MRS LEE-COWIE'S MEETINGS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume L, Issue 175, 6 October 1917, Page 6

MRS LEE-COWIE'S MEETINGS

' Mrs Lee-Oowie, the well-known Temperance lecturer, held her first public meeting on. Friday afternoon in the Temperance Hall, for women only. There was a good attendance of women. Mrs "Watson presided, and briefly introduced the lecturer, after the singing of the Temperance hymn J'All Round the World," and prayer. Mrs Lee-Cowie, in beginning her address, spoke of women as- being specially the co-operator's with God in the production, preservation and protection of life, and the need for them to understand all things which tended to iV wehare. She then touched- upon ?%e six o'clock closing movement, brie-iy detailing its progress, first in South Australia"before the war, and then .as a war measure in Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria, and lastly • i\ew" Zealand—in all of which States it was carried* by a. large majority. Mrs Lee-Cowie then explained that the. W.C.T.U., though the members had worked hard for the petitions, has not as. a union made six o'clock closing their special aim, but stands for the wider measure of total prohibition of vne liquor traffic, giving three main reasons for taking this position:—l. The great need for the conservation of •' food. 2. The limited amount of space lor transport by rail and steamer, and 3.- The need for,- obtaining the greatest • efficiency in the man-power of the country. She spoke very strongly of the terrible conditions in England with, regard to food supplies, and the sufferings and:-privations endured byall classes, on account of the shameful waste of food material, particularly grain and sugar, in the manufacture of alcoholic liquor, and of the fact that the men fighting at the front are asked to be content witn their allowance of -food, not spending their money in that way, that there might be more left for thefewomeo and children at home. Re- / ference was also made to the drink bill of England, which has increased during the war, until it has now reached tue sum of £200,000,000 per annum, ■while the people are unable to obtain necessary food.. : In connection with the question of physical: efficiency, Mrs Lee-Cowie spoke of the barbed wire segregation camps, and the 98,000 British soldiers alone who are imprisoned- there—boys -who were given- to their country to fight for the • honour of Belgium, the 'purity of rwomen and the protection of children, and wno had a right to demand all possible protection from, danger, but who have fallen victims to this terrible fate through the curse of the drink. Mrs •Cowie then briefly sketched the foundation of the "Strength of the Nation" movement, having, for it s aim the destruction of the 'drink traffic with all its attendant evils, and for its weapon the power . of. continuous prayer, by which the God "Who has been forgotten and ignored, may be brought back into the national life in all its _ phases—family, social, and political life. She concluded by reminding her'hearers that the now regulation for the hours of sale from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. would come into -orce on December Ist, but that work must be begun at once—the york o- educating the people by the distribution of literature for the demand, for total orohioition, thus becoming ' "workers together with God for a world salvation/' In the evening Mrs 'Lee-Cowie gave an address to the members of the Loyal Temperance Legion and other children, ibasine her remarks on- the story of David and Goliath, and making a practical application to tie giant, strong drink, which must be slain fcy the pebble s of total abstinence, prayer, • faith, courage and perseverance. 'xhis Saturday evening Mrs Cowie will hold an open-air, meeting, and on Sunday a service in the Theatre at 8.15 p.m.j besides speaking at the Baptist Church in the morning and the Congregational Church in the evening. • Addresses to pupils of both the Boys' "and Girls' Central Schools .were given ■by Mrs Cowie yesterday afternoon. — Communicated.