NBWTA Report 1903-075
Image details
| Document format | |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Transcript |
|
| Original Source Organisation | |
| Original Source URL | |
| Transcription |
144 145 in Grand Committee and is the clause which has caused almost all the prosecutions throughout the United Kingdom which have taken place under this Act. One kind of seal has been tried after another, but what is needed is not merely this “‘ Anti-sipping’”’ Act, but one to prevent children going to public-houses at all. We recognize that even as it stands the Act has done good, and Bands of Hope have increased their membership, but the fact that thousands of prosecutions have taken place and fines imposed owing to defective seals, proves that hundreds of thousands of children still go for liquor to Public-Houses. Happily the Army canteens have come under its regulations, while Japan and India have both tried to get a law similar to the English one, which shows how far and wide the agita- tion has spread. I am glad to report that the Liverpool and Birkenhead authorities still refuse to allow any sale to children under 14 in public-houses. This works well, and saves an immense amount of friction and the standing example expense of prosecutions to the country as for to the bad sealing; powers regulate the conduct of the houses which they license. Harriet THE WORLD’S WHITE RIBBON DEPARTMENT. it also isa of Magistrates M. to JouNson. MISSIONARY The outlook of our World’s Missionary Department is hopeful and encouraging. The work organized in Scandinavia by the help of the B.W.T.A. progresses satisfactorily. Our beloved Olifia Johannsdottir has been passing through affliction and bereavement, but has done valiantly, and we hope she will now be free again to devote her great gifts entirely to White Ribbon work. Meanwhile other noble women of these Northern lands have been missioning in her place a month at a time. Among these are Fru. Helenius, Froken Johannsen, and Froken Rathon. We have now nineteen Unions in Sweden, and a great meet- ing has been held at Stockholm to protest against intoxicants being allowed on camping grounds. Iceland has sustained a great loss in the death of the heroic Fru. Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir, the most remarkable woman of that remarkable country. Her last words were ‘ Prohibition for Iceland.” Norway and Denmark are bravely gaining ground, and will be well represented at the Geneva Convention. From Burma, Mrs. Beedham writes :—“ My women’s meeting is pro- gressing well, and the interest taken in itis encouraging. It is becoming a good training ground for workers.” A W.C.T.U. Convention was held in November, and a petition against a liquor bar at the Horse Show was organized. Ata more recent meeting five different languages were spoken. Mrs. Beedham is organizing work among children. In India, Mrs. Hoskins is successfully organizing, aided by the friends of the W.C.T.U., established at Poona. and a Memorial Home for inebriates is being Cheering news comes from Japan, where Miss Kara Smart is mission- ing with marked success in many directions, finding favour with old and young, among the lofty and the lowly. She is translating Temperance literature into Japanese, and is in touch with more than 600 missionaries in Japan. In Mexico, our old friend Mrs. Northam Fields is making her mark upon municipal and National Institutions, while she rallies the rising generation in ever-growing Loyal Legions to the cause of progress. Every Sunday morning she speaks at the Penitentiary in Mexico City, and she has been helpful in securing the closing of public-houses at 9 p.m., as well as a considerable instalment of Sunday closing. The Mexican Government has heartily co-operated with Mrs. Field. In South Africa, the Misses Vincent and Cummins have recently found a new sphere as White Ribbon Missionaries. Miss Vincent is an Englishwoman ; Miss Cummins an Australian. There is room for many such workers in South Africa, and we hope that the B.W.T.A. will remember them both prayerfully and practically. A White Ribboner in Bulgaria writes as follows :—‘‘ Thanks for the £2. We are planning work for the winter. But why can we not have a visit from one of those courageous and enthusiastic Round the World Missionaries? The Temperance workers need the courage and enthusiasm such a visit would give them. ‘This is not the first time we have made our plea. Is it not time to heed it.” Many such appeals come from China, Chili, Sierra Leone, the West Indies, and elsewhere. Truly the harvest is great and the labourers are few. We lack both the money and the missionaries to respond as we would like. Egypt asks help for a home for girls of all nationalities at Alexandria. We have an ever-widening horizon as we press forward in the spirit of our glorious motto, ‘‘For God and Home and Every Land,” and as our horizon widens, our interest deepens. The amount contributed by the Branches during this year is more than double that of last year. Many more branches observed the 17th February, our Willard Missionary Day, and some of them made very special efforts, resulting in handsome contributions to our funds. The Oldham Branch tops all others by a contribution of £6 3s. 8d., pro- ceeds of a cake and apron sale, and Shrewsbury comes next. One branch that had never before contributed raised £1 3s. 6d. by a ‘‘ mite box.” There are several very interesting tithings and thank-offerings. The list of annual subscribers has lengthened considerably, and we welcome Miss Wyburn as a new life member. : A very successful World’s Missionary Meeting was held at Birmingham last June, the proceeds of which, after clearing expenses, amounted to £33 11s. 4d. We hope that such a meeting will become a regular feature of our Annual Council Meetings. Very warm thanks are due to Miss Agnes Slack and Mrs. Harrison Lee for successful meetings held on behalf of this Department, also to Mrs. Hind for secretarial help, to Lady Morel and the Mayoress of B—6 |