DRINKING AT DANCES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 150, 28 June 1927, Page 5

DRINKING AT DANCES.

CLERGYMAN'S ATTACK. "EXCELLENT PASTIME" DEGRADED. "LEAD THE WORLD" SERMON EXPLAINED. ' We have received the following letter from the Rev. W. Lawson Marsh, of [Devonport:— j "Under the title T-ead the World,' you published yesterday some remarks ' of mine, the general tenor of which must make a totally wrong impression . upon those who read the paragraph without knowing the context and occasion. No one can reasonably expect that New Zealand will lead the world in—say —commerce, finance, or international politics; nor even in literature, art, or music. But there are fields in which we can play a leading part, e.g., education, child-welfare, sport, and, I hope, social welfare. I was pleading for a realisation of the noble birthright young New Zealaaders possess in common: a virgin country free from the troubles which vex the old world; the blood in their veins of a ruling and pioneer race; the glory cf a great tradition; the advantage of a good start in life. The argument was that no one could rob us of a great future but ourselves. And the surest way to this was by the way of Esau: despising our birthright at the behest of self-indulgence and dissipation. '"I pointed out how this was happening, especially in the degradation of the excellent pastime of dancing by the warriors of the hip-pocket flask brigade. It is startling and dismaying to a newcomer who knows the world pretty well to find young people so enamoured of 'nipping 5 and 'having a spot' at dances. To take drink to a dancing hail «s the mora l equivalent of carrying a 'ighted torch in a powder magazine. The result is only too well known, and is a deepdyed shame of this young country. I am amazed by the volums of evidence that comes to me from worried parents, employers, and social workers, from Y.M.C.A., and Salvation Army officials, from the agents and caretakers of dancing halls, from taxi-driver 9 and policemen, and lastly, but.by no means least startling has" been the personal testimony of the young people themselves. "I was very careful not to add my own, a minister's, verdict. But I did quote words given to mc by a young business man recently. They may be the exaggeration of an outraged decency, but it seemed to me from what I have seen and heard that he was very near the mark. 'Life here is rotten, absolutely rotten,' he said. 'The morals of the poultry are clean in comparison. It , would make a pagan sick.'"