TEETOTALISM.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 44, 20 February 1872, Page 4

TEETOTALISM.

At a recent temperance meeting m Melbourne, characterised as " grand " by the Temperance News, the Rev. Mr. Watkin spoke as follows : —

lam a barbarian. I come from the land of blood and the land of shame. I represent New Zealand, and can tell of the baneful effects of -intoxicating drinks upon the natives of New Zealand. They used to dislike even the smell of liquor, and showed their disgust by the name they gave to it, viz., stinking water ; but they have adopted the white man's social habit — they drink to excess, and, consequently, to their own degradation. They have learnt to swear, too. The resolution recognises the presence of a terrible evil in the land. You have had some fearful pictures drawn before you to-night, limned, as it were, in fire ; but they were true. You know, you have seen, the facts of life that have been represented here so vividly to-night. I saw iv your town of Melbourne three men who had been conforming to your " social habits " going up the street, and they were very loving to one another. But by-and-by one will say, "This is white ;" auother will say, "No, it is black," and to prove it, bits his friend on the eye and makes it black. I once dined with a gentleman who gave me a very good dinner. He pressed me to take beer. I took some, but going iv the street soon after, I lost my dinner. So much for social habits. The effects of our social habits are debt, confusion, and misery. And we may look out from our own land and learn the devastation that has been wrought in the world by intoxicating drinks. We might visit some old sachem of a red Indian tribe, sitting by the banks of a river; and asking him of his people, he could tell a sad tale of their ruin and destruction through the use of that firewater which had been introduced among them by the white man ; and when he had recited the story he would cover his head in his wretched blanket, and though he would not weep, you could perceive the emotion that was heaving his frame as he thought of his degradation and (he ruin of his people. And now about these social habits. We see some strange exhibitions of friendship on the part of those who are under the influence of drink ; but too often we know that violence prevails, and many a savage blow is struck in evidecce of this social habit. It seems a strange thing that when men meet, they must show their good will by drinking . together. Why should they not go to a fruiterer's and indulge in a pineapple instead of pineapple rum ? Or, in placa of winej why not purchase some grapes and enjoy them ? And another phase of these social habits : — There is some poor wretch who appears before the august presence of a justice of the peace, a legislator who has his cellar well filled, and is condemned by the irate gentleman for disturbing the public peace, by shouting in the excess of his animal spirits ; while, if we could put especial enquiry, we should find that the gentleman had to be put to bed by his serving man. Which of these men is the more to be condemned ? The remedy for the complicated ills that drunkenness induces is the simple one of total abstinence. We want legislation on the subject, and must have it ; we'll make them do it. Election time approaches. A gentleman asks you for your vote. Say to him, " Sir, are you a teetotaller ? " " What right have you to ask me if I am a teetotaller ? " " What right have you to ask me for my vote ? " That is the way we must do it ; but we especially want personal devotion to this noble cause of reformation.

There has been rough weather at Charleston. Murray's circus was blown down one day, and all attendance prevented on others by the heavy rains. On the diggings the dams were opportunely filled by the flood, and fortunately no damage done.

The New York correspondent of the Echo gives the following account of the successful efiorts of the Associated Press. He says : — " A very clever telegraphic feat was accomplished the other day, which, as far as I am aware, is quite unique here. The London agent of the New York Associated Press obtained, ife would seem, an early copy of the Loudon Times of November 9, and at 6 a.m. sent a cable despatch, giving a short synopsis of the Times* remarks on the downfall of Tammany at. the recent elections. This came through promptly to the Associated Press, and reached the newspaper offices in manifold at 2 a.m. the same morning, in ample time for publication, so that our New York morning dailies of the 9th, printed at 8 a.m., contained the fifth of an article in the London Times, published, say, at 5 a.m.

Thb Geclong Evening Times reports that at Aehby a few days ago, a schoolboy was helping himself to a drink from the

pump in the schoolyard, when a teacher went up to him, and struck him a blow on the side of the face, which brought his head in contact with the ironwork of the pump, and produced a fracture ot the skull. This brought on congestion of the brain, which terminated in the death of the poor boy.

Trees. — The Oamaru Times laments the want of trees in that district. The writer says — There is perhaps no one thing which strikes the visitor to this district so forcibly as ifs complete bareness of timber. If the said visitor have an artist's eye, it will cause him do little regret that here and there belts of forest, or park-like clumps are not found to fill in the details of an otherwise pretty subject for a drawing or painting; while if of utilitarian bent, he will at once perceive how great a lack there is of that which is a source of wealth to any community — fine timber ; or if he be aught of a philosopher he will begin to seek — nay, he will find the cause of the often extreme dryness of the climate in the entire absence of forest — for the connection between trees and moisture (that is to say that one stands to the other iv a sense as cause to effect) is a recognised fact, though the mode of the effect is scarcely definitely understood.

Progress in Japan. — Almost every paragraph in the news from Japan is highly suggestive of the rapid social revolution that is going forward, Railways have quickly become popular, and a scheme for tramways in Yokohama is in progress in connection with which two cars have arrived. A society for the prevention of cruelty to animals has been formed; the Government is occupied wiih measures to check prostitution ; and the principal of free trade, though not thoroughly accepted, is so far recognised that it is proposed in the revision of treaties next year to expunge the clause prohibiting the export of rice. The young Hikado is leading his subjects in the Europeanising movement. He is no longer a hidden mystery, but appears openly among his people. He atteuds public ceremonies, such as that at the beginning of a new railway, learns German, and drinks champagne. Next year it is in contemplation to open the country freely to foreigners ; and finally, in proof of Japanese progress, the British sentiment, that there is " nothing like leather," has so taken hold of the Government, that an order has gone forth for soldiers and ali officials to wear leathern shoes of approved Western pattern. These are Japanese signs of the times. — Homeward Mail.

Mrs. Dv Cane, the wife of the Governor of Tasmania, recently met with a somewhat singular adventure. A daughter of Lord Lyndhurst, she inherits some of the strongly marked features of her father's character, and is by no means a conventional grande dame. She takes an active part in the management of the hospital, nurses the sick with her own hands, shows a much greater partiality for bull-dogs than for poodles, and is very fond of solitary drives in a sort of tilbury, her horse being gaily comparisoned a la Russe with a number of jingling bells. A few days ago she got into a neighborhood where she was not known, and pulling up to enjoy a lovely bit of Bcenery, found herself surrounded by a group of children. " Oh, come here, here's the Circus woman, let's find out where she's going to put up the tent." She tried at first to undeceive them, but they would not be persuaded ; they would have it that she was going to " pitch " somewhere near the village, and were eager to point out a good spot. At last she entered into the spirit of the thing, allowed them to show her a convenient locality, and after hoaxing them with a graphic account of the wondeis of her show, was allowed to drive away in peace. This little adventure has made her more enamoured than ever of her solitary drives. She has found that, as a<: Circus woman," she was more an object of interest than as the wife of a Governor. Vive la Boheme. — Leader.

Alluding to the preference shown by the gentlemen who indulge in " nips " for the Hennessy brand, the Talbot Leader remarks that these "persons imagine when they see a cork freshly drawn from a bottle having the label, capsule, and cork of the well-known firm of James Hennessy & Co., they are in reality getting the genuine tap. What if we tell such persons that bulk brandy of inferior quality and flavor is made to pass in this town for Hennessy's, and that the fraud can only be detected by competent tasters of the liquid so sold ? The way in which the affair in managed is simple. The cases, the straw envelopes, the capsules, the bottles themselves, and sometimes the corks (if not too much damaged) are bought up by the mixing spirit-sellers of the town, and the inferior brandy is decorated up with borrowed plumes— the plumes of Hennessy. The labels Melbourne engravers turn out. as neatly as on the continent, and the corks are easily

enough branded by the aid of the die Binker. In capsules bearing Hennessy's name small boys do a smart trade; collecting those not injured they can get Id. each for them. Might this not be the case in Melbourne too ? " That this is the case there can be no doubt. Hundreds of cases of this spuriouß Hennessy are shipped to New Zealand, and more particularly to the West Coast diggings. Melbourne papers have been venting their spleen upon New Zealand, re some damaged tea recently exported there. We have a spirituous Roland for their cheering but not inebriating Oliver in this vitriolic brandy.