THE TEMPERANCE CRUSADE AT CAMBRIDGE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1359, 17 March 1881, Page 2

THE TEMPERANCE CRUSADE AT CAMBRIDGE.

Our Cambridge correspondent writes :—: — "I regret to say, this ill-advised movement, as decided upon at a recent meeting of the Temperance League, has been given effect to. Last Sunday the system of espionage was duly inaugurated, and for a time the quieter hours of the Sabbath evening were considerably disturbed by the excitement consequent upon these proceedings. The plan pursued was this :—ln: — In the dusk of the evening, an emissary of this over-zealous body ensconced himself in a retired position at some distance from the entrance to the hotels, and in that way took note of what transpired. The 'National,' it is said, was known to have been closely watched, and a child seen to leave the establishment was pounced upon and questioned as to certain transactions which had taken place inside. On these facts becoming known, a good deal of angry feeling was evinced, and some of the hotels were closed up altogether-^a step which, as might be expected, occasioned annoyance and inconvenience to the lodgers and other inmates. What the upshot of this work will be, if persisted in, we can only surmise. One thing may be taken for granted— no community is going to be trifled with in this manner, by a mere handful of enthusiasts, without resenting it in some way or another."

"Eye-witness" writes :— "Sunday last was a 'day of wrath' as between the temperance men and the publicans. I side with the temperance men, and I'll tell you why. Years ago, when the spirit of revivalism was abroad on the face of the carth — when the city Arab and pave nymph were objects of interest in councils of the just— in common with others of the lapsed masses, I was brought to see the error of my ways in pursuit of whisky. It came to pass in this wise :— During the hours of Divine Service, on a given Sunday, I occupied the position of solicitor outside the door of an upstairs bar., and, after a short parley, was addressed from within as follows: — 'We hiv aw been converted in this hoos, an if ye want taget yur whusky on the Saubath yel ha' ta gau rouu ta the back door fur't. ' From that day henceforth I deserted my former path, and when I wanted my whisky on Sunday went round to the back door for it. I mention the fact to Bhow my friends of the Temperance cause that I am a man after their own hearts, and that, as a natural consequence, my counsel and advice ought to prevail. I do not 'cotton' to this Surveillance Committee. To my mind it lacks novelty, and is otherwise deficient in enterprise. There is neither fee nor reward to be earned by a Temperance Apostle having to hunt back-slums and dodge round shady corners. That 'strictly confidential' communication of our late brother, Secretary Morris, is a case in point. He tried the 'back-slum move,' and it was a failure ; indeed, but for the vitality of the concern — our enemies call it hardihood, but I don't — the Cambridge branch of the cause would have been teetotally d . What I would suggest as a substitute is 1 The Hallelujah Band, ' so as to work the thing up on a most approved plan. All that would be required is a few strongminded females of the Women's Rights Association stamp, and if one or two could be got cast in the mould of the ' bearded lady, ' so much the better. A round dozen moustached matrons, squatting down on a Sunday morning at Hewitt's corner, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, shouting out at the top or their voices, Babylon's a fallen — fallen—fallen — Babylon's a fallen — so say we, would produce an immense sensation. It would fetch these blooming publicans, I know. It would purify the upstairs bar, and thin the ranks of the Working Men's Club. In America it was immense, and why should it not take in Cambridge ? I stand up for 'The Hallelujah Band,' and I ask all true believers in temperance — the mothers and children, whose homes have been desolated by that demon drink — the sisters, cousins, and aunts of those besotted creatures who waste their substance in riotous living, and spend tiieir time at upstairs bars — to accord me their vote and interest. It is those little ones, whose boots and breeches have gone in bottled beer and colonial swipes— the wives and sisters of those degraded wretches who prefer pewter-pots to cups and saucers, and the bar-parlour to the domestic hearth — I ask to rally round my standard, and cry out hip-hip-hurrah for 'The Hallelujah Band.' If we cannot succeed in getting a sufficient number of ladies of the right stamp in Cambridge, I would propose to inaugurate the movement with a Maori haJca. Get Matite, of the Te Arawhata tribe, to call out her dusky troop ; and, to give the thing eclat, our own little troop of Temperance reformers could bring up the rear. A few daubß of shark's oil and red ochre would be enough to screw their courage up to the sticking-point, and then just imagine the sensation that would ensue. The chairman of the league, in working canonicals, and Matite, in Maori evening costume, doing the ' Can-can,' with all the latest variations of the war-dance, while the Temperance brethren clapped their hands and thighs, and kept time in a chorus of open defiance. Will any man be bold enough to tell me that Raynes' upstairs bar could withstand a shock like that? Why, even Raynes himself, together with his 'thirty odd boarders, 'would be. driven, in sheer desperation, to join the band, and do the war-dance on their own hook. I challenge contradiction when I say the attraction would bo immense. We would have special trains put on from Auckland and intermediate stations at excursion rates, and the £,s. Delta puffing up the river freighted. ( \wth '.anxious inquirers' from Hamilton and Ngaruawahia. Itwouldbea Temperance crusade of the right sort. Thousands upon thousands would be brought to W .the evil of their way?, and, litce'yotfji: correspondent ' Eyewitness,' when they wanied their whisky on Sunday they would go round to the baokdoorfor'it." v