The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-07-24
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANcE.

Practical Temperance Neutrality-suspicious.
Made at the New Zealand Woman's
Christian Temperance Union Conven-
ion-Warnin2 Against American Plan
Less platform speaking and house.to-
house canvassing, and more work OF
practical nature, were among the sugges-
tions offered at the sixteenth annual con-
vention of the New Zealand Woman g
Christian Temperance Union, held in
WELLINGTON recently. One of the speakers
said. among other things:
owe must make our city life different
from what it is in America if we want to
make prohibition a possibility. We can
do it If we begin now. If we do not be-
gin now, we shall find the same results
ensue as in America. The main tenden.
cies of city life are the same all the world
over. There is, therefore, a plain duty
cast upon us. If we wish to aid in this
work of temperance reform We must be-
come earnest advocates Of, and, so far as
lies in our power, earnest workers Tor,
municipal and educational reform.
"It cannot now be claimed for our WON.
en- that they have no voice in municipal
affairs, because the recent extension of
the franchise is wide enough to take in
most if not all of us. We can make our
influence felt, if we will, at every local
election in the colony, and in this way we
can be sure that the management of our
cities and towns will materially help in
our work of temperance reform. Let me
try to indicate how it can be made to help.
We want to make the homes of our people
attractive enough to rival the public
house We need, then, in the first place,
as much open space about all the houses
as can be procured. That is physiologi-
cally necessary for the Strengthening of
both mind and body of the dwellers in the
towns And, besides, we want room for
gardens everywhere, for they afford not
only pleasure to the sight, and so add to
the comfort of home, but they serve to
occupy the leisure time of the fathers and
sons, who might be tempted, if unoccu-
pied, to stroll to the nearest street corner
to meet companions and friends and per-
haps to have drink together.
"We must endeavor to extend the bene-
fits to city life as far as possible, in or
der that the surplus folk from the crowd
ed streets may be induced to move little
further out, where they may live in cot
tages with gardens, and grow their own
fruit and vegetables and flowers and have
homes that look cheerful as they come
beck to them from work. The smoke
grimed, close packed houses of some of
our streets are, ! am inclined to think,
direct incentive to lntemperance. 80 we
must induce as many as possible of our
working people to live out in the suburbs.
"Then we want healthy, educative oc-
cupation for the leisure hours and holi-
days of our people. In this colony the
bulk of the working population have six.
teen hours day for. eating, sleeping and
recreation. At the least that should al
low of four hours for recreation. And be-
sides this, there are Sundays and the
weekly half holidays, and the innumerable
stray holidays throughout the year. We
must help to provide for them. For this
purpose we W ant public halls, with occa-
sional entertainments of bright and at
tractive kind-music and dancing and re-
citals and dramatic performances-any
thing that is bright and healthy. And
these entertainments must be cheap. They
need not necessarily be free, for people
will gladly pay small price for entertain
nent."