The South Australian W. C. T. U. Convention.

White Ribbon, Volume 2, Issue 17, 1 November 1896, Page 9

The South Australian W. C. T. U. Convention.

The Eighth Annual Convention, which has just been held, appears to have been an extremely interesting one. Mrs Nicholls, President, as well as Suffrage Superintendent of the South Australian W. C. T. U , reviewed the work of the past year, in which the enrolling of women-voters and the organisation connected with the General Election played a prominent part. She paid a special tribute to the Rev J. C. Kirby for the work he had done towards amending the laws connected with women and children. A tribute was also paid to Miss Spence for her lectures and pam phlets on “ Effective Voting.”

Many of the papers read were most interesting. One of them, on “ Peace and Arbitration,” resulted in a motion, expressing deep sympathy with the Armenians, and urging that “the Powers of Europe w'ould immediately decide upon some honourable means to remedy as far as possible, and to prevent the recurrence of such atrocities, not by fighting, but by the united voice and moral suasion of a congress of Christian nations.”

At one of the afternoon sessions Miss Isabf.l Kelly read an instructive paper on “ Food Reform.” She remarked it was now almost generally acknowledged by eminent medical men that inebriety was the outcome of a diseased condition following on the use of alcoholic liquors. Of course there were many exceptions, but a large percentage of the present intemperance was believed to be due to the badly nourished system craving stimulants promoted by the use of unsuitable diet; the vitality thus becoming so low as to give rise to the unnatural craving for alcoholics. With all the enlightenment of the age the best use was not made of man’s physical, intellectual and moral capacities. Many diseases were the outcome of a disregard of those natural rules by which the body should be governed, either through ignorance or disdain. An immense amount of human misery was due to an unsuitable dietary. Time had so established our present eating arrangements that any alteration would be in the of many an impiety ; but so many made the palate and not the digestion their guide, whereas with the daybreak of physiological knowledge our food combinations w r ere to be indicated by our advancing knowledge of the wants of the organism and requirementsof the tissues. She quoted MISS MAY YATES, the founder of the Bread Reform League, to the effect that the main reason for the comparative deterioration in the strength of the masses was * due to the custom which had grown within this century of eating white bread made by the baker, instead of the coarser but far more nutritious whole-meal flour of past days. The question of good bread could not but be of importance when we thought of it as

“ THE STAFF OF LIFE ; ” but this term could not with a great degree of truthfulness be applied to the bread made of highly-refined flour most commonly in use, from which authorities on the subject told us had been extracted the flesh-forming substances and nearly all those materials w’hich formed bones and teeth, besides nourishing brain and nerves. It had been found, too, that there was contained in the embryo and outer portions ot the grain a natural digestive element which assisted and stimulated digestion, and whilst acting thus on the digestive organs kept the system in proper woiking order. Jn Australia

MEAT WAS SO CHEAP that many seemed to make it their chief diet, while it had been well proved by a c ci<*ntific study of the nature of food that much moie nutriment was to be found in grains of all kinds and fruit. Vegetarians claimed that meat was a highly stimulating food, anti as such produced thirst, whereas with a vegetarian diet there was almost absolutely no thirst, other points being less susceptibility to heat, cold, and fatigue, the more ready healing of wounds, less tendency to irritable temper, keener mental perception and activity, and SMOOTHER SKIN AND BETTERCOMPLEXION It was by no means rare to find artificial teeth even among the young in Australia, but if the bone-making material of the grain was to be cast to the lower creation as refuse, it ‘'toed to reason that this and similar lib, such as rickets, would necessarily follow. It had been noticed in America that the great deterioration in the strength and whiteness of the teeth of the negroes was attributable to the change of food since slavery days, when they lived on coarse corn breads. The nourishing properties of brown , WHOLEMEAL BREAD

were so great that it formed almost a peifeet diet in itself. It was a debated question whether man might find sufficient subsistence on a vegetable diet or not; but it was a fact that many attained longevity on a diet of vegetable substances only; and this should be so when all the nourishing properties found in meat were in the direct products of the vegetable kingdom. Man was however, in point of fact, omnivorous, eating and thriving upon all kinds of food, a providential arrangement whereby he was enabled to adapt himself to the changes of climate and circumstances at will. When exposed to severe cold oily and fatty substances should take a prominent place in the diet, while in hot climates these heat - should be almost entirely set aside, and preference given to a diet consisting chiefly of farinaceous substances and fruits, with a small proportion of lean meat, fowl, game, fish, etc. She advised strongly against too frequent meals, an 4 advocated greater attention to mastication Regularity, moderation, and not more than three meals per day were golden rules to be followed to ensure a clear head, good digestion, sound sleep, and long life. * * * Mrs E A. Eakins reported on “Narcotics.” She said some may

think there was no necessity to be alarmed very much about the use of narcotics in this colony, and that the number of people who use such things was small, but she had been astonished lately to find in a small circle several who had used opium pills, etc. Antipyrine was used frequently for headache, but as it was a powerful heart depressant she advised against its use. She referred to the harm done in Norway by the frequent use of ether, and in France by the use of absinthe. The members of their Union had exerted themselves to discountenance juvenile smoking, and papers on the subject had been read at nearly all their branches. Mrs Shearing read a paper on “Unfermented Wine” She was pleased to learn that the use of unfermented wine was becoming more general at the Lord's table, and that old prejudices were yielding to more advanced and better feelings. The reports sent from many Unions were very satisfactory. Most of the Churches in the city used unfermented wine, always excepting the Anglican, and even that body had been approached several times on the subject, and at last, feeling how utterly useless it was to expect to effect any reform through anv less a dignitary than the Bishop himself, she had written to him and received the following courteous reply : Dear Madame—The Bishop only received your letter just before he left for a tour in the country. He asked me to acknowledge your letter, with many thanks to you for it. llut at the same time he does not see any possibility of introducing unferuiented wine into the service for Holy Communion. Ho liegs at the same time to assure you that he tries to make the wine as light as possible hy mixing water with it. * gain thanking you on behalf of the Bishop fjr your kindness, I remain yours faithfully,. Lionel Payne Crawfued, Chaplain.

It was exceed.ugly kind to sentl so nice a reply, to what she feared he might deem a presumption, and she thought they had good reason to hope that if he and a few more Bishops began to realize there is so much danger in fermented wine that they have to dilute it with water, it was probable the unfermented wine would come into great favour. Various country Unions reported having influenced Churches to use unfermented wine. The Central District Union has distributed a good deal of literature on the subject. Several Churches reported that it was difficult to keep the wine good for any length of time when once opened. 1 o remedy this she suggested placing the bottle in

a saucepan of boiling water, bringing I it up to the boiling point, and corking it whilst in that temperature.