W.C.T.U. CONGRESS

Southland Times, Issue 17595, 6 March 1914, Page 2

W.C.T.U. CONGRESS

ff>er United Press Association J GISBORNE, March a. The W.C.T.U. Congress opened this morning . The presidential address was delivered hy Mrs Don (Dunedin!, who referred to tiie growth of membership and (lie activity of the organisation. She dealt with many topical subjects—wages, amusements, and pleasure — and showed that tiie increasing tendency to week-end trips threatened to become a serious menace to the sanctity of the Loni’s Day. Referring to picture shows, she urged that a responsible body be created in .Vox Zealand to supervise films, many of the pictures now shown creating an unwholesome appetite and leading to wholesale moral ecrepitude. The Htale should make provision for the detention of mental defectives. It was appalling to think that abnormal girls, who should be under restraint, were tiie mothers of children. In one case that came under notice last year a defective was the mother of eight children now supported by the State. She urged the conference to continue to endeavour to eradicate tiie gambling evil.