GOOD TEMPLARY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 1 August 1911, Page 5

GOOD TEMPLARY.

ADDRESS BY MISS GRIMLEY

Miss Grimley delivered an address on Monday evening in the Methodist schoolTOGm, m which she went very fully into the working and objects of good tenrpiary. The Rev ¥. -W. Boys presided over a fair attendance. Miss Grimley, who has had large experience in connection with the 1.0. G.T. in England, said that her time and attention had been almost exclusively occupied furthering the objects of this order. She had sometimes been told that she spent too much of her time in this way, but if she could see men kept away from drink she derived more satisfaction and enjoyment from it than sfie would by going to gatherings intended merely to provide amugement. She dealt very extensively with Good Templary in England, particularly in Leicester, where, she said, there were 14 lodges. One of the great features of the Order was that by becoming a member of one lodge a free passport was obtained to all lodges, and efforts were made to make the meetings attractive, interesting, and educative. After giving a number of different meanings that had been, read into tne mystic letters 1.0. G.T., such as "I often get tight," Miss Grimley said the order had .once been called "intelligent, organised, go-ahead teetotalism," and this was a good description. Dean FarI raj- had said, "Desist from what you feel to be wrong and unworthy," and there was abundant evident that strong drink was wrong and unworthy. A surgeon who was not a total abstainer once said that he never took intoxicants for some days before a difficult operation, because in such cases he wanted to be at his best. If thoy were to fulfil the highest duties of life they must be at their best always, and therefore they should be total abstainers. To take the pledge far life, as required by the order, was a great step, but they went further than this, and asked members to abstain from giving drink to others: They were not allowed to "shout," as we called it here, or to "treat" as they called it in England. It was an insult to offer to others what one would not take himself. Dean Farrar had also said: ■' 'Resist evil in the name of God." That was what they did. Men, after taking the pledge, were asked to seek God's help, and that was the strength of the whole movement. One of the leading principles of the district lodge was embodied in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Not only did they believe in individual abstinence, bui^also in prohibition for the State. As* an instance of the value of prohibition, tjie speaker said that Iceland, where i€ obtained, with a population of 78,000 had only one policeman. Temperance had the effect of making many men Christians, and at a single meeting she had seen 20 men on their feet ready to bear witness to this fact. In England the Good Templars were in the vanguard of the temperance world, and had already been responsible for many reforms. By their efforts it was now possible to purchase a basket of refreshments on a railway train without purchasing at the same time a bottle of wine. They had stopped employers from taking workers to public-houses for the purpose of paying them, and they were trying to do away with inquests in similar places. In their endeavours to bring about reforms they were willing to take, half a loaf, provid- j ed it was real bread, but they would not accept the reforms the publicans offered. They counted many prominent and distinguished people amongst their members, and several members of Parliament were also members of the order, which was really a Christian Endeavour Society, engaged in fighting a particular evil—drink. It was worthy of the support of the best, and she could not understand why more Christian people did not come to help them, Speaking of the Hawera Lodge, Miss Grimley said it had done some rescue work, and if it did not do work of this kind it was not fulfilling its mission. Good Templary was the first institution to recognise the rights of women. It was a little more than equitable, for it gave equal' privileges for less money, a. great bargain no woman could afford to miss. Concluding, she urged that all Christians should be Good Templars. It was not a sick benefit lodge, but it would enable them to enjoy the benefit of doing good to their brothers and sisters, nnd that was the best benefit they could have.

During the evening songs were sung T>v Mr Keen and Miss Neilson, and a duet by Misses Young and Neilson.

On the motion of Mr Barraclough Miss 0 rim ley was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for her address.