NELSON TOTAL ABSTINENCE SOCIETY.

The members and friends of this Society held their Annual Tea Meeting on Tuesday, the 12tb instant, in Mr. Campbell's School Room, Bridge Street, to commemorate the revival of 1846. After tea (provided by Mr. Ross, in a manner which gave great satisfaction), Mr. Riley, who was called to the chair, enumerated, in a short speech, the moral and physical benefits which have resulted from Total Abstinence Societies since their first establishment, and described the wasteful effects of alcoholic drinks upon human health; stating, that whilst war had slain its thousands, intoxicating drinks had slain its tens of thousands, and concluded by inviting all those who stood aloof in the cause of teetotalism, to join these societies, and help to rescue their fellow- creatures from that thraldom into which the use of intoxicating drinks has sunk them. ,Mr. I. M. Hill said that the drinking habit was the curse of families, inasmuch as, by brutalizing the husbands and fathers, it blighted the happiness of wives, and the physical and moral health of children. He showed that the prevalence of total abstinence would elevate the population, improve their characters, and bless their hearths. He alluded at some length to the destructive effects of alcohol upon the constitution, and read medical testimonies to disprove that beer, wine, or spirits, nourished or supported the human body, but acted as disturbers of its functions. He wished that the rich and influential classes, and above all religious men, would lend their aid, by practice and example, to promote the great cause of Temperance, which had as yet been but feebly advocated by working men. Mr. B. Crisp, as a staunch teetotaller, advised every one given to drinking habits to take the temperance pledge. The great moral good effected by Teetotal Societies was incalculable. Mr. Outridge stated that some of the publicans and medical practitioners at home had entered into a league to uphold the iniquitous system of vending spirituous liquors. The meeting was also addressed by Mr. Burns, Mr. Sewell, and others.