GIRLS AND DRINKING.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1924, Page 5

GIRLS AND DRINKING.

“TERRIBLE INCREASE.-’ LIQUOR AT SOCIETY DANCES. ALLEGED SERIOUS EVIL. CONDITIONS IN NAPIER. Assertions that drinking atnonj* women has become an evil of eerioue proportions were made & t the ritting of the Waiapn DfoOMan Synod at Napier laat week. The Rev. W. T. Drake moved i "That m view of the raporta throughout the country of a aerioua increaae of drink ing among young people, and SSMafabUy among young women and girlaf tbis Synod urges member, of th. Mother*' Union, Sunday Sehool teacher., and all who have any influence with the young, to bring before them the danger, of alcohol, and encourage them to prnetioe total abetinenoe." The mover aaiid that the motion waa prompted by the revelations made of the personal ennerlencss of clergy a. given at a conference Of clergy earlier in the week. He evidence of a terrible increase of drtaking among young girls wa* Indisputable It might be said that the Church must teach the baseness of this thing, but girls who were fast becoming demaapllaed and corrupted were not thoae whom the clergy could reach. They were not for example, G.FB. membeM, bat the daughters of wealthy people ta the “best” society. Society dances, the speaker deelMid, had become a scandal through the metice of young girls and Women eitttag out dances with men in motorcars drinking whisky. The Anglieoa CbUfeh represented half the population, ft Ae had any influence, she could surely use it to impress parents with the grave dangers in which they plaeed their daughters by allowing such proetiow. If such people would consistently boycott all dances to which liquor Was taken the moral effect would be tremendous. The girls of thia generation were splendid examples of physical beauty and fitness, but the practice of whisky drinking would soon destroy their character and the hMlthtaeu of the future mothers of the nation. Evory effort must be made to keep alrohol out of all dances and amusements. He men were responsible for introducing it and on them lay the responsibility of dealing with this matter.

. WOMEN DRINKING IN HOTELS. Mr. Hubert Speight said that the j local branch of the Prohibition L<gus 1 had ample proofs of the most degrading practices which the motion condemned. B The Rev. F. A. Bennett said that recently in Wellington very many dis* tressing but well authenticated fart* in. * this connection had been dls'ituzed by j the New Zealand Alli an ec. The evil g was rampant among girls in their teeas. The prohibition party attributed their 9 defeat at the last poll largely to tbe r votes of young women. While the moral standard of Maori glrla ww improving that of society pakeha girls was rapidly deteriorating. Recently visiting a 9 large hotel to see a friend, he obMrved j in full view a number of women sitting round a table drinking. Ha had # not seen a drunken Maori woman for s two years, but frequently he saw white I women coming out of hotels the worse s foi liquor. The women were outdoing . the men in the drinking habit. If it were not stopped God pity the country! ’ In reply to a suggestion from the 5 Rev. A. Hodge that the matter could be dealt with in preparing ehndi* ’ dates for confirmation, the Bishop of ■ Waiapu said it was not those who went to confirmation classes that had to be ‘ dealt with; it was largely those who-’ ; despised the Church and did not priao the gift of the Holy Spirit. They were the sons and daughters of worldly ’ wealthy people. The revelation made at the conference of the clergy showed that the matter was as serious as ever it could be. The evil was not only drinking, hut even worse. The clergy were not drawing general coneluSiong from exceptional cases. FASHIONABLE TO DRINK. The Rev. G. W. Davidson spofcs of pirls who refused to go to dances where there was no claret cup- He advocated the re-establishment of bands of hope. Mr. A. G. Pallot said that a AM of the world, in no way connected with the Church, had said that a few years ago girls refused to dance wl*h non. who smelled of liquor; now the rtVifse was the case. Archdeacon Chatterton said that to attributed the evil to the craze of young girls for foltowing the fashion. Tt was regarded as fashionable to drink, and many drank to excess. The Dean of Napier eaid that this matter concerned the Anglican Church more than it did any other. The socalled “better” classes were in a large proportion members of the Anglican Church. What was now <n evil anoftg people of social position would soon become common among those of a “lower** class. Two-thirds of the people who owned motor-cars and gave dances are Anglicans. The condition of things in Napier was appalling. He knew Indies who dare not give dances because they could not face the responsibility for the behaviour of the men and girls who came to them and brought liquor with them. He had several times got up in the middle of the night and found motor-cars in the , alleyway near hie gate containing men and girls behaving in a most disgraceful manner. PROPOSED APPEAL TO MOTHERS. The dean suggested that the clergy interview those who gave balls and treat them as wives and mothers to do all they can to stop this degradation. Tt only needed the leading society ladies in the town to take a stand and refuse to invite to dances girls and men who brought liquor with themThe Rev. W. Lambert attributed the evil to the desire of women to be admired of men; they thought the beat way to secure men’s admiration was to copy them and imitate them. The ; standard of a nation could never rise higher than the standard of its women. The Rev. H. J. C. Blathwayt suggested the calling of a meeting of the leading mothers of Hastings and Naptai*, with a view to the formation of a league to combat the evil. The Rev. F. W. Whibley said tbs town society girls were invading the country towns and introducing their cue t ome there. The motion was carried unanimously.