THE PROHIBITION MOVEMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12447, 2 September 1902, Page 2

THE PROHIBITION MOVEMENT

The Choral Hull was scarcely more than half filled last wight when Miss Florence Balgarnie appeared on the stage to deliver her address on " Our Glorious Caxiso." The Rev. P. . W. Fairclough presided, and the lecturer was suuuorted on the platform by the Rev. T. G. Brooke, Mr J. A.' D. Adams, Xlv A. Mazengarb, and the Rev. .losiah Ward. After those present had engaged in devotional exercises and contributed to the collection, The Chairman introduced Miss Balgamie to the audience. He said that we had had visitors from different parts of the world to speak on temperance matters, but he thought it was tho first time we had had one from Bonnie Scotland.—(Applause.) It occasioned no surprise in this country that women should take the lead in anything, and in the cause of right he would say: May they always leud like Deborah of , old— to victory. No one was more entitled to lend in the temperance cause than women, who suffered so much from the evils of the liquor traffic—-(Applause,) He hoped Miss BalgarnieV mission would result in great good by strengthening the hands of the temperance workers in tlu'3 colony.—(Applanso). Mies Balgarnie received a friendly round of applause on rising to speak. She said it gave her supreme pleasure to bo invited to Now Zealand to take somo littlo part in helping temperance workers in the present wonderful campaign. tn the Old Country the pcoplo had many rights and privileges, but they had not the right by the power of the vote to record their emphatic detestation of the publichouse and their determination that it should no longer exist in their midst. She was invited to the colony by the Rev. Mr Leonard Isitt, who was doing such splendid work in the temperance cause at Home. She had come out with her heart burning with o. desire to sec not only one Clutha but many

Cluthas in this colony, and to sweep away thi! ovil of intemperance from our midst. In defenco of the terms " onthilfliasts " and " fanatics " cast at temperance workers, she eaid aii enthusiast was ono who believed in. a ilivinity within themselves—believed in a. latent power that only needed, to be touched like a spark when it would blaze up and consume the wrongs of the world. A " fanatic," the dictionary would tell us, was cue who saw a vision. She admitted temperance workers did see a vision—a vision of a purer, truer, and nobler Now , Zealand than we- had to-day. It was better to see virions of this nature tljaa to see the visions of an unpleasant kind, which came before ' people's eyes through a love of drink. Some people seemed to imagine that when once they hatl ( termed temperance workers " idealists **' they had damned them with faint praise, but she thought it only went to show what' a- glorious causa they were engaged in. To her mind it was a- more fundamental, a more difficult, and rc&Uy a more essentially human question than tho groat question of freeing tho slaves in America.—(Hear, hear.) The American slave was glad to be free, but the slave to drink hugged his fetters and chains. If they were to determine the'greatDoss ami the glory of s. cause by the difiicultiea to be overcome, the terrible nature of the evils we were seeking to undo, and tho wrongs to be righted, then she ventured to say their cause could be compared to any other cause, and then come put th» most glorious of cause?. The lecturer went on to say that it had Been contended that the evils of drink were not so acute in this country as at Home, hut she would like to. warn them that they had the nucleus of those evils hove. Now was the time to orush them. As an example 6f the hold drinking customs were gnining on this community she would quote the increase in the consumption of beei - . Tho cost of drinking had increased from £2 17s 8d in 1894- to £6 10b lid .in 1901. In 1896 the arrests for drunkenneae wero 4916, and in 1901 they were £057. Tho most pathetic feature of these figures wa3 the. proportion of now convictions. Out of this 8057, the ol<V offenders numbered 3601, - while of the. "now , ' drunkards there were' 4229 maleV' and 237 females. After dealing genernllyr wifch attendant evils of the liquor traffic, Miss BaJgarnio said thai the object of her meetings was to enlist allshe could to work in "the gloriou'i ctt».».e" (if temperance.'.and she would earnestly appeal to willing workers to come forward and help the movement. At the close of the lecture* questions were asked regarding " model" publiehouses and) the Gothenburg system, neither of which' apparently commended themselves to the speaker. Miao Balgarnie will speak to-night on "The Claims of the.Liquor Traffic- vermis the' Claims of tho People." •