THE PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13385, 11 September 1905, Page 2

THE PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN.

ADDRESSES BY MRS HARRISON LEE, Mrs Harrison Lee, under tho auspices of the Unitod Tomperanco Reform Council, delivered tho first of a fiorics of prohibition addresses to a largo meeting nt tho Gar- "? 011 H®" a ' 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon, lho Rev. W. Hay, of Hanover Street Baptist Church, presided, and tho proceedings wore opened with prayer by Mr D. Wright. In tho courso of a few introductory remarks, tho Chairman said ho thought any minister of Jesus Christ should bo in no doubt as to tho position ho should take up on tlio question of tho no-liccnso movement, ami ho could not understand how anyone with " reverend" l>eforo his name could tflko up oven a moderate position in so important a question. To him it was a matter o[ delight that women liko Mrs Leo sliaultl devote themselves to tho -advocacy of tho iio-liccnso causo, and tho result of their labours would bo to make the homes of tho people safer and purer. Mis Leo, who was received with applause, gave an impressivo address from tho -words. Our Duty." ami divided her subject into several parts as to tho duty of tho individual towards tho liquor ' traffic. The speaker dwelt, eloquently on tho duty of the individual towards "His Majesty tho Baby ' and littlo children, and on this head sho remarked that tho present generation owed a duty tb tho risinpr generation to protect them from tho evils of tho traffic in alcohoho liquors. If tho moral roads ivoro niado well in tho present day, tlicy would not require) to b.o patched up and repaired in tho future, and for tho protac* tion of children sho urged thoso present to striko out t.ho top lino at the forthcoming licensing poll. Tho top line, the speaker urged, should also bo struck out for tho sako of tho mothers—thoso who abolishment of tho trnffio should mean community each unit of its citizens. The "Slier nature of humanity demanded that tho children who came into tho world should bo (shielded boforo and after they wero born from tho blight of tho drink ovil, and wives \md mothers who suffered most, by its influonco were entitled to cry for protection. Evon if it proved that the aeobshmont of tho traffio should mean commoreinl loss, tho higher iflcals of mnnhocd and womanhood demanded that such a loss should Ijo borne. It was also urged that in tho interests of tho drunkard and his family, and most of all in tho interests of the _ nation, that tho pooplo should vote norliponse. Stress was laid on tho point that recent official and scientific investigation had proved that tho cause of so many phjsically unlit and mentally weak coming into tho world was tho outcome to a largo extent of tho alcoholic habit. In support of tho contention that the alcoholic habit lowered the standard of manhood and womanhood, Mrs Leo quoted Emerson as the authority for tho statement that Englishmen and Scotchmen would be the best workmen in the world if they wero more reliable, and this unreliability Jio attributed to t.ho drink habit.

Tho pronouncement of tho benediction brought tho proceedings to a close. Mrs Loo addressed a mcetng of about 200 persons in the Caversham Presbyterian Hall in tho evening. The Rev. D. Dutton, who presided, spoko efrongly in favour of voting- no-linenso at tho forthcoming election, and tho Baptist. Clinreh choir, under tho condnctorsliip of Sir 0. Clark, rendered somo musical items. Mrs Leo suoko from the text Isaiah xxxv, 1: " Tho desert shall rejoice pud blossom as the.rose," and she prophesied that tho desert of drunkenness would, by tho carrying of no-license, cause tho fair colony of New Zealand to blossom and grow in all il,s beauty. She also stated that the ipflupneo of New Zealand carrying no-lieenso at tho polls would have a far-reaching effect on the whole of the Empire. Several persons signed tho total abstinence pledge at tho conclusion of the address, and tho Chairman intimated that on every succeeding Sunday evening up to the date of tho general election temperanco meetings would bo held in tho Baptist Church Schoolroom.