CORRESPONDING SECRETARYS REPORT.

White Ribbon, Volume 21, Issue 250, 18 April 1916, Page 12

CORRESPONDING SECRETARYS REPORT.

Under ordinary circumstances, 1915, the year following the poll, would have been an “off” time, when Unions might consider that they were entitled to rest after their arduous labours in the National Prohibition campaign, but the war has offered to all women unusual opportunities for work, and most of our Unions have vigorously embraced those opportunities. Indeed, it would be right to say that none of oui members have failed to realise their responsibility for helping to create “the atmosphere” that is to obtain after the war is over. A few Unions have considered that the claims of the war are so great that all their energies ought to be devoted to the special work in that connection, and they have either given up their Union meetings or have at least met less often. The majority of the Unions, however, have seen that there is more need than ever for the ordinary work of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union to be prosecuted with all the earnestness and vigour the members are capable of putting into it. The most important national effort m. de by the Unions during the year was the circulation of a petition to Parliament asking that hotel bars should be closed at 6 p.m. during the war. The time at our disposal did not permit of our enlisting the help of any organisations save our own Unions, and thus the effort was limited to those towns and districts where a branch of our Union exists. The delay in promoting the petition was due to the fact that your Fxecutive believed that tim N.Z. Alliance had the matter in hand, but as time passed and nothing was done, it was resolved that the Union must take action, and the petition was circulated. At the time there was great uncertainty as to the duration of Parliament; failure to

form a National Cabinet would mean that the House would adjourn, consequently only a few days could with any certainty be allowed for obtaining Signatures. Again the majority of the Unions nobly responded 10 the call, and some thousands of signatures were secured, Dunedin l nion taking hist place on the roll or honour with over 5500 names. Ihe petitions were duly presented to the House by the members for the various districts, ..nd were in the usual course referred to the Petitions Committee. When * luT Committee, after much delay, at length reported to the House, it stated that the matter involved being a question of policy, it could make no recommendations, but that considering the importance of the subject, it was of opinion that Parliament should give the question some consideration. Ihe supporters of the liquor trade were successful in baulking any action in the matter, for when the Petition Committee s report was presented to the House, certain members “talked the matter out,” and nothing more was heard of it. The question has, however, had little rest as far as the public is concerned. The evil of the liquor traffic has never been more evident than now. It is the earnest wish of every decent citizen that our young men who are offering their lives to the Empire should be both morally and physically fit for the stupendous task that lies before them, and for some this is made almost impossible by the insidious ways in which the “liouor trap” is prepared for them. Under the guise of hospitality and good fellowship temptations to drink are forced upon the men, and our Unions have over and over again protested against the practice of shouting, and have asked that it be prohibited. This, too, is a matter that calls for further action on our part. Many of the Unions have made a special effort in the direction of pledge-taking. The “K.K. pledge has been in fairly general use. Auckland reports that 40 members took part in a pledge-taking campaign, when 3000 pledges were secured. Work for sit k and w ounded soldiers has been enthusiastically taken up by individual members and by Unions, and the report of the Flower Mission and Relief Superintendent should be a lengthy one this year, if the Unions have reported to her as they have to me. Ihe protest the Unions have made from time to time regarding the punishment meted out to men charged with criminal offences against women and children was this year embodied in a petition which was signed by the officers of our Unions and of manyother societies associated with work for and among women and children. This petition was presented to the Minister of Justice by a deputation from various societies in Wellington. The deputation was sympathetically received, but as the Parliamentary session was drawing to a close, the Minister adv sed that the matter should be held over until the next sessi6n.

The win-one campaign has not had the success hoped for. While a number of the Unions took it up enthusiastically, many others reported that women were so absorbed 111 work in connection with the war that it was useless to approach them, and under the circumstances it was considered that for this year at least the campaign should not be pushed officially. 1 he success attending the efforts of a few Unions should serve as an example to the rest. Palmerston North has t>2 new members, Normanby has 26, Patea, Belfast and New Brighton . have more than doubled their membership while Birkenhead, Devonport, Onehunga, Otahuhu, Hastings, Stratford, Normanby, Feilding, Wellington District, W inchmore, i im and Port Chalmers show a substantial increase. Opotiki, Napier, Hawera, Pahiatua, Gore, and Tuatapere have also gone forward. The financial membership is 3333Work amongst the young occupies so large a part of the energies of many Unions that it calls for special mention. One very g ratifying fact in this connection is the ever increasing number of Unions that offer prizes to the public schools for essays on the temperance wall sheets. li is a question, however, whether it v ould not be better to set a more definite subject, as the wall sheets offer .1 some” hat indigestible meal taken wholesale. 1 le efforts of Invercargill District Union must be noted. This Union has a general essay scheme for Southlard, and includes 183 schools. The L.T.L. seems to be gaining in favour. Several Unions report L.T.L. socie.ies. Palmerston North has several branches, with a total membership of 216. Our Union has at more than one Convention voiced a demand for the stricter censorship of picture films. During the year the matter was taken up by the Catholic Federation, and a national demand was organised, and the various branches of our Union gave their hearty support. At the close of 1915 we had 84 Unions in active work. Two—Tauranga and Sheffield —were not holding meetings, while two others, Taneatua' and Westport, had lapsed. Ihe three “Y’s”—Oxford, Nelson, and Ashburton —send good reports. In the 84 adult Unions are included two new ones, Grey-town and Tokomaru Bay, both formed by our Organiser. Miss Powell. Greytown has a membership of 28, and is corking with great enthusiasm. Tok-nr an. Bay has hardly had time to ge' in its feet, as it was formed at th»* » r.d of the year. In closing this ♦ejuoi*, I would like to give our White R bU .. sisters this thought to inspire their wotk for the coming year. Mrs Creighton, so well known among women workers inthe Old Land, addressing a conference in October last, said, speaking of the war: “We can hardly dare to think of the sacrifice of all the rich, bright lives, of all the powers from which so much was confidently expected in the future. Our best consolation is to be found in the thought of the child-

ren that remain. The future is for them. If that future does not offer them every possibility for the development of all that is best and highest., then indeed we shall have 10 feel that this great treasure of sacrifice has been poured out in vain.”