The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-18 00:00:00

NEW BRITISH AND FOREIGN
TEMPERANCE SOCIETY .

SOUTH LONDON AUXILIARY.

Oa Monday a festival and meeting of the Melt& of
Total Abstinence from intoxicatieg liquor, in csmnexion
with the South London Auxiliary of the New British and
Foreign Temperance Society, was held at the Rocking-
ham-rooms New Kent-road. At half-past four a nu-
merous and respectable company sat down to tea ; after
which some choruses were sung by Mr. Alainzer's pupils,
and -at seven o'clock the public meeting commenced.
J. EDGAR, Esq., of Picksline House, took the Chair.
After a speech from the CHAIRMAN, in which he
presSed the claims of this Society on the moralist, the
Ailanthropist, and the Christian,
J. MEREDITH, Esq., rose and said—At the meeting
add this day at Exeter Hall, though there was much to
cheer and delight, one circumstance of regret oc-
curred, to which he would now, allude. One of the
speakers referred to the silence oethe Press on thc sub-
;ect of total abstinence. He regretted that ; as this
Auxiliary was indebted to several of the daily Journals
(especially The Sun) for notices of their meetings, and
oecause he attributed the spread of total abstinence in
Ireland, in a great measure, to the knowledge communi-
cated through the Press.

The meeting; was afterwards kddressed Mesirs.
Allen, Greg, Whittaker, Coleman, Lamer, T. A. Smith,
&c. These gentlemen bore testimony to the steady
progress of the principle in Ireland and various parts of
England.
After a Tote of thanks to the Chairman, the meeting
separated.

REVENUE FOR TEMPERANCE

SOCIE PIES.

It is in contemplation, we understand, to raise a large
annual revenue, for the promotion of Temperance
Societies, by a plan to be brought for Ward by Mr.
Buckingham, at the Great Anniversary Meeting at
Exeter Hall, to-morrow, by making it a condition .of
membership to the New Temperance Association, .pro-
posed to be formed by a Union of all the Metropolitan
Societies in one t—lst. That each ,member shall esti-
mate the pecuniary saving in hits own annual expendi-
ture, effected by his abstaining from the use of spirits,.
wine, and beer. 2d. That he- shall then agree to retain
one-half of that saving for his own immediate and pre-
sent benefit, and devote the other half in two equal parts,
one to the insurance-of a legacy for his family, or for the
Temperance Union, at his pleasure, in the United King-
dom Total Abstinence Life Association, and the other,
if residing in Loudon, to an annual contribution to the
funds of the Metropolitan Temperance-Association ; or
if residing in the country, to the particular local Society
to which the paying member may belong.
It is estimated, by Mr. Buckingham, who is the ori-
ginator of this proposal, that persons in the middle class
of life would save at least 2CI. a-year by this change in
their habits ; in the more opulent
..class 501. ; and even
1001. a-year, would be saved to many families, while in
the very humblest ranks 51. a year would be the lowest
average, as this is less than three pence per day. The
whole number of persons belonging to the various Tem-
perance Societies in Great Britain is now upwards of
5,000,000, and if one pound per annum, or less than
one-fourth, of the money saved by abstaining, even
among the lowest classes, were thus contributed, it
would raise a revenue of 5,000,0001 sterling ! This
amount would far surpass the whole sum raised for all
the Benevolent SoCieties in the kingdom, though it
would still'be only one-tenth of what is spent every year
in Great Britain and Ireland alonein intoxicating drinks.
The amount of this has been proved, by Parliamentary
documents, to be more than 50,000,0001. a year ; a sum
which exceeds the ,whole revenue of the United King-
dom from all, sources combined, and.which proves that
it is not so much from want of wealth, as from its mis-
appropriation, that so much distress is felt ; for if this
50,000,0001. were abstracted from the expenditure in
spirits, -wine;. and- beer (which are admitted by the first
medical authorities to be wholly unnecessary to persons
in health---and-produetive of innumerable evils by the
-abuses to which they lead), and the same sum were ex-
pended in an increased consumption of wholesome food;
clothing, furniture, and education, all our agricultural
and manufacturing labourers .might be fully employed—
profitable trade revived—disease and crime decreased—
and no Income-tax nor any other impost be required to
make up our. financial deficitncy.