TEMPERANCE MEETING AT MARTON.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XI, Issue 2863, 26 February 1877, Page 2

TEMPERANCE MEETING AT MARTON.

A temperance meeting was held last Friday evening in the Town HalljMartoh. The Hall was crowded, and on the motion of Mr|Oakley,secohded by Mr Riggs, Mr W. Fox took the chair. The chairman said ho foit great pleasure in presiding over a temperance "meeting in Marton as it ■ was there he • first ventured to oppose the liquor traffic. Ho had once been asked, to lecture in Martou, and finding that there was so much drunkenness mii then," that through it scones occurred" on the Sabbath morning which a Wellington paper characterised as "disgracefully shameful to a civilised community ;" finding the defence force stationed there in a demoralised condition, he camo to the determination of lecturing on the evils of intemperance. A story was told that a terrible .dragon used once to infest Yorkshire, eating Tip men, women, and children. "Had such a monster been heard to have entered the Rangitikei river, and threaten the_ district with such demolition, w£o ; would not come to lend a hand to crush him out 1 Bat there was a worsre dragon, hooped to the tail, and spitting venom from its mouth, killing men , by the hundred, |and rendering homes desolate, and yet how little attention was paid to the question of stopping its progress. He did not know how many , public houses there were in New Zealand. If he did he could guess to "a dead certainty the number of poor'people whoke homes through' drink had been rendered desolate. /He hoped to, be able to obtain tm*3 information next session, but ad he was surrounded {hat night by an army of the representatives of temperance'societies in otheiftowhs in'N'ew~J&eulutld*, who would speak, he would detain them no longer, but introduce Mr Smith, of Nelson. • ' ; .> Mr Smith said it was a gratification to him to address a meeting presided over by so distinguished a worker in the cause of temperance as the chairman. He was struck with the appearance of. the surrounding districts; and with thjj, generosity of its people, who had erected such magnificent hotels in the 'towns he had passed through. It was the people in the district' "who had' 'erected them. Their occupants would', not have built them to ! ' accommodate the public. It was for gain they erected, thnm, and while the children- of those who contributed the most to ,building them" had not a fishbone to play with, the children of the hotel-keepers had pianos, and every other comfort which they desired. Tfc was generous of th'k people to erect Btfch houses, but he was

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thinking it was mistaken generosity Bj do so. The speaker theA^Jcontir^jfeecflrihe luxurious appointmen^orffioteSwltffithe squalid miseries of the^xmikai&' I»pi8. and told an anecdote of tig |H^. \w|, BJ, Gladstone, who once alfojaild a^bre^r'^ man in unloading his draytJi DeSnfoarrela. So, he said, great men were lendmg their hands to advance the evils of intemperance. Magistrates seldom refused to - grant a new license or renewone.- —The battle of temperance would have to bei fought against men of influence, but there' Jrwer-e^men ofcinflaencaandlabilityiengftged; in it.,, 3 ,Thpy : ,werei X:> ealjßdy fanatics. So was every earnest man that ever lived, ( ibub hes would nob give a straw. for any man who was nojtjin, earnest and fight to death. What he wanted to establish was a healthy public opinion in favour of permissive legislation! ( If ■ public houses were wanted it was the people's right to • 'say 1 . so : ; if on the oontrarythoy ( ajlßo'had a right to , say so.; Permissive legislation was therefore the essence j ofj i liberty, and,, he,, ;W,ould> ; ask them all to unite in planning and scheming for "obtaining it, and use every means in 'iheir-'' power "to' induce their representatives to support} the Permissive ' 8i11... • ;' .. ;,;.:■ ,>* { ; "Mr Sufoiiiv o£ Wellington,,, ;bqiri£ introduced said he had great pleasure in being engaged in the glorious' 'work of temperance, which he regarded as being next to their' Onristiafn 'religion. No man was born a drunkar^. . The .ap,peti,te for drink had Jioen created by habit, jand since it was so it was the duty ; of every man to exercise his influence in teaching youth temperate habits. No man who drank "knew that he would not be! the cause of bringing some oneto adrunkard's grave by. h,is, example, if not , otherwise . The speaker then related some of his own experience in New South Wales where iii union with a few others he formed' a temperance society which led to happy results. . It was the duty of every man, . he continued, to show good example' by being . temperate Himself, : and instil into, the minds of children' 'and neighbours the good derivable from total 1 abstinence. It was an irrefutable fact that most o£ those now filling gaols, prisons, and mad-houses, had been brought to that state through drink, 1 directly or indirectly, and in conclusion he would ask ' them all to join some temperance society, and make an effort to crush out the evil which' was ruining so many thousands. Ma Copeland Harding, of Hawke's Bay, next addressed tho meeting, and, after a few introductory remarks, said he had been a total abstaiilor all his life. He had often spoken to men putting up for the membership of the constituency in which' he lived vrith regard to their views on the temperance question, and they invariably replied in long winding speeches terminating in evasive answers. These were men who could n'ojt support the temperance question, for they could not add the force of example tq the force of precept, because they liked it themselves, and would make the excuse that the other members would n,ot joull 1 with him in the matter. It behoved every constituency to elect men pledged to support the Permissive, Bill, which required only to be properly known to become popular. It was a .logical outcome of local self-government. ; ' It was lOnly that two-thirds oi- any community should have the right to say whether they would have public-houses in their midst or not. It was of such a liberal character that in the homo country men not total abstainers themselves supported the bill, and he believed it needed only to be' advertised to obtain "suppbrV 'for* ii' * The speaker concluded a very good speech with a quotation from- Carlyle, which pointed out iv the peculiar phraseology of ! the great author how Englishmen- destroyed their liberty ,by being slaves to intemperance. ' '•;.-■ ( ! Mb J. H. , .Fbasbb, T of Welling- , I ton, incoming forward, said that. while | Marton had the best total abstainer, in the world in it (meaning-rMV Fox) it appeared to him, from the number of its public houses, that very, lifjtle notice was taken of him, and ' this proved the saying that no man was a . prophet in • his own country. Iv England they thought a great deal of Mr Fox,! and were sorry for his cdmingoufc Here again. If they, thought so much aoout him here they would, not have so niany public houses in their midst. Nex.t v to' the Christian religion ho. regarded temperance, and believed no man was doing his duty who had not 'allied himself with it. Medical men- in: England had proved it hag been the cause of detcrioratiptfin the ' human race, but when they knew their i patients liked it they prescribed it. j Dr. Lees, of Leeds, one of, the , ablest of the advocates of_temperance, once visited a patient for whom anotlier doctor jhad prescribed • Dub'lm^stout;,' which ! the patient said was doing. him. good. ! Dr. Lees' r tbok hom { 6 ttie 'stout, and extracted' from 'it" the 'aldbhol' which it contained, and' then s^nt it baokto'thopatienit, who" found it doing him more good in .thatjeondition than it- did when it .contain ed alcohol. Subsequently the doctor found it was some arsenic which the stout icontamed that was improving 'the 'h^allfr'br Ithe patient, ariii thus many Virtues jv&fe attributed to drink, which \it : did] 'not' possess. It was useless to preach moder- : ation. If a house was on fire would jthey tell their friends who as&isj;ed,them io be moderate and to take, time. , So it! was, with drink. Those whd lindertoofc . to qvil; must go tOj^voyk in earnest, and in cot-" elusion he earnestly wished that the lext •tibio"'- lie Maxtcm the' good pdople of it, would, h^ve, bani.Bhed.it t from i\Lim homes. ' ' "

Mr Bamfobd, of ! Welllhgiofr; >dppricated the granting oE licenses to grocers to sell drink, as by it a great mauy women Wad jbeen'tfiiinedviind-toldiS number of amusing anecdotes bearing onj the temperance question/ Her had bfeen~~a "ESf Si" St^tStaer'^EOT'ijeTent^en^eats; and if he lnred r fifty/,years longer he wjo.uld remain so. The speaker wound up an amusing speech' by. efchortin^ all prejsent , to.at.onoe enlist, themselves ,111 the^ cause of temperance. /.*'''' 'Mr Carson n&cfc addressed the meeting^sayiiig'he ' wa» (not. a. fighting man, bu,b lif.he^wore disposed tp. fight he, would not care t6 engage 'in battle jwith' ,shadows. The arguments put fqrward against ' temperance" reformation were fleeting, shadowy' things with which it wag foolish to try ,tp, battle., jit was a. rj sWange^3E ac£ that so giteai' an 'evil was allowed to" " exlstrffieiT onTjFlSSyin'g they, can't helpit. ' Th'i8 ] was the result of rioc inquiring into the matter and seeing what they,' could; do. iFhej; jhad hpard| a good .deal that night abput^empe^ance adyb-' cates' be^ng called fanatics, but hi wptMtell theni 'that any oian wkcr " thought, 1 .deeply onthe t qu,estion ( mus|; befe^ctreine, in his views.' Moderate dririkers sreached5 reached moderation and despised; the runkard. With, him they had no Sympathy eajcep^ the 'sympathy- whidh a pirate' has' with those* he compels to Walt thfe plaiik. And still ifcejf hftd |eas with

amer, the result of not inperly into the question. wish that more were tout the Permissive Bill, is in order to explain the the meeting was held. In moirtrSases questions were decided by a majority ,but the Permissive Bill did not rest with a majority, they required the ThFTj'ddstton* waTgairiing" ground~"every \ $At\&'°A ljtf had ,faanjj tsyifcpathiserß, many of them whose sympathies were faofrioT%*day4FulHtor*BVgr.'' r - ■" *■"•"' » jr. .Mr £&a.l.yaie, and .Mr Riggsxseoonded a vote of thanks to the representatives for theilf attendanfce that W.ening. The Chairmaji^n putting the vote of thanks, made a powerful speech, in the course'df wMcl/he'said'that'it was not againsjr /the poor pixjbheans— many of whom, were floor $i{^a}^. men— they were waging war/Mt.agams^^her educated men.men 6t untold" wealf hi those who sold liquor wholesale. , ,Tp' i&em the publi9-ho^s9.s praotwal^ a MonB j and could do what they liked With the poor publican. Most of the leajhng/merchants of Wellington wero engage^ in the liquor traffic, and $c , only mdep.qnd^eM man amongat them wlio .'had taken up the question manfully was Mr j^utyfcer/Nine- ■ tenths of the, public .^wifes.'werenm their harids.ahd riinety-nino-i(ur,qre^tns of the crimes, which disgrace our "communities was th'e ; fes > ult. : 'These' w&re all-power-ful, Jthere b^ing i S3;P0O,O0O, fhabitual drunkards .whilq .there were, only/ , 3,oo^ qM I^tal^b'stainers. they had^theod^s r agamst',,tn'em, and he would ask:..tlxe,m (r to, a helping hand to, 'root, out tiiis gj:e'atl There were ihre.e," public house? I , in' Marton. ,put, th,eni jher^ P ; Tlie'.boa-con-strj(ctor of the, lyjupr'.Waffic. 11 ,, They all kjdew that' a bpa-feonstricjior ,,' was a reptile that charms birds ,ahd piher small animals into his mouth,' "by : ''tiie influence of a .power which he exercises over them. r r Magistrates on : the licensing benches' were like the' victims '6f the boaconstrictor : thoy were infatuated by the influences of the liquor traffic into granting licenses. Many of them, honorable men previous,;*; to/., sitting- • on the licemmg bench, ... sooji showed they did not ppssesa the, necessary qualifications for the , office, , and invariatyylmade mistakes: ThrV 'tilings ' 'they ; were required' to' consider before 'granting a license. First, the good character of the applicant. Second, that the house was built. lafgs .enough,/ and contain ed the requirements of. a hotel • and third, whether the .hotel, was., at all , wanted in the, place. ' fie thought two-thirds^ people ought .to be : the best judges^f all these. The name ">'Pubiio< House" showed it was a>house for the public, and it was the public that nought to say whether, they, wanted it or <not. It :was saidt9,,bo a/h,ouse f for thepoQr.man. Then the poor man should hay.c th(^ key of his own door. There were ndw 80,000 total abstainers in \Pjfew Zealand,and they were gaining in numbers every day, and he, hoped the r d^ was not, far distant when the question ' would ' be/ more thoroughly '"'cohsideVed. 'In conclusion he w6uld put tije vote of /fhanks to representatives, ana had no doubt it would be carried by acclamation. (Great appjause), Mr Smith proposed and Mr Fraser seconded a vote of thanks to the cha'rman, which was carried amid deafening applause, and t^he meeting separated at 11, o'clock.' The speeches on. the! whole were very good, 'and were listened to with profound attention,.not a murmur or movement being (heard >in>the. .body, of the hall during the whole. tune,,. „,, „.]