Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price 1d. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1886. The Temperance Crusade.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1797, 19 February 1886, Page 2

Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price Id. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1886. The Temperance Crusade.

Ms Qlovkb has lately been addressing Wellington audiences on the subject of temperance and various other topics bearing upon it. We heartily sympathise with the efforts being made by Mr Qlover, and believe that much good will result from them. Still, there are some statements made by him, Glover, which require examinotion and criticism. In lecturing on the subject o* hard times and how to meet them," Mr Glover said “ that the drink was mainly responsible for the hard times. People spent money in drink which ought to be expended in more legitimate directions, arid he felt convinced if every working man considered when he raised a glass of liquor to his lips, that he was assisting to keep down wages, there would be less drinking throughout the world. For all the money that was spent in liquor there was nothing but disease, misery, and crime. If it was desired to sweep these things away, let the liquor traffic be prohibited, and this country would become the fairest and most glorious on the face of God's earth.”

Those persona who have given careful 1 thought to the causes of the depression which prevails in this colony will net be inclined to accept entirely Mr Glover's assertion that . the chief causes of the evil is the drink traffic. The colonists of New Zealand have always dune a very considerable amount of thinking in past years, yet despite this driuk eousu up. liou, the times at more than one period have been very prosperous and good, while nearly everybody was doing well. The colonists now drink much less than they did some years back, yet depression exists, and 11 the times are bad." The truth is that “ the bard times ’’ are due to a variety of causes, of most of which Mr Glover takes no account at all. There has been extravagant borrowing and a considerable portion of the loans raised has been expended on public works and railways, some of which have not proved reproductive. If all the money borrowed had been expended solely on making such railways and other public works as were practically certain to give a lair return within a reasonable period, then there would not have been nearly so much depression as at present exists. But large borrowing and reckless spending were of coarse inevitably followed by a period of reaction and depression. Besides this, wool, tallow, wheat, frozen meat and other exports have long been low in price, and this fact has of course added to the depression und the creation of " hard times." Other causes have contributed to the same result, such ns the extravagant administration of successive Governments, the enormous cost of the Civil Service, and the consequent heavy taxation imposed upon the people. Intelligent men who have looked closely into this question, of conrse'reoogniso that all those causes have aided in creating “ bard times,” bat Mr Glover does not trouble himself with such considerations, and jumps off-hand to the conclusion that the hard times are almost entirely due to the drink traffic. Tet, to a certain extent, Mr Glover’s contention ie founded on truth. Hard time* are made worse by the fact that people ipend money on drink which might be applied to netful and profitable purposes. The money (pent oq drink is a dead loti to the spender. The aotnsl smount so spent by the colonists may be eet down at £1,600,000 a fear. Of that sum over £500,000 it received by the Government in the shape of the Customs spirit duties. Whet do the colonists get in return for this million of money 7 The answer is " Nothing.” Thera is certainly the temporary artificial pleasure felt by the palate and nervous system when a man drinks a pint of beer or a nobbier of spirits, tint that is all that i; got in return for the million of money 'speut. The money paid for diipk is just eo much lost. The drink j| swallowed and tnere ie an end of it. There

is nothing to show for the million of year!/ i expenditure. If part of the same amount o' money were expended in other ways, such as better food and clothing for the family, better education for the children, better furniture and improved dwelling houses, there would be something to show for the expenditure. Then if a portion of the money were saved and judiciously invested in the purchase of shares in banks, public companies, or land, the funds would have been put to profitable use and some good would be done by them. Besides, the persona making those savings would have provided against the future, when sickness or failing powers rendered work impossible. It has to be added that while money either judiciously expended or saved, does good, that which is spent on drink is not only thrown away, but is besides productive of grave evils. The milliou a year spent on drink represents so many men and women killed outright by excessive drinking; so many men and women with impaired health; so many households more or less pinched for necessaries and comforts ; so many additional cells in prisons and wards iu hospitals and lunatic asylums. Drink undoubtedly helps to fill those places and is productive of much of the want, misery, poverty, disease, insanity and crime which exists in this colony. It is clear that though drink is not " the main cause of the hard times,’’ yet it certainly helps in some measure to produce them, and when they exist, adds much to the suSeringJwhioh they involve. Hard times are the result of a variety of causes, but when they actually exist, the people of this colony would feel them less if they saved the milliou which they spent on drink.