THE LIQUOR HABIT
GROWING PREVALENCE AMONG YOUNG
THE CHURCH CONCERNED
(Special) WANGANUI, October 31. Concern at the number of young people who were developing tho habit of taking liquor was expressed at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Wanganui, on Wednesday night, when the report from the Temperance Committee came before -tho session.
The Rev. J. D. Smith (Auckland), said that New, Zealand did not see the orgies of drinking, such as those in the U.S.A., where spirits were consumed in large quantities. In New Zealand the staple drink was beer, which was weaker, but menacing enough. One cause for concern was the habit- of drinking which was being developed by young men. A powerful social influence was being established in homes by the younger generation. They were acquiring the habit of taking drink in their homes and elsewhere, and this must result in a deterioration of the race. The people of New Zealand were more or less temperate, but if these things were allowed to continue a crop of alcoholics must result, as was the case in the U.S.A.
The Rev. S. W. Webber, seconding the motion, appealed to the Church generally to support the New Zealand Alliauce.
Heading a deputation which waited on the Assembly, the Rev. H. G. Gilbert, of the New Zealand Alliance, appealed for wholehearted support for the work of his organisation. There was a ' fear that retrograde legislation would- follow the findings of the Royal Commission. Whatever it had done, however, it had put the spotlight of truth on the liquor traffic in a way that had never been done before. The Prohibition Party, Mr Gilbert added, was not’as dead as some politicians 'would have people believe it was. The findings of the Royal Commission would be most useful in the fight by the alliance against liquor in the coming elections.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 25938, 1 November 1946, Page 5
Word Count
309THE LIQUOR HABIT Evening Star, Issue 25938, 1 November 1946, Page 5
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