THE PROHIBITION MOVEMENT.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 5851, 26 September 1917, Page 2

THE PROHIBITION MOVEMENT.

ADDRESS BY MRS CCiAYIE. < . ( Airs Eee-Cowie the well-known lady temperance orator and: organis- 1 er of the Strength of the Nation ( Movement, gave a lecture on Monday night in th,e Obuneh of Christ, and ex- ( plained why the W.O.T.U. advocated Prohibition as a war measure. The' night was wet, but there was a fair , attendance. The Mayor preside*:! at the opening and was supported by Airs Neale, . president Pahiatua W.C.T.11.. Captain Airs Huston, the Revs. R. Welsh and H. Cottom, and Mr J. Hay. Apologies were received from the Rev L. H. and Mrs Fenn. Those oar the platform warmly welcomed Airs Lee-Cowie to Pahiatua. The lecturer, in her dddreissi, declared the Pk'ohitibitibm cause wan winning everywhere'. In America bpfpre the war there weie 29 prohibition States; now that America was in the war the breweries and distilleries had been put out of action and the destination of food for the manufacture of liqmor had been stepped. Tho force of public opinion had been felt here and at last New Zealand had made a move, arid six o’clock closing had been carried in Parliament. ' Crushing out the drink evil was the ! great reform of the present age. Airs j Lee-Cowie spoke of tho work the wo- : men bad done in connection with the | petitions for six o’clock closing prej vionsly presented to Parliament. This | year the W.C.T.U. felt that they ■ must work for something more, so ; while leaving all their members free ! to work for six o’clock closing the | Union was advocating anti working ; tor Prohibition. They considered, ! firstly, that- Prohibition was essential or the conservation, of food supplies. She spoke of the great world shortage i of food occasioned. partly by lessened production anti partly by losses of so i many cargoes through the submarine : warfare. There was ail enormous j quantity of food being used by tilt' ! brewers. In England they hjad been feeling the pinch of famine, white bread being unobtainable, and ‘ war j bread" lias to satisfy even tile sick. I invalids and children. It was coming | home to New Zealanders now, because j the New Zealand boys wir< having ; to live on short rations in the EngI lisli camps. She quoted from letters j from soldiers in Sling Camp and from j a notice from the commandant asking | men to put up patiently with the Itarcij ships and not to seek to buy food out- | side the camp. The best way to con j serve the food supply was to stop the | waste c* food in brewing. Tin 1 lecturl er also referred to the sugar .short- { age. Doctors- declared it was essential for the men. But there was so little tjiat no woman could buy more than a half-pounkl a week for her house; yet enormous quantities were being used in brewing. She related the experience of the London caterer, who was foding -10,000 working people ; every day, and his large consignment pf sugar 'front the Philippines was seized hv the Port of London Authority for the brewery trade. So while people starved, and soldiers liad to slia-ro the shortage grain and sugar went forward for the brewers. Secondly, she sat:l, prohibition was Cs--7 sential to conserve -space on ships and trains. A ship recently left New Zealand with 150 tons of intoxicants on s Board ; surely that space should have 1 been used 'for food stuffs or produce. A vessel put in to Dunedin with 5000 cubic feet of space taken up by 3 whisky for Dunedin alone. Was not . that a disgrace. They held that there was mo room to spare for liquor ’ while produce wars waiting shipment, , and was urgently required. Thirdly, Prohibition was necessary because • man-power was necessary. Aeroplanes, j guns, shijisi. what use: were these without men. Men had gone freely anil in large numbers', and what a strain it was now to keep up the reinforcements. But how much manpower fighting force was lost through , drink. In segregation camps in 9 England under treatment po-r venereal diseases there were 98.000 men. And

most of that was through drink. The Hon. G. W. Russell speaking of tli© relationship of drink to these fearful diseases liald said “drink leads to the sin . . . drink intensifies the virulence of the disease ,ann dlrrnk retards recovery.’ ’ Doctors, soldiers statesmen all agreed that drink was the great cause dmost of this vice and resultant.' disease!. The lecturer explained that the W.O.T.UKad entere doin a great prayer campaign having this end in view. She •appealed for new members and helpers. The lecture was forcible and was frequently punctuated with applause. At the close the lecturer was accorded a. very hearty vote of thanks. On the motion of Mrs Neale, fine managers of the Presbyterian church and the officers of the Church d; Christ were thanked for the use of their buildings for the meetings.