THE ANNUAL CONVENTION.

White Ribbon, Volume 21, Issue 246, 18 December 1915, Page 5

THE ANNUAL CONVENTION.

(To the Editor.) Madam, —1 am greatly surprised th.it any White Ribboner should sug gest dispensing with our Annual Convention 111 191 b. My own feeling is that the necessity for this is even greater than usual. Our minds are so occupied with the w.ir and kindred topics that we are in danger of forgetting that other foe drink which Llovd George declares to be a more deacYly one than the Austrians or tinmans, and more to be* feared than the submarines of our enemies. The Distric t President of Palmerston North is planning a campaign for the weeks immediately after the holidays, especially with a view to working up the Convention and promoting a good representation from the little branches in the neighbourhood of Wanganui. Phis plan commends itself to me as an admirable one, and 1 shall be glad to fall in with it. We have some very big plans afoot, and our best brains will need to confer as to the methods most likely to ensure success. We shall not relax our efforts on behalf of our boys at the front (they lie

too near our hearts !), nor shall we forget our obligations to the distressed Belgians, Poles, and Serbians, but the attention called by the war to the mertaec of the liqu'-r traffic furnishes an unparalleled opportunity for our work. I his is the opportunity of our lives. We are on the top of the wave, and shall we turn back? I heartily agree with the lettei of Mrs Crabb in your last issu«‘, especially with the suggestion that an organised effort be made to enlist the women of the different < hun hes. 1 find numbers of them quite willing to join us, and when asked, “Why do you not belong to the Union?” the reply is, often, “I don’t know ; I’ve never been asked.” Numbers, too, .ire standing outside be< ause they cannot regularly attend the meetings. We must convince these that the additional membership is a strength to us; that their occasional attendance adds to the enthusiasm of the meetings; and that the inspiration they get when they can attend (.in he passed on to other women they may meet. When the N.Z. otfi<ers waited upon Sir Joseph Ward (then Premier) and asked him to re move the CM). Acts from the Statute Hook. he said: “1 recognise that your organisation is .1 power in the country,” and these Acts were repealed at the next session of Parliament. Year b> year this sense of the power of the W.C.T.U. is growing stronger in the minds of the public. Only last week a Min'ster speaking of a great social danger, said to me, “It’s of no use for an isolated body here and there to take action ; the movement must be a Dominion one,, and only an organisation like the W.C.T.I with branches all over New Zealand, can make it.” Hut, 1 ask, how can this be done unless we meet together and arrange it? Yours, for a record Convention, MARY S. POWELL. PS. As to the fares, well, we need not grudge the money to the Government ;th<*v need it badly enough! MSP. Miss Powell’s address until furtner notice will be ‘ls<u Mount, St. Clair, Dunedin.”