SOUTHLAND DISTRICT W.C.T.U. QUARTERLY MEETING.

White Ribbon, Volume 39, Issue 465, 18 June 1934, Page 4

SOUTHLAND DISTRICT W.C.T.U. QUARTERLY MEETING.

MRS. HIETT IS ADDRESS Before an interested audience Mrs. Hiett, Ikiminion Vice-President of the W.C.T.U., delivere<i an inspiring address in the (iore Methodist-Hall on Wednesila\ afternoon on the aims and ideals of the organisation in New Zealand. Mrs. Hiett was introduced by the President of the district, Mrs. K. It. MacGregor, who referred to the amount of work accomplished by the speaker in the interests of the Union. Mrs. Hiett chose us her subject tie* motto of the organisation -“For God. Home and Humanity.’’ For God, as high as Heaven; for Home, as <leep as a mother’s love; for Humanity, as wide as the earth's hounds. There are no limitations. We pledge ourselves to abstain from strong drink. This evil thinr dishonours God. wrecks home, and destroys humanity. “My desire." said the speaker, “is to stir up your pure minds, not only to hold fast to your pledge, but to progress, to achieve, to advance in this Bod given work for the emancipation of our race from the thraldom of the liquor tiaffic." Mrs. Hiett launched an appeal to the members never to rest till the evil was wrested from the land, doing on to speak of the brewers' manifesto, she stated that Sir Edgar Saunders President of the British Brewers' Association. in the most callous speech she had ever read, said: “We must attract and secure the younger customer, who in turn will become the mainstac if the public-house.” And again. “W want to get the l»eer drinking habit inst lied into thousands, almost millions of young men who do not at present know the taste of tieer.” Utter in th< manifesto he said: “We must put bottled beer in the home for regular use in th*domestic circle, to appeal specially to women to use beer as a domestic l>everage.” 'Australian Brewers, and doubtless. New Zealand Brewers, were takinc up this plan and commencing with insidious advertisements; and the temperance organisations were just marking time, owing perhaps, as Mrs. Taylor said, to the fact that they had had no poll for seven years. They had settled down instead of t>eing on the wa. path, by teaching the young, by resolutions to the Churches and by keeping the work and the need !>efore the people The liquor trade was ever awake, and its desire was for the degradation of the race. Referring to the motto. “For Bod, ’ the s|*eaker said strong drink ever caused man to dishonour Bod Man’s chief end was to glorify God and to enjov Him for ever. There was no glory to Cod in the drunken man. woman, youth or maiden Uw leas ness. impurity, cruelty, ami crime were the accompaniments to the taking of alcohol, and the product of strong drink was inferior quality and goodness in the descendants of its addicts. Cod-dishonouring all along the line. ITie God-honouring way was the highway of the soul. Tic

speaker went on to ask if strong drink had ever contributed one iota to the highest and l>est in tic human soul. It was obvious that the drtnKens wer* 1 travelling the tow and sordid way, the way that led from Bod, and causing them who came after to lose the wa> of true lit K*rt > The speaker went on to quote personal experiences of men who came of drunken parents. They themselves were not addicted, but their children were physical and mental weaklings. Mrs. Hiett asked her hoaxers if they desired the God-dishonouring custom to come l»ac k. Some would sa> to them that tnere were sly grog and keg-parties here. But if the open saloon came l»ac k these evils would still exist “It is the drink traffic that is the cause of these evils. It is the drink traffic we are fighting.’’ Before No-License came to Onmaru they had sly grog selling to a greater extent than now. At Dunedin it also existed. “We have after-hour trading. We have all th«• evils intensified that uninformed folk think are found onl> in the No-License towns. To allow the open bar to come hack is not the remedy. The only remedy Is the end of the liquor traffic.” It was for them to l>e alert, ever pray - ing. and teaching the young. Even with sly grog selling, they did not sec the revolting sights common in licensed cities drunken men and women and young girls. These were sights to aj pa! the stoutest hearted Thank God for every woman and girl who had given her pledge, “Till death or Victory,” to remove the Niumhling-block out of tin way.

The speaker deprecated the use of alcohol at marriage ceremonies, where the foundations of a home were laid. Sir George l'aish had said. “Aliol'sh drink from the world and there will b<* no unemployment.’’ Sir Murray Hislop. of England, said recently. “If the sum spent on drink to-day wen turned to the cotton trade, there would be no talk of lock-outs, work would !*■ found for all. and a market for the goods.” “May I quote,” continued the speaker, “our Dominion President? ‘Can we women not make some attempt to discover where civilisation has gone wrong and where national life has lost the puth to happiness and lost the key to life?' ” The s|**aker asked if w omen had honestly set out to discover what is wrong with a world that can produce for man’s needs far more than he can consume and yet cannot provide him with the work and the means to use this overflowing abundance She I**lieved that if with full purpose of heart in the name of their Saviour they would go steadily forward, educating the young people and seeking to break down the fabrication of lies as to the merits o» drink, they would do much towards solving some of the problems that seem so vast.

Delegates were present from Invercargill North. South and Central. Waikaka Valley and Gore.

A discussion on the al*>litiou of the liquor traffic then took place, sever.-) 1 members voicing their opinions. Mrs. Sired gave implosions of the Conveii

tion, aim later a recitation. Both itemenjoyed by all present. Resolution: “That this convention affirms its conviction that the liquc traffic is a menace to the best interest and welfare of the citizens of Neu Zealand, and that its abolition woui be lienettcial to the individual, the horn and the nation. It therefore urges ever Christian congregation to unite in „ moral crusade of education in orU Jo create a national conscience that vi render continuance of the liquor traiti impossible.” I decided to send u letter of congratulation to Miss C. K. Kirk, who has lieer elected Dominion President of the Na tional Council of Women.