The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1883-09-18 00:00:00

WESTERN TEMPERANCE LEAGUE CONFERENCE

AT TAUNTON.

fortyeigth anniversar— y of the Western Temper-
lee. 1,-agne, which wean", in the °mint.. of 3 rks,
srustrthen, Cornwall. Devon, Dorset. Olam •rgetli
Glom...ter, Ham., Hereto& Moom-uth, Oxon, Pem-
broke, 8,,m,r00t, and %VIPs we. celebrated at Taunt .n
00 u.n'ltY, Monday, an I Tuenlay. On Sunday even-
ing temperance sermon. were preached .t the v Amp.
churches and chapels in the t ,wo. 0 Saturday ni.rht
cr .wdei and enthumia-t,c temperance meeting W• 11
held in Davies' Public Hall, Mr. C. Jobling orte•iding.
Addressee were delivered. and more than 90 pie 1a s
were taken at the doe, of the meeting. On Sanda7
service were held, sad on Monday evening the annual
temperance oermon was preached in the pariah church
Of St. Mary Magdalene (by the kind permission of the
vicar, the Rev. S. Adams), the preacher belnr the Rev.
Torbe. E. Winsloe. M k, roctor of St Pour., St.
Leonardo, and Grand Worthy Chaplain of the Inde-
pendent Order of Good Templar*. The confer.sic,
took place at the Victoria Rn Me o Tuesthiy for.noon,
under the reside, cy r,f Mr. W. S. Clarke, of Street.
There was a gee' attinda• re, among tie del. rot-.
and vioit••r.preeent being—Rev. 0. L. Mantel, Church
1/Cirtwle ; Mr. C. H. Buckhem, Chard ; Mr. J. Malice,
Irsternel delegate from the Grand Lodge of G od
Taal_niare Mr. J. Wesic dt, Shaftesbury' and Mr.
M. Howe, Abbotabnry
I'm proceedings cornin nevi with the reeding of •
rortion of Scripture and the singing of the hymn,
Anoth-r year is cows ha. run." Prayer was
thaa effe.ed up by the 1t.,. Owen L. Mansell, of
Church Kaowle,
Mr. J. .ti.LIMIGHT seconded the rirtion, wh'cli
was
Carrie I unanimously.
The annual report was then read by the SICHETAIte
G. Thornton), in which it was stated:—" What
has "or league done &nine the post twelvemo the!'
Hari it say eulS dent reunion, alt-r at, e xistionOl of forty-
sir years, f,r g any loop r, now thot there hi such
an anexempled hie's... of temperance organisations?
To Pees nu.stions, which our old member° and lotto i•
int new subeerib-rs have • clear right to ask, and ta
have fully answered, • statement of our moment poi
-
t,
.0 an I future prospects will ,a the bed reply. At
thu ni,m•nt we have within our fourteen counties of
the West nt England awl South Weiss 341 societies
affiliated to us by annual subscriptions and receiving
o.:r lecturers periodically ; in other words, we have
d, more •ffiliat.d societies now than at our lint con( r-
ein* ThG we Centot regard am • ohm of decal, or as
an evidence that we are suffering from the competition
,d other sasociations. Th distributi mof the affiliated
s chaise is as follows :—ln Herefordshire, 7
14; D-reet, 17 ; o[oll. 17 ; Ha..ts. 73 ; South Wales
ad Monmotithshire, 29 • C, rnwall, :19 ; Wilts, 43
Devon. 44 ; Gloucestershir'e, 49 ' • Somereet, 63 ; total.
311 It will be seen from this table that fire counties
—Gloucinter. Someniet, Wilts, Devon, and Corn-
."ll—e.atain. between them, about two - thirds
of the whole number of societies, the remain.
In on—third lying in the other nine °mintier.
Toe miision agency boa been carried on with spirit.
Mr. jl. P. Chick, who comes to us with the
ti4heet teetimonialo from the Scottish Temperance
i.'sague (but is a native of Hereford), he. been engaged
within the Get month for Somerset, Dorset, Devon,
11 Grrnwall. We regret, as regards finances, to
report that, on account of our extra expenses, copse-
quint on the extended agency 'Yakut, we eltree Ihe
year with • balance due to the treasurer, and when
our three new district agents are in fell work there
Will be • further teat art to the degree of practical
support it will receive. The real strain upon our
funds will then begin. We look back on the yam now
closed with conilderable satisfaction. in. work ,
Which we, your executive, bare undertaken, ham made
great demands on our time and thoughtful attention,
end we feel that it has not been without considerable
fruit, so we thank God for the past and take courage
for the future. It Is plain, however, that none of us
must slacken our efforts. Our next forward march
mud be against the legisletion behind wnich the
drink traffic has intreached itself. We welcome the
recent decision of the highest Court of Appeal in regard
to the discretion given to lioen-ing authorities, and
tong our constituents will everywhere gee their beet
eff it to enable tin= tally to eleroloo the powers
oatroolod to Vim."