The dangers of alcohol
At a well-intended public meeting in the Art Gallery Hall last night the Provincial Convention of the Women's Christian Temperance Union concluded. The president, Mrs W.R. Don, said it had been predicted by some that the war would cause the temperance movement to fall into the background, but as a matter of fact it brought the temperance movement into greater prominence than ever it had before.
The shackles of the liquor traffic had been broken in the United States and in Canada, and she believed they would be broken from New Zealand at the 1922 poll. She quoted the testimony of such great leaders as General Booth to show that alcohol was an offence against Christianity. It was also an offence against morality, as was proved by the close connection between liquor and immorality. It was an offence against health. It had no food value, and like every other drug it was a poison. It was an offence against womanhood, by degrading love and ruining homes, and it was an offence against childhood. As soon as an orphanage was established every vacancy in it was bespoken, and careful examination revealed that a very large proportion of children was sent to these homes because of the drinking habits of one or both parents. Drink was an offence against law and order. Mr Barton SM recently said that nine-tenths of the matrimonial disputes that came before him were directly due to drink. The Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, attributed a third of all our crime to drink. She made an earnest and eloquent appeal to her hearers to throw themselves heart and soul into the fight, finally to free the dominion from the liquor traffic at the next poll.
At an earlier session of the convention it was resolved to place on record the organisation’s strong opposition to all legalised forms of gambling. It held that the legalising of the totalisator and the State’s participation in the profits therefrom were morally indefensible, and had resulted in a great increase of the vice of gambling. The convention further considered that the facilities for gambling provided by the totalisator had been the means of wrecking many promising careers, and of inflicting great moral and material damage on the community, and it therefore protested against any increase in the
number of totalisator permits.
Cromwell dairy factory
A proposal to establish a dairy factory at the old canning works has materialised (says our Cromwell correspondent) and it is quite refreshing to see general enthusiasm in the project. A large staff of men is installing a butter plant, most of which is now on the ground. The settlers, too, are supporting the share list in a splendid manner, and there is not likely to be any difficulty on the score of capital. Many also, who have hitherto devoted their land to sheep, have signified their intention of establishing large herds of cows. Once the factory is properly launched, and the irrigation schemes for Bannockburn, Tarras, Ardgour and Cromwell Flat are completed, it should reopen development. — ODT, 9.9.1921.
