CAUSE OF PROHIBITION

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 283, 3 November 1925, Page 11

CAUSE OF PROHIBITION

BAND OF HOPE DEMONSTRATION ADDRESS BY REV. BLAMIRES. A Band of Hope demonstration and prohibition rally were held in Everybody’s Theatre last evening, when there was a very large attendance of the public. Rev. G'. T. Brown was chairman, and tho proceedings, which took the form of a concert, with a short address at an appropriate juncture by Rev. E. P. Blatnires, were attentively watched and listened to throughout. The opportunity was taken towards the conclusion of the programme to present tho banner won at the recent-ly-terminated Band of Hope competitions. In handing the trophy to Mr Buckley, on behalf of the Salvation Army team, Mr H. E. l’acey said that tho winners had competed in five classes and had secured two first awards, two second and one third—a most creditable performance. The banner had been presented by the Palmerston North Prohibition League and would be competed for annually. Competition next year would be a great deal keener because tho boys and girls themselves were becoming more interested. Tito local young people’s committee, with Mr Brown as chairman and Miss Hctlierington as secretary, were to be congratulated on the excellent work that they were doing. In accepting the banner, Mr Buckley said that lie was pleased to accept such a fmo emblem, won in such a worth-while competition. Opening with a pianoforte solo by Rona Purton, the programme thence onwards was as follows: —Song. Winnie Ellis; operatic dance, St. Andrew’s; pianoforte duet, George and Mary Scott; song, David Spring; recitation, Dorothy Ferguson; song, Audrey Tylcy; ’cello solo, Vvra Wycherley; recitation, David Ritchie; song, Jean Hopkins; pianoforte solo, George Scott; recitation, Jean Scott; song, Claude Carter; pianoforte solo, Rona Field; single, stick exercises, Enid Collins and Edna Tyley; recitation, Audrey Tyley; pianoforte solo, Clifton Duncan; song, Molly Jones; recitation, Ada Callishaw; rod drill, Salvation Army girls; song, Rona Durant; pianoforte solo, David Spring; dialogue, Baptist Church children: pianoforte duct, Ina Skinner ana Edna Tyley; recitation, Bessie Wright; song, Loma Perrin; recitation, Jean Gillies; song, Noeiinc Barnard; recitation, Edith McConnor; pianoforte solo, Ina Skinner; recitation, Mar-

jorie Beale; dialogue, Church of Christ children. APPEAL FOR PROHIBITION,In his address, Rev. Blamires said that the smiling face that one saw on every boy and girl that evening was an argument for prohibition. Figures showed that every family in New Zealand spent on tho average £3l every 12 months in liquor, and while that expenditure was going on the boys and girls of the Dominion were not getting the chance in life that they should. In his work the speaker had to visit schools where children were being cared for by the State and there were more than 500 U boys and girls in tho Dominion who were in this category. Hon. George Fowlds had said that 80 per cent of these children were charges upon the State simply because of alcohol., Drink was the father of a large proportion of crime, and if tho boys and girls of the Dominion were to be given the chanco in life that was really theirs, prohibition would have to be carried. Tho speaker wanted to protest against three matters in the propaganda of the liquor trade. Firstly, tho use of the British flag on their advertisements was not proper. Secondly, the name of liberty should not be used by them. Thirdly, lie desired to most emphatically protest against the request that continuance should bo voted in the interests of the boys and girls. The liquor interests had said that prohibition in America was a failure, but reliable opinions were to the contrary. Commandant Evangeline Booth, of the Salvation Army, had said that under prohibition the boys and girls of America were being better schooled and better brought up, and that the women were now getting more homo comforts. Henry Ford had stated that the good results of prohibition infinitely outweighed the bad, while Thomas Edison, the world’s greatest inventor, had declared, that he had more use for his brain than to drink alcohol, and that there was a generation growing up that would" never know the taste of strong drink. (Applause).