NO-LICENSE MEETING.

Colonist, Volume XLVII, Issue 11432, 11 September 1905, Page 2

NO-LICENSE MEETING.

Last night the Theatre was crowded in every part when! JVC r T» E. Taylor, M. H. R. , and Mr F. -M» B. Fisher, M.H.R., spoke %n th» Liquor traffic from the standpoints! the home and Christianity. Mr Frank MUner, M.A., presided. The Chairman asked the Rer. John Crump to open the meeting with prayer. The Chairman, in his brief remaykflj said a Bpeech he heard Mir T. B. Taylor deliver in Christchurch some time ago converted him in favor of No- license, and he had met Mr Fisher in contact on the football field. Mr Fisher said his remarks would be brief, as Mr Taylor was going to deal with the. physiological aspect of the drink question. They, had not come to Nelson in any aggressiva spirit, but to appeal to the intelligence of the people, and to aid thWa to give a right decision at the ballot box concerning the Liquor business. One local pnj cv had taken exception to their com i per, but they were not neglecting theii- duties in coming, as Parliament had shut down before they left Wellington, and they would be back in Wellington before it reopened, and they thought it would be better to come and talk to the people in Nelson than remain in Wellington doing nothing. He ap- ■ pealed to the young people to study for themselves the No-license question. He referred to physical deterioration ; the transmission of Tic* ious habits by parents to children, and emphasised that no child iho«ld be born with such a fearful handicap ; the large percentage of mental derangement due to excessive drink? ing; the danger of surgically operating on liquor drinkers J-— and the burden placed on the people to sapport the sufferers through the liqnmr traffic. He pointed out the fact that athletes before a contest kept from having a night out, also thoße ' wb* were going to enter into a keen mental encounter, and that Saturday and Sunday drinking in the Ola Country unfitted workmen from doing any fine work on Monday. He concluded by urging his audience, and particularly the young people, to read the No-license literature that was placed befofre them. He said he would be glad to come to Nelson at any time to help the Nolicense movement. (Applause). Mr T. E. Taylor commenced his address by referring to the badlylighted building, and to Nelson being cut off from civilisation, and said it was time for Nelson to wake up. He referred to the designation of the Liquor business as the Trade, and urged it was unique in several respects. No other trade was a menace to humanity; no other threw men down, robbing them of ambition and success in life; no other robbed women and children of their bread, and took the clothes fiom their backs. He contended the Nolicense question was a legitimate subject for consideration on the Sabbath Day, seeing it was based on the fundamental principle of Christianity, and the keystone of civilisation. It was based on love for humanity. Love did not enter into the Liquor business, only the avarice of the seller, and the selfish appetite of the victim. He strongly urged upon his audience their individal responsibility respecting the/ Liquor traffic; urging that burdens and evils arising therefrom would continue if the people exhibited apathy or brutal neglect. The speaker at some length spoke on the physiological aspect of the question, giving as his authorities for- the statements he made Sir Victor Horsley, Sir Frederick Troves, and Professor German Sims Woodhead, (that alcohol was injurious to the very genesis of life, injurios t& the nervous system, injurious by preventing the blood from throwing off * the impurities ; and was in no sens* a food. He said it was true weight was added to the body of the drinker through the impurities not being 1 thr*tf«off> but it was not healthy fletj^ tad a person in that condition if scratched by a rusty nail would soon be in a serious condition. He urged that No-license was a national question, that if the British people ' did not learn to curb their appetites for strong drink, and especially the women, there was no hope for the nation. He pointed to the fact as evidence of physical degneration that at the time of the Boer war out of eleven thousand men in Great Britain who volunteered to go to South Africa, eight thousand had to be rejected as being unlit to carry and use a rifle. He emphasised if the Liquor traffic was allowed to continue it would levy its tribute $ physical and mental deterioration would grow anace; and the children of to-day would supply the next orop of drunkards. He urged parents, for their children's sakes to vote Nolicense, which meant a cleaner community, a higher civilisation, and the doing away with barbarous conditions. Both Mr Taylor and Mr Fisher were well received, and fre- ' quently applauded. On the motion of the Rev. W. J. Williams, a vote of thanks was acoorded the speakers by acclamation, and a like compliment was part Q*

Chairman on the motion of Mr -Fisher.