EAST LONDON.

White Ribbon, Volume 40, Issue 474, 18 March 1935, Page 6

EAST LONDON.

A fine address on the above subject was given to the Sumner Union by Miss Kilner, lately returned from visiting that area. As a White Ribboner she noted the state of the liquor traffic while she travelled. On board ship the young people were to the fore in their indulgence of cocktails together with the older passengers. She Instanced the loss of the "Morra Fastle" in American waters, in which the fiassengers could not i>e saved because they could not realise their danger after a night of gaiety and drinking. In Finland there was no liquor legislation to compare with that of N.Z.

Hot Is were open at all hours and on tfundaj, and children hung round waiting for their elders inside. Certainly the attempt to establish Creches within hotels had not eventuated, but there was little check on the wholesale drinking, especially in the slum areas. And here living conditions were deplorable, whole families herded in one room; and even in cases where the County Councils were carrying out building schemes the lower classes were slow to adopt sanitation. Families used the bath to store wood or coal, or even to house rabbits, while the family went unwashed. Her party saw the great changes wrought by the Mission to the dockers, when* gradually the memi>ers had i>een trained to grasp the possibilities of better living and cleanliness. 800 members belonged to one mission started by Oxford graduates self-managed, self-support-ing -with activities of sport and games and study and practical technical groups, and with its Church in which a short service was held each night after supper and on {Sundays. Far reaching and wholesome had been the effect on the lives of these dock workers. Miss Kilner declared that liquor was becoming unpopular. Consumption of liquor had fallen from 81 million gallons per »ar to 28 million gallons in the 20 years: no wonder Sir Edgar Sunders gets anxious. Young people seek efficiency and drink other things. On tin* Continent she found it next to impossible to get water to drink and tea almost impossible; light beer and wines were to lie bought: a lemon squash in Paris would cost 1/9, no tea shops to be seen. Everywhere drunkenness was hardly seen, in spite of their slow advance in temperance legislation.