MRS. STEVENSON’S MISSION

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2588, 24 August 1909, Page 6

MRS. STEVENSON’S MISSION

ADDRESS TO SCHOOL CHILDREN

Mrs. Katherine Lent Stevenson, who is touring the world in the interest of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, opened a series of meetings in Gisborne yesterday. During the afternoon Mrs Stevenson visited the Gisborne School and addressed a large gathering of the older children upon the evil effects of alcohol upon body and mind. Mrs Stevenson also referred to’ the cigarette habit as especially dangerous to tho growing boys, and advised the scholars never to be--gin tho habit of smoking. ADDRESS TO TEACHERS. At the invitation of the Gisborne W.C.T.U. Mrs Stevenson addressed a large gathering in Erskilie’s Hall yesterday afternoon. Mr. C. A. deLau>tour occupied the chair, and among those present were Messrs G. E. Dalton and* M. McLeod, members of the Hawke’s Bay Education Board, Mr F J Rowley, headmaster of the Gisborne Public School, the Revs. F. W : . 01 latter ton, W. Lamb, and J. Achore. A large number of ladies, ini eluding sevoral toacliers, were also 1)1 After tea had been served the Chairman, in a brief speech, introduced Mrs Stevenson, and expressed the hope that her work in New Zealand on behalf of temperance would be of great bene- - Mrs Stevenson, in a fluent speech; dealt with the question of inculcating temperance teaching into the minds ox children, and said that by reaching the

. • ' •‘ ' g. 'vv -A child of to-day they were reaching the men and women of to-morrow. As far as she was aware no temperance teaching was given in the public schools ia Australia or New Zealand, but in America the law required that the physiological effects of alcohol shall be taught in the Government schools as part of the ordinary curriculum. The Unv did not impose the teaching of temperance but the teaching of the results of scientific research. The conclusions to be drawn from, scientific research wore, however, so overwhelming that tho lessons were in fact temperance instruction. Slio could not say that all the children who received that instruction grew up to be temperate men and women, but great results had been achieved. In America a great fight was going against the legalised sale of drink, and in many states! tho citizens had placed the ban of disapproval upon a trade that was not for the welfare, hut for the detriment of the people. It had been tho light that the teachers in the school were expected to teach temperance, but that was not so, they were- expected to teach the results and the effects of indulgence in alcohol upon the body. They, were to try and impress the children during their most impressionable years with the evil effects drink had upon their moral and ' mental faculties. . Scientific teaching should be a great part of a great system of teaching so that the child would be taught in the truest sense to be temperate and righteous. (Applause.) At the -conclusion of the address Mr F. J. Rowley moved, and Miss Faubeft seconded, a motion that the thanks of the meeting be tendered to Mrs Stevenson, and the motion was unanimously carried.

LECTURE IN HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE.

Had Mrs. Katherine L. Stevenson, the American Women’s Christian Temperance Union lecturess, visited Gisborne in August last year she would have had large audiences to hear her lecture on the then all-important question of prohibition, but the. elections are over, and with the question for the time being out of the public mind, it was hardly' to lie wondered at that there was only a moderate audience ..in His Majesty’s Theatre last evening, when the lady visitor lectured on “The Growth of Prohibition Sentiment and Territory in the United States.” Mrs. Stevenson comes from Massachusetts, a State that has not yet adopted prqhibition as, a whole, but lias what is termed in America local option, that is, towns and cities have the power to vote the drink out of a given area. Mrs. Stevenson has, however, been identified with temperance work for many years, she knows .the whole of the history, facts and figures of the prohibition'movement in tho States by heart, and has lectured upon the subject in a great many countries. Her lecture fast evening was therefore both interesting and educational. The Rev F. W. Uhatterton occupied the chair, and in a brief -speech introduced Mrs. Stevenson. Mrs. Stevenson commenced her address by explaining a large map <jf the United States, indicating the areas where prohibition, local option, and legalised liqtlor -obtained. In the - States where prohibition was in force it did not always follow that becauso he prohibition law had been passed that absolute total abstinence ruled or he sale of liquor was entirely suppressed, but that a definite method had been adopted to close the saloon and to put the liquor traffic under the ban of the law. Fifty years ago prohibition had been carried in the State of Maine, and then other States came into line. For a long time local option was the chief method adopted, but some 30 years ago Kansas and Dakota passed over local option and carried State prohibition. The movement then gathered fresh force. Georgia, in the South, carried prohibition as the'result of a great educational ■ - mpaign. Other States followed, the last to adopt the progressive law being North Carolina and Tennessee, with a result that at present 40 mil,mi people in the United States were living in territory where there was no legal right to sell liquor. Last April 12,000 saloons in Illinois had been closed. In dealing with the method of work, Mrs. Stevenson said that _first credit must be given to education - and the passing of the Federal law that made it compulsory for children to ‘be taught in the schools the physiological body.. The trend of. that education was upward, and side by side with _ that education the children were learning by observation what a menace liquor was to a community. The business people also helped in the fight, and captains of industry were taking a firm stand against the use of intoxicants. Child influence was also an important factor, and on polling day mass meetings of children were arranged, at which the little ones spoke for-prohibition. With that spirit .instiffed into the children, victory must come. Mi's. Stevenson then went on to describe tho methods adopted by the people in the traffic to eheCk the prohibition movement, and added that the latest figures showed that 42 million gallons less of spirituous liquors were consumed in America last year than in the previous year. At the conclusion of the address, Mrs Stevenson answered a number of questions. and was accorded a. vote of thanks for hot lecture. Mrs. Stevenson will address a meetring at the Presbyterian Church at 3.15 o’clock this afternoon, and at 8 p.m. she will speak in His Majesty’s Theatre upon “The Bright Side of Temperance Reform.” The .Mayor (Mr. W. D. jysnar) will occupy the chair.