THE CANTERBURY TEMPER ANCE LEAGUE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1653, 7 June 1879, Page 3

THE CANTERBURY TEMPER ANCE LEAGUE.

A branch of this organisation was established at Lyttelton on Thursday night last. A delegation of the league, composed of the Revds Fraser, Maofarlane, and Smalley, went through to Port for that purpose, the meeting being held in the Oddfellows' Hall. There were about 150 persons present, including a number of ladies. The comparative paucity in the attendance may be accounted for in the fact that three other society meetings were held the same night, the weather besides was not by any means inviting, and the meeting itself had not received that publicity by advertising that should have been given it. On the platform there were present the Revs. Maefarlane, Fraser, Beck, and Smalley. Messrs Early, Phillips, and Reed. Mr Early was voted to the chair, and after a prayer had been offered, stated that the meeting was called for the purpose of establishing a branch in Lyttelton of the Canterbury Temperance League. He then introduced the Rev. Mr Fraser, who offered the following resolution :—" That a Lyttelton branch of the Canterbury Temperance League be now formed " He said that one of the chief peculiarities of the league was that it embraced in its membership the temperance and the temperate classes ; not only those who abstained altogether, but those who, like himself, hold temperance views, though not total abstainers. Tho temperance body had done nobly, but he didn't think they could accomplish the great work they had undertaken as well as if combined with the other elements in the community. The league had adopted a religious basis in its operations. Each of the ministers of religion, and with them their officers, would,as it were, form a branch of the league in the congregation, and thus spread the influence of the movement. He had noticed how great an influence the religious element could exert when actively engaged on any subject, and considered thatthe influence in this case would not only be productive of good in the churches themselves, but among men generally. It was intended, with respect to the young, to advocate total abstinence, both in respect to intoxicating drink and the use of tobacco. The speaker read from a printed form the clauses bearing on the political or legislative work to be carried on by the league, and then reviewed at some length the economic side of the temperance question. He pointed out that in the old country if what the working classes were estimated to be spending annually in drink were saved, it would make all the differerce between commercial prosperity and commercial stagnation. In this country he remembered some years ago, when travelling over the Peninsula, a very great scarcity of labour existed, and mon were earning from 20a to 21s per day in cutting Umber. Had they been temperate men they might easily have possessed themselves of every acre of land in the Peninsula, and have had it by now under cultivation. There would have been no large squatters holding immense tracts of land, as there are at present. In the political course to be taken by the league it will direct its action so that there shall be no more licensed houses in any district than are absolutely necessary for the accommodation of travellers. The speaker then gave his views as to existing licenses, and the implied guarantee a holder of a license had that so long as he conducted his house properly the license would not be taken from the house. He thought it would not be right to interfere with such licenses, and that a person could not be dsprived of his license in this manner unless compensation were made to him. In places where there are now mo-e licensed houses than are absolutely requisite for the accommodation of travellers, he would be in favour of trusting to the developement of suoh places and the increase in population, though the law as to those who infringed it in the slightest should be regidly enforced. As to granting new licenses, he decidedly thought it should be settled by the residents in the neighbourhood in which it is proposed to open a house. He would not take the power altogether out of the hands of the commissioners, they should have tho power to refuse an application if they wished t», but to the people in the neighbourhood certainly belonged the right to say yes or no—the right to veto an application. He spoke of the immense power wielded by the Licensed Victuallers' Association, but thought that that power would not be directed to any great extent against this movement, but that the association might bo won to the league, inasmuch as the league were fighting to keep down any further competition in the business. They proposed however to watch the licensed houses closely. The broad liberal platform of a common Christianity upon which in this movement they met would, he felt sure, conduce largely to its success. The resolution that a branch be formed was then read again to the meeting. Mr Phillips seconded it, stating that he did so with much pleasure.

The Chiirman then put it to the meeting, and said that he hoped those who voted for it would also support it with their influence. He thought that there was not another town on this coast in greater need of a branch of the league to be at work. A show of hands was called for on the resolution, and responded to unanimously. The Bev. S. Macfarlane moved the second resolution: —" That this meeting records its opinion that no license should be granted in any district wherein two-thirds of the inhabitants object, and that the size of the districts be reduced." He said he believed that at present the residents in any licensing district had the power to veto the granting of a license by a two-thirds majority, but that the law in its present from is impracticable. As an instance he referred to the licensing district of Christchurch, which embraced an area of close upon twenty miles in extent, and to obtain a two-thirds vote in adistrict like that on every application for a license being made was clearly impossible. Referring to the work done by the league at the late licensing meetingHthere, he said that in Addington a piper was sadly put out of tune. He had a pipe before the licensing meeting, but he wanted a finer one, and made sure of getting it. He wasn't content with a wine and beer license, bat when he asked for a hotel license he was refused, and when he asked for a continuance of the privilege to keep the pipe ho had got he was knocked clean out of tune by being told that he had neglected to carry out the conditions under which he was allowed to have a wine and beer license, so that the Bench declined to let him keep it any longer. The speaker thought it was disgraceful that a man with a mere box of a place such as might have been found years ago in Hokitika, a place that could bo kicked into the sea by a giant with seven league boots on, that such a person could expect to get a license. He thought he knew the people of Addington

well, and if the l»w relating to licenses were changed as suggested, and Sydenham made a district, he believed a two-thirds vote could be carried there, and the same might be dono in Sydenham, though he was not so sure of Sydenham. As the law now stood it looked as though it had been framed by a friend of the licensed victuallers, and had the framer strived how not to do it the outcome of his effort was oertainly a success. The speaker urged all moral and religious people to join the league, and thought as to trying to win over the Victuallers' Association it did not matter whom they pleased or offended, so long as they attempted to do nothing unjust, nothing unfair to any man. What is needed is earnestness in the work. Who'll take the bull by the horns on Friday night, for instance, and ask Mr Murray-Aynsley whether he'll support the resolutions they were now passing when he goes to the House of Representatives? Yet the speaker failed to see why such a request should not be made. He thought the editor of the Pbess that (Thursday) morning in an article, was a little out in asking the temperance people to look after the adulterations of drink. That surely was a matter for the police to attend to rather than for anybody else. Indeed, he didn't know what policemen were for if it was not to look after public-houses. At all events, the job of working up the matter of adulterating drinks the speaker thought could be done as well by the editor of the Press as by himself, for he, tho speaker, didn't know one drink from another. And instead of editors of newspapers writing and telling what others should do, why didn't they keep at the adulterators and write them down ? |What stronger case could be presented than that of the flowery Mr Garland, a rluss of whose beer had knocked a man stupid. Surely the police's business was plain in a case like that. The drugging of drinkjwas a matter which no man, be he ever such a friend of the whiskey cause, would uphold. Nor would he uphold the "lambing down" process. And when such things were known to bo carried on at certain houses, why was it not endorsed on the licenses of such houses. An enlightened public opinion is what is needed, and without that the speaker was afraid the work of the league would fail. He then made some numerous reference to the arguments used by the counsel for applicants at the Licensing Courts, and. eulogised the Licensing Bench for using the discrimination they had. The granting of a license to a certain hotel in Manchester street, he thought, was creditable. The house was one to which a man might take his family and stay comfortably ; the bar was not stuck right in front, but on the contrary, was away in the rear of the building, out of the way. The Rev. Mr Beck seconded the resolution, and the chairman put it, saying that if anyone present held opposite views to those of the meeting they would be welcome on the platform if they wished to express them. The resolution was carried by show of hands. The Rev. Mr Smalley read the next resolulution as follows:—" That in the opinion of this meeting no second application for a license which has been refused by the Licensing Bench should be received within a shorter period than twelve months." He said that under the present three months' Bystem it was continuous work. No sooner had one canvass been made and forces marshalled for the fight against any particular license than the same work had to be started again in time for the next quarterly meeting. If this resolution was carried they would have a respite for at least twelve months. As to interfering with individual rights, an argument worn pretty well threadbare by the whisky interest, the speaker pointed out that the right of the publican was legal, and the people had the right to protest against any publichouse being thrust upon them ; as much right to protest as the applicant had to apply. He referred also to the Rev. Mr Eraser's views of compensation, and objected Btrongly to them. As to the article in the Pbess already referred to, ho thought the intention was good, and the article in some respects able, but that the writer betrayed a lack of knowledge on the subject. The editor had assumed that the Temperance party had accomplished nothing in a practical way, and this was surely wrong. He saw that a great deal of practical work had been done. Thousands had been reclaimed from a life of wretchedness and surely none could but observe how that public opinion everywhere had been aroused by the temperance advocates. He then quoted from statistics bearing upon the economic side of the question of temperance, and pointed out that money spent in almost any other thing but drink realised something tangible—something of use—but that a man had nothing but a headache to show for what he expended in drink. He urged unity of action, to eink the minor differences of opinion, and above all, let there be no cowardice. There are men, he said, who profess to be Christians, who are selling their country for a sovereign. A man had said the other day that he was obliged to sign the petition to a license because the latter brought his horse to him to be shod. He replied that he ought to be eshamed of himself calling himself a man, and for the sake of a few shillings to sign a petition of the kind. Courage of opinion he urged ve-ry ably, also perseverance and assiduity. He contended that the earnestness of those who fought on the other side should surely be a stimulus to them who were engaged in the nobler cause. Mr Reed seconded the resolution. The Chairman, in putting it, said it sounded to him as something practical. He related some of his own experiences to the meeting; how that ho signed the pledge twenty years ago, since which he had persuaded many to give up the drink. He thought that, so far from compensation, they were the publicans' best friends who would drive them out the rascally trade. Of many publicans he had spoken to he didn't remember one that bad a work to say in favor of the business. The resolution was carried in tho same manner as tho two former. The Rev. Mr Macfarlane invited those who had been voting for the resolutions to come forward and sign the membership roll, a; on them would devolve the future work of the Lyttelton branch of the league. A vote of thanks was moved by the Rev. Mr Fraser to the chairman, and endorsed in a complimentary Bpeech by the Rev. Mr Smalloy, and carried. The Rev. Mr Beck moved a vote of thanks to Mr Murray-Aynaley for having postponed his meeting at their request. Mr Reed seconded it, and said that Mr Aynsley had done so at very much inconvenience to himself. The Rev. Mr Macfarlane also spoke to the resolution, and added to it an amendment— meeting to Mr Murray-Aynsley." This was carried, and between twenty and thirty came up and signed the roll of membership.