Page 3

TE AWAMUTU.

A meeting in connection with the Gospel* Temperance Minion was held in the Wesleyan Church on Wednesday evening. Tho proceedings weie opened by a hymn and prayer. .During the etening hever.il hymns were sung, Sankey's book being used f The first speaker was the Rev. Mr Smalley. In opening his address the speaker said he hoped to get a good many pledges that evening. He read the pledge which stated that the person MibscribiOff to it was to abstain from all intoxicating drinks such as beer, spirits, wine, cider, &c., *nd to use his or her best influence to induce others to do the same. Clni.sti.unty was the mainspring of temperance. JTdr a time temperance left the Church, but after a time it returned to it again. Foremost in the work of temperance stood the Church of England. He gave that Church great credit for its work in so got id a cause. The' Wesleyan Church also took the matter up, and was working earnestly in the mission. Ho (the speaker) held fortnightly meetings in Dunedin, and in two years he took signatures to 1,000 pledges. It was his custom to meet new arrivals in the colony and speak to them on religious and temperance matters, and he was happy to say many of them signed the pledge and kept it. It is the business of the Christian Church to fight the drink demon, lt"is their business to fight the devil, and strong drink is one of his strongholds. It is especially the duty of every Christian to fight for the cause of temperance. " He that knoweth to do good and doeth |t not to him it is a sin." Ho would nnt ¥ unchiistianise a man because he was not a total abstainer, but to do real good a man must set a good example. A little boy in Chicago once said to Sankey, " Why did yqu put me in that class, the teacher tew, do me no good.' ' Why not?' said SanieyA " Because" said the boy "I serve in a hotel and that teacher comes in and takes h ; » glass of beer." Even in that child's heart the true principles of temperance exhibited •themselves, for he saw the inconsistency of. his teacher impressing sobriety on him while he himself, even in moderation, drank. It is now known that in New Zealand about five hundred persons a year perish through strong drink ; this is known by statistics, but how many perish that we do not hear of? Theie is more misery which' catf be attributed to strong dunk than appears on the surface. Dr Andrew Clark says that tipplers, — men who only take a little at a time and frequently suffer more thatf* drunkards who have a burst occasionally, for the injury to the vital organs goes on ' unceasingly in the tipplers,' they never get a ohanco to recover themselves by getting even a temporary rest. In their case there was » steady undremininir of the constitution. Good' drink is not necessary as a brvevage, it U deadly, good iiod j)urfe; though in may be, for it contains' a largeproportion of alcohol, and alcohol is poison. It is impossible to get pure spirits in New New Zealand as the liquor sold is composed of chemicals ; methylated spirit enters largely into , its composition. //Tho 'Commissioner of police in Paris' •ays that there is more, ' brandy drunk in Paris alone than could be made from all the grapes grown in France, and this brandy is filling the asylums of Paris with lunatics. An eminent firm of distillers has lately been prosecuted for using this methylated spirit in the manufacture of whisky. The law says that n6 v one shall be allowed to purchase more than one gallon of this spirit at a time, but the firm sent their men one at a, time to get the gallon, and they had a barrel outside, and as each man came out he poured his gallon into it, and thus the law was evaded. So true is it that "a coach and six can be driven through an Act of Parliament." This vile spirit was what was used and what people drank for whisky. The lecturer -then went on to show the evil of drink when taken even in small quantities. Mrs Donald, Mrs Sm.illey, Rev. J. J. Mather, and Mr Poole add teased the_ meeting. Several hymns and some solos were sung, Mrs Smalley playing the accompaniments on the harmonium. The attendance was large, the church being filled to its utmost capacity. After the meeting about thirty signed the pledge.— (Own Gorrespondent.)

So many people were anxious to see Mr Joseph Arch take his seat in the House of Commons, that a sum of nearly: £20C was subscribed over and above the amount required to pay his election expenses in North-west Norfolk. A shocking occurrence is reported from Lembcrg, where a large haystack, the property of an army contractor, which has nightly been used by on teas ts as a shelter against frost and snow, took tire. Out of about 60 paupers, it was at first reported that only two had perished, but later accounts say that no fewer than 20 were killed, their charred remains being rescued with difijeujty, ' and that the rest were half suffocated. James Heney Paine, one of the most singular characters of New York, died recently from an accident. He was the grandson of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and ' his family are still among the best and wealthiest residents of Boston. The mental qualities of James were sufficient to give him a good professional standing ; among financial and musical writers in* Boston. In both capacities he was a copious writer for the press. He left Boston in consequence of the discovery of the cruel avarice he had shown as a> money-lender having stopped bis prosf \ pect of making any further profit. .He went to New York and lived in misery in the most squalid quarters of the city, his clothe 3 in a filthy state and full of holes, and for lira food he was often indebted to charity. No will has been dis? covered, nor where the bulk of deceased's property is. One reputable broker says Paine took from his office, in bank notes, 330,000d01s wrapped in a newspaper, being the proceeds of a single transaction, and that another time he paid him 70,000d015. The property js estimated, at between one and twor millions of dollars.

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