NO-LICENSE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2283, 31 August 1908, Page 2

NO-LICENSE.

LECTURE IN THE THEATRE. There was a large audience in His Majesty’s Theatre last evening, when Miss Hughes, a Now Zealand lady who has been-engaged in temperance work in Australia- for some years, delivered a lecture on No-License. Dr. \Yi Repa occupied the chair, and briefly introduced the speaker. Miss Hughes, who was received with applause, said she would make her lecture a gospel temperance meeting, and as a preliminary road passages from the Gospel according to St. John and the Epistle to the Romans. St. Paul counselled abstinence to the Romans, and it was neither good to eat meat or drink wine, whereby men were caused to stumble. Drink destroyed men and women and young lads all around. Fathers and mothers were robbed of their good qualities and turned into abject drunkards. Sir Joseph Ward had said a man was worth, £3OO to the State, but even that was not the true worth of a man. Life was valuable, but the true value could only he guaged whon one stood at the foot of the cross of Christ, and contemplated the value that was sot on human life by the sacrifice made there. Christ cam© with a message to men and women. Ho did not leave the world without any liopo, but lie left behind a band of followers who would do his teaching. Christ sent his followers out to carry on the work Ho liad been sent to do. The Bible was tbo best prohibition book that had ever been written, because it prohibited sin and vice. The Bible did not justify the use of whisky, brandy, gin and rum because these tilings worked evil, and though Christ drank the juice of the vine at His supper there was nothing to prove he used intoxicating wine. In every country into which drink had been introduced the curse had worked destruction. The Government of France had already taken up the work of temperance, and published posters stating how alcohol destroyed the body, and urging the people to avoid strong drink. Sweden bad realised the failure of tho Gothenburg system of license, and was now agitating for tho local option of tho people to Vote it out of tho country. Licensing Bill was a long way .behind tlio liquor laws of New Zealand, but went to show that in the Old Country the people were beginning’ to realise tho ravages of alcohol. When tho drink bill of a country increased, crime and pauperism increased correspondingly, and such a condition of things was looked upon with alarm by students of economic questions. Drink caused untold suffering to innocent women and children, and by fighting the traffic in New Zealand thousands of lives would be saved. The No-License party was not only doing a great work in Now Zealand, but the progress of tho movement was closely watched in Australia and other countries. Australia was following closely in the steps of tho temperance reform of New Zealand, and temperance work was advancing in every State. By means of the reduction vote New South Wales had closed up nearly 500 hotels in one sweep. Tho Victorian Government had decided to close 1500 hotels within ten years, while Queensland and Western Australia were also agitating for local option hills oil New Zealand lines. The drink trade was a degrading traffic, and men and women were crushed beneath its curse. Miss Hughes urged the audience not only to vote no-license, but to work for no-licenso. Tho cross of Christ stood for the supply of every temporal and spiritual need, but the drink traffic had only a dark, miserable story of death,

At the conclusion of the address Miss Hughes was accorded a vote of thanks for her lecture, and a similar compliment to the chairman brought the meeting to a close.