TEMPERANCE SUNDAY.

North Otago Times, Volume CIV, Issue 13754, 13 November 1916, Page 7

TEMPERANCE SUNDAY.

DEMONSTRATION IN THE OPERA HOUSE. - A large attendance of Sunday school children and interested friends, at the Opera House yesterday afternoon, participated in the United Sunday Schools' Demonstration in connection with thc World Temperance Sunday. Mr J. Rodman presided. On the platform were thc .Rev, S, F. Hunter, Mr T. J, Bull, and. Mr G. P. Mollison. The meeting opened with the National Anthem, followed by devotional exercises. Special,,'hymns were sung, the service being under, the direction of Mr B, de Lautouiv Thc Rev, J. L. Robinson, in an earnest address, dealt with what he said was the/greatest imposcr. in historyail importer which had been found out and condemned after a fair and full trial before thc Court of Human Knowledge. The boys and girls of to-day were living in a truly wonderful age. The world! .jvar with all its awfulness and suffering was teaching the world many useful lessons. One important lesson that had been learned was the harmfulness of alcohol. For many years alcohol had been looked upon as a friend, but intoxicating liquor was in reality the deadliest enemy of the human family. The speaker instanced the courageous steps taken by Russia to deal a death-blow to the driuk evil, and he claimed that the far-reaching and beneficial effect of the vodka prohibition was impressing thc whole world, and thoughtful men and women ' were demanding to know how long the nation would be deceived by the liquor interests. The time was long overdue .for the nation to rise in its might and smite with a death blow the greatest ejiemy to efficiency and power. Xearly three thousand years ago, a wise /man had said: "Wine is a mocker, strong is .raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise," After Itho long flight of years the world was only ju?t beginning to appreciate the wisdom of the old saying, For long years the world had imagined they had in ulcoJiol a help to life, a sort of elixir giving increased power of body and wiiiul comfort and help in times 'of stress and difficulty, For centuries alcohol had masqueraded in human life, pretending t'6 be-what it was not, while all the while it was leading people intp trouble/, sorrow, and disgrace. The reverend speaker dealt with the jelnimS of alcohol as a physical and iiten-' jtal stimulant, us a food, and as a medicine, Dealing with alcohol In its pretence as'(l stimulant, the speaker said hut it had become thc practice of some men to lake alcohol when tired or run down, They were deceiving themselves

into believing that a man under flic influence of alcohol could work better and was capable of greater effort and power. It liml been claimed that a man who l'ortilied himself with alcohol could dp more work, and better woili, than the man who abstained from the use of alcohol. Precisely the contrary was the result. Alcohol paralysed a man's nerves and affected liiin so much that he worked more slowly and less efliciently, The mockery of alcoholic indulgence had been exposed during the present war, The splendid work of tlie munition workers was instanced. It was Mr Lloyd George himself who had said that tin; Allies had three enemies to light and coii(|iicr:—Germany, Austria, and drink—the greatest of, the three was drink. Kef erring lo the claim that alcohol stimulated the mind, the speaker quoted Shakespeare as having said: "Oh, God, that men will put an enemy in (heir months to steal away their brains," Alcohol certainly worked upon the brain; but with evil consequences. The brain became muddled and incapable of its best effort. It was equally fallacious lo speak of alcohol as a food. If had been pretending to be a heat producer, but they knew that the evil effects of alcohol on the digestive organs and' the. blood were so great that arctic explorers had banned its use entirely, while men who lived and worked in tropical latitudes looked upon alcohol as a dangerous enemy ■ to physical fitness and the power of endurance. The pretence that alcohol was a medicine was just as thin as the other claims. The speaker warned the boys and girls that alcohol did not help men to retain good health. It was a physiological impossibility for it to do anything of the sort. Alcohol really undermined the foundations of health, The effect on the blood was evil. In the ruddy drops of life that surged through the veins of the human body there were red land white corpuscles nnd blood plasm. The white corpuscles worq to the human being what the standing army was to the nation and the policemen were to wvic life, They fought to maintain the good health 1 of th c body, The instant any disease germs or dust invaded the blood, vigorous, alert, and allpowerful white corpuscles marched out in battle array and fought and killed the disease germs. What was the effect of alcohol 011 the white corpuscles ) It was as bad as the German gas on men without gas helmets. Alcohol stupefied and intoxicated th c white corpuscles to such a. degree that they remained quiescent in the presence of disease gums, ami; instead of doing - their' work, they were overcome, and an invasion I'" disease was complete, That was why a patient saturated with alcohol had less chance of recovery from a serious illness than the abstainer. Mr Robinson appealed to the boys and l girls of thc Sunday schools, and, i'h

fact, every boy and girl, to make up their minds (o have nothing to do with alcohol. It was the greatest enemy of the race. The future of the British Empire was in the hands of the children. Whether they occupied important or unimportant positions in the world 's affairs, the nation depended upon them. What the future needed was a naliou of sober and industrious men anil women, who realised lo the full that temperance was the foundation of a wholly successful national development. There must be moderation in the things that were good and total abstinence in the things that were evil. That was true temperance. (Applause,)

.On the motion of Mr Mollison a hearty vole of thanks was accorded the speaker.

. A collection was taken up in aid of the Belgian Fund, and thc meeting closed with the Benediction.