SCIENTIFIC TEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

White Ribbon, Volume 15, Issue 167, 17 May 1909, Page 1

SCIENTIFIC TEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

[By T. E. Taylor.l Before the traffic in intoxicating beverages is banished from New Zealand much enthusiasm and effort will have to be put forth. That we are within a few' years of success abundant evidence shows. The gross abuses which are a feature of our drinking customs, and particularly of the licensed sale of alcoholic beverages, have continuously assisted to deepen the feeling of hostility which is now so definitely expressed by the electors towards the trade. The sordid tragedy, the misery of women and children, the despair of the inebriate, the economic w'aste, and multitudes of other facts which come within our everyday observation, have all helped to increase the volume of public censure which threatens the speedy destruction of at least public sale of liquor. If the final success of the prohibition movement could be commanded this year, it is almost certain that some system permuting the sale of intoxicating beverages would be re-established within from ten to twenty years unless the pirty of reform at once succeed in having the children of to-day thoroughly instructed in the physiological effect of alcohol upon the human organism.

Every day observation and experience will he the principal factor in securing the overthrow' of the drinking custom of the day. Not one person in ten thousand who vote no-license have even a rudimentary knowlege of the real properties of alcohol. They know very little about its effect upon mature or embryonic organisms. They have hut the vaguest idea as to how alcohol is obtained. The voters of to-day know' very little about the trend of scientific investigation so far as alcohol is concerned. There is a marvellous dearth of scientific knowledge so far as intoxicating beverages go. Human sympathy is responsible for nearly all the modern effort in the direction of the prohibition of the liquor traffic. I do not think there can be a better basis for social reform than human sympathy begotten of the spirit of love ; but I am certain that a colossal disappointment awaits the Prohibition Party within the next five-and-tw’enty vears unless in this country we follow' the example set us in the United States, and see that our Children are thoroughly grounded in a knowledge of the properties of alcohol as a drug. A great deal is being said to-day about the necessity for cultivating a spirit of patriotism. The fetish of imperialism is being steadily kept

before our children throughout the school career. The importance of the movement just referred to cannot he compared with the question of safeguarding and saving the people of this country from the calamities which follow' in the wake of our drinking customs. It will be obvious that the Liquor question within fifteen years of prohibition being carried w’ill present quite a different aspect to the generation then growing into power from what it does to-day. The gross abuses that have influenced our judgment and aroused our indignation will no longer be such an active force in the making of public opinion. In their absence reaction based upon ignorance, apathy, and appetite w’ill almost certainly reinstate the liquor traffic in some form if w r e do not now* take definite steps to save the country from such a possibility. There is only one course which promises absolute security to the reform which we are shortly going to accomplish. Memory of past wrongs will be no barrier to reaction. Human memory is a very fickle force, and the memory of the most acute pain that a human being can endure speedily vanishes. Our duty as a reform party in New’ Zealand is perfectly clear. We must fight for two great issues. One —the simple majority as a democratic principle in our licensing legislation —I am

not going to discuss here ; the other | is vital, and if the Prohibition Party represented by the W.C. I\l . and all j kindred organisations were for the: next three years to devote the whole of its time and energies to winning the simple majority and a thorough | system of scientific temperance in-1 struction in our state schools they would accomplish an enduring reform. We shall be told that there is no room in the present crowded Syllabus of our public schools for a comprehensive scheme of instruction bearing upon alcohol. I say that no branch of secular education bears so directly upon human dignity, character, and physical perfection as does the question of giving to our children absolutely reliable knowledge with regard to the great issues with which we are concerned. It is exceedingly disappointing to find that the Government has done so little to help us in the matter up to date. Its general profession of sympathy is of little practical value to us as a reform party. We ought to organise and make a demand upon the Government so emphatic as to force from it a recognition of the rights of the great majority of the people of this country who have in a constitutional manner so increasingly expressed their hostility to the liquor traffic. Instruction with regard to alcohol ought to be extensive and thorough. It should he made a compulsory class subject ; and I have no hesitation in saying that so far as any subject is made a compulsory pass

subject, this ought to take almost, if not quite first place. A great deal more might be said in support of this demand for radical reform, hut the necessity for it to us as a reform party is so obvious that we ought to have no hesitation in throwing down the gauntlet to the powers that he, and in refusing to be satisfied with anything else than the

immediate granting of our demand. The Government of to-day is strong enough if it is willing enough, to carry out this policy, and no Government should require a more definite majority than is contained in the magnificent NoLicense vote of the 17th of November last. I would urge upon the W.C.T.U. Convention that the strongest possible representations should he made to the Ministry, and that the Union’s displeasure should he expressed at the unsatisfactory attitude of the Ministry on the question during the past two years. We as a party do not want vague expressions of sympathy. We are not children to he trifled with. Our demand is made in the best interests of this country’s welfare. It is a demand prompted by the highest patriotism. It is absolutely untainted by any mercenery consideration. It is made in the interests of ideal physical manhood and womanhood. It touches the highest Christian ideal, and the W.C.T.U. can place present and future generations under a great obligation by forcing this reform to a successful issue.