ORMONDVILLE.

Bush Advocate, Volume III, Issue 213, 19 September 1889, Page 2

ORMONDVILLE.

TEMPEBANCE LECTTJRE BY MR D. C. CAMERON.

Mr D. C. Cameron delivered a lecture on temperance to a fairly numerous audience last evening, in the Ormondville Rechabite Hall, the Rev. A. S. Webb in the chair. In opening the meeting the Chairman said that as temperance was nearly akin to religion he would begin the meeting with prayer, and, a short prayer having been offered, he. stated the facts in connection with calling the meeting, and introduced tht

lecturer, who he said_ belonged to all the temperance bodies in New Zealand, and was also editor of the Temperance Herald (applause). The lecturer expressed great pleasure indeed in meeting the gathering that, evening, andsaid.it would give him great pleasure at any time to meet them and say a few words. As the Chairman had said, he was connected with all, or nearly all, thei temperance orders, and took a great interest in the" Good Templars. He was connected with the Sons of Temperance, the New Zealand Alliance, and the Rechabites, and also with the blue ribbon movement. This, however, did not necessitate giving lectures and addresses, and other men were generally got to speak, and he (the lecturer) liked to beat .the other end of the room when speeches were given. He would, howeyer, say, a few words this evening, and at the close of the meeting he hoped a few members of the various temperance orders would remain, and that it would be found that all the orders would be benefitted by this meeting having: been held (applause). The lecturer then proceeded to say that he had been visiting the lodges in the other Island during the past two months, and that he had made an offer to Mr Harding to stay a few evenings at Waipawa and Ormondville, where the Order of Gpod Templars had once lodges working • thatne had visited 30 or 40 lodges lately ; of how the order had been once divided, but was now again united, and was doing much better: of 13 lodges having been opened since Easter, and a , general in crease in members. He urged his hearers to re-open the Rose of Ormondville lodge, as they would be under no expense, having charter, rituals and all' that was required, and pointed out the work of reclaiming drunkards that was waiting for the lodge to do so. He then spoke of the New Zealand Alliance, and the blue ribbon. movement, these two taking a great many from the Good Templars, but still not weakening the ranks of abstainer* of the work done by Mr Glover in lecturing, and also the success attending Mr Coad, who had been 3 months in the colony, and said that Cannon Wilberforce was coming to the colony to help them. He referred to the work done by Mr Burnett, who had gained 1000 converts in one town alone • all did not remain sound temperance men, but still hundreds were added to the number of abstainers, and now that the churches had taken up the matter there was every cause to hope for great things. He complimented the people of Ormondville on having a Juvenile Tent, and also oa possession of a comfortable hall to meet in. He glanced at the drink question pointing out that from revenue returns it was found that even under the severe oppression felt last year £2,000,000, had been spent in liquor, besides other drink not shown in revenue returns. He said that this money was spent for no good purpose ; the buyer was not a gainer, nor could it be proved that the seller was any better off, while the state was a loser, as the expenditure on gaols, lunatic asylums, old men's homes, charitable aid, police, etc-, more than counterbalanced the amount of revenue : three-fourths of the expenditure in these directions would not be required, but for the drink.

The Chairman gave a short address at the close of Mr Cameron's remarks, and showed how he had 27 years ago become an abstainer, being converted by the soldies of whom he was chaplain, and showed the difference among the clergy since that time, for 27 years ago he had not met with a teetotal minister, and now it was seldom one found an exception. He asked Mr Cameron to give the meeting the benefit of his opinion on what the Registrar Geueral had reported on the Friendly Societies, and Mr Cameron said that he always advised good templars to join either Rechabites or Sons of Temperance, as they were in a good position. Tho Registrar had to keep benefit societies straight, and it was better for him to err on the safe side, but he had taken too gloomy a view of the position. There was no mortality rate for New Zealand, and the English death rate was used, which was not fair to this conntry. Then members were continually leaving from various causes, but these were not counted by the Registrar, who assumed that everyone joining would remain in the order, and die at a certain time. Halls wtre a bad investment for .societies as a general rule, for, however' a private man might make one pay, a society seldom managed so successfully. Of course he. did not refer to the hall in which he was then speaking, which, from what he could learn, was a success. He thought that if the societies had good investments for their money they need have no fear of their financial position bein? unsound, and he would advise them to. increase their membership instead of charging higher contributions. The lecturer, who had been freely applauded during his speech, resumed his seat amid continued applause, and a vote of thanks having been accorded him for his lecture, the meeting was closed by singing the Doxology.