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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8065, 5 October 1887, Page 4

In ail ago distinguished for its civilising and reforming zeal it is only natural to find that the widespread and growing evils of intemperance among the native races over whom British rule exerts a direct or an indirect control are engaging public attention. A circular signed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Bishop of London has been addressed to the Bishops of the British colonies and dependencies, bringing the subject under their notice in a very pointed manner. " The accounts," says the circular, " given of the numbers that perish from this cause, and of the misery and degradation of those who survive, are painful in the extreme. And besides the grievous wrong thus inflicted on the native races, reproach has been brought on the name of Christ. The English missionary who preaches the Gospel and the English merchant who brings the fatal temptation are inevitably associated in the minds of the heathen people, and by many not only associated but identified." All who have any experience of half civilised native races know how true this is, and how much the efforts of missionaries are retarded, and to a large extent neutralised, by the pernicious system which perm: the wholesale demoralisation by grasping and unprincipled traders of those whom the Church is attempting to rescue from heathenism. It is asserted by travellers of repute that in many parts of the world the moral character of the natives gains more by the preaching of Mohammedanism than by the preaching of the Gospel, for the former tends to make them sober. That this should be so is a painful and humiliating thought, and calls loudly for immediate aud effectual remedial measures. The circular reminds the colonial Bishops that much may be done by influencing the Legislatures, by forming public opinion, and by constant and unceasing efforts. In the case, however, of the natives of the islands of the Western Pacific, where the evil is greatest and the scandal most flagrant, little we doubt can be done by colonial Legislatures. These islands are beyond their jurisdiction. Much, however, may be accomplished by the joint action of the Powers chiefly interested in these parts of the world. The British Government, it is gratifying to know, are fully alive to the importance of the question. They recently took stops to arrive at some international agreemeuton the subject, but unfortunately the Government of America declined to co-operate, and the scheme had to be abandoned. Lord Onslow, however,stated in the House of Lords recently, wheu the matter was brought under the notice of the Upper Chamber, that Her Majesty's Government would lose no opi portunity that might be afforded for rei newing negotiations upon the subject. It ! is earnestly to be hoped, therefore, that i means will soon be found of putting an I end to this glaring evil.