AVERAGE MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12824, 16 October 1911, Page 8

AVERAGE MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY.

The presence in town of the Rev. F. H. Radford, the secretary of the Taieri No-License League, was taken advantage of by the Baptist Men's Class to hold a gathering in the interests of No-License. No great effort had, been made to work up a large gathering, and the attendance was not as great as the excellence of, the address warranted. The spirit *>f the gathering was a most cheering one to any speaker, and it would -seem that every word told. Mr. G. W. Carrad, the leader of the Men's ■Class, presided, and introduced the speaker. The Rev. F. H. Radford said he

xecognised that it was to a great extent a political subject; but one on which hung tremendous moral and -social issues.* His subject was "Prohibition —the average man's responIbility." The . flfltimate responsibility -of the issue of the poll rests with average men. The leaders have their responsibility, but greater was that <»f the average man. He called their attention to the picture of Waterloo -on the evening of the-eventful ■ day. Standing out in the foreground of; the Picture"" was Wellington, but all Ground, just thrown into the picture, were the torn and mangled bodies of men. But, however much the victory owed to WellingtonV; brain and the old guard, it was really won by the average men against whom the French cavalry broke in vain. There Tvas, he .said, in the hands of the. voters' at the present time a precious power which they may never have again. Apart from three-fifths we iiold in our bands the very finest privilege given to man. The electors of this country were. the envy of the temperance, world. What ■would they-give for our chance in Australia, especially in the State from which b e " had lately come, Western Australia. This reform was "based upon every social instinct^ and Tnen who were not total abstainers -Tvere yet moved by deep considerations for tiie woes of others. Lord Harrington. : the; ; finst nobleman who joined the United, Kingdom alliance, said "I like a glass of wine, and think it does, me good; and as long as I can get it legally, T nuean' to drink it. ' But I see that there are tens of; thousands whom our drink traffic, as \ dow.conducted, frightfully ruins; and sooner than let this go/ on,. I will.J when,, that proves-necessary, give iip my glass of wjne." , The responsibility of the average man was grave, . "because of the gravity of the issue, j Every elector was in some sense in the position of a juryman responsible tor the life of "a fellow being hanging upon. ihlaL judgment. Iji 'this case:; it: was impossible to say how many lives -were hanging upon their vote> The present Chief Justice of England asserts that 90 per cent of the crime . -of Great Britain is the direct or indirect result of the drink evil. Theirs it was to discharge the responsibility resting upon the average man. "They must vote. There was no neutrality. If there was but one straw's weight of evidence on one side or the other they must register their vote for or against. They- should spare no pains to come to immediate decision as to how to vote. This was not a case which could rightly be. affected by any trivial consideration on . the eve of the poll. The principles -at stake we're broad, and permanent. Who could forgive a juror sleeping when the case was summing up.' The Ck>verriment returns just laid on the table of the House showed that there cr c only 168 convictions for drunkenness throughout all. the No-License -districts for 6 months ending June 30th of this year. These represent-; i?d a population.'«f 160,*)96 How, •different was it with licen&e Takei xhe case ol,Taihape, whose popula-' -fion was only 1357, and convictions tor drunkenness for the same period were 143 Thus, the proportion was 1 to 958 convictions toi djunkennes*. in No-License districts, while in the 'other case it was 3, f to,l-L in :the 11----<ense disjtnet of Ta,vhajie.,<rTEet tfxere 1 -were men who sdid'jnolubitron tlaes Hot prevent drunkenness. ' Hdd he been speaking last theie ■were many who,}vpuld maki?'statements about Ataine, y but he thought they would not hear Jtnuch about this, "t^tate in tuture iromjthe liquor paity He urged upon them" in an lmpies-

sive way, their duty to .do all that was possible to secure the reform they were aiming at. The. struggle for. the emancipation of the slave in America was won by the average men marching to the" south with a soiil for freedom into which had entered the spirit of John Brown,-who had'died early in the great-struggle.- So perhaps he might say the words and spirit of Tom Taylor had entered into the ranks of the No-License party in this hoped for year of emancipation, and they were, he trusted, marching on to victory. .'■■'.

At the conclusion of the address, Mr. Gilbert Carson spoke in . high terms of the address arid his remarks were enthusiastically endorsed by the gathering, which was closed with a prayer by the Rev. A. S. Wilson.