TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 71, 26 March 1910, Page 12

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

[The matter for this column is supplied by a representative of the local temperance bodies, who alone is re- j sponsible for the opinions expressed in St.l A "BISHOP'S CONVERSION. I At a temperance demonstration in the People's Palace in the East-end of London, on 26th January, the Bishop of Stepney (Right Rev. H«nry Luke Paget, D.D.) related how he was converted laet cummer to total abstinence. It was, he said, when he was working in the hopfiehk of Kent. He had always been, he hoped, a very moderate drinker, but for four days in the hopgerdens he tasted the pleasures of total abstinence, drinking tea and lemonade, j At the age of 56 he tried this experiment, and he had gone on with it ever since. As a total aDstainer he had been ! quite as well as he ever was before. He went to a doctor, who was not a total abstainer, and said : "Should you advise me to go on?" The doctor asked him two questions — "Are you sleeping as well as ever?" and "Are you eating as much?" He replied that he was doing both rather better, and the doctor | said it was not doing him any harm. If he broke down in health he would not hesitate *o go to the doctor again, but so long as he was flourishing as well as he was now he had every intention of continuing in the ranks of the teetotallers. The Bishop of London (Dr. Winnington Ingram), who presided, said it was his fifty-second birthday, and he had been a total abstainer for twenty-six years. The medical profession told him that alcohol would harm him from the point of view of keeping warm, working well, keeping his judgment clear, and living long. After more than twenty years* work in London the point that impressed bun most waa the awful waste of money. LOCAL OPTION IN ONTARIO. NEARLY TWO HUNDRED HOTELS CLOSED. As a result of the recent local option poll in Ontario, 61 municipalities declared for abolition, and 192 licensed houses will in consequence be wiped out. In 47 other places the Prohibitionists earned the day, but failed to secure the necessary three-fifths majority. Had they succeeded 220 more bars would have disappeared. In 16 areas local option was defeated, and in two where it was already in force the voters declared for the restoration of licenses. Temperance enthusiasts expressed themselves as "gratified, but not satislr **i hey want t0 e et rid oi the three-fifths clause. The Rev. B. H. Spence, secretary of the Dominion Alliance, stated that there had been a manifestation of public opinion that must be taken as an emphatic condemnation of the bar-room system. It constituted a clear endorsation of the campaign cry of the temperance people— Banish the bar-room ; destroy the treating system." The result in the repeal contests showed that when the bar-room was abolished the people were satisfied, while the vote in the other places showI ed that where bar-rooms were licensed the people were discontented. Another significant fact was that during the last 81 J. yea " only seven municipalities in which local option bylaws were in force had polled majorities against local option, while during the same time nearly four hundred municipalities where there were licensed houses had declared against the bar. * M v" SP*" 106 « dded *l»»t the injustice or the three-fifths requirement was never more clearly manifested. An intolerable situation had been created by this one-sided legislation. The large towns and cities were largely shut out from the benefits of local option, and deprived of the power of self-government by the arbitrary decision of the Legislature. WATER v. ALCOHOL. In the last issue of the School Jour- ' nal (for the higher classes in primary schools), issued by the Education De partment, there is an interesting article on "Water, and What it Does for Us," showing the important place water occupies in the human organism. In regard to the use of alcoholic drinks as stimulants, the writer saya :—: — "It used to be thought that alcoholic drinks such as whisky or brandy were the best restoratives for a fatigued body. Nowadays we know that this is not true. Along with the stimulating action upon the heart comes a subsequent enlargement of all the vessels of the skin. Not only does this tend to lower the blood-pressure again, but it also allows the heat of the body to escape rapidly. The final result of the use of alcohol, therefore, is not nearly so beneficial as if other refreshing drirrks were used. "What we require is a stimulant that will first of all set in action the tired functions of the body, and that wftl then maintain their hearthy regular action. Brand or wiiisky gives a meite 'Hash in the pan.' It makes us feel well and vigorous for a short time; then the effect passes off, and the body is left more exhausted that it was before. The next time you go home tired after a long walk or a race, try for yourseK how refreshing is a glass of hot milk-and-water ; or, if you do not happen to have milk, or dislike it, try very hot water and some meat extract — so hot that yon have to drink it in sips. I am sure you will come to the conclusion that there is no restorative like it." "LIQUID BREAD." Speaking at Leicester recently, Sir Victor Horrfey, the eminent physician and surgeon, said the House of Commons seemed to be the hot-bed for forcing most outrageous statements on the nation. Colonel Walker, the ex-brewer, had declared in Parliament that beer wae "liquid bread!" But what followed was much worse He said that the great curse of tuberculosis had been attributed to the consumption of bread made from too pure flour. The man was ignorant of everything in pathology, and actually asserted that the horrible disease of consumption was due to the eatinp of pure flonr. Afterwards, Colonel Walker said : "The great curse of this disease has been rectified to a great extent by the consumption of beer." The intelligent physiologist would say, "What awful trash!" HINDRANCES TO REFORM. The difficulties Temperance reformers meet with in Russia are shown by the following cable message dated 18th j January : — The sittings of the Antialcoholic Congress have been marked by some very unusual incidents. Two days ago the representatives of the Ministry ot Finance demonstratively withdrew from the congress after a scene of recrimination arising out of a statement made by one of the speakers that the Ministry secretly encouraged the consumption of vodka. Now the priests attending the congress have withdrawn in connection with a resolution concerning the influence of school education in combating alcoholism. The resolution mentioned the value of religious and moral training in schools, but at the instance of tho wovk-rn£-men members of the congress this passage was omitted. The priests thereupon retired from the congress.

A four cent orange postage etamp of BfHisfe Guiana wu told recently for £20 in a. London auction room.