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The Temperance Movement in Kaikoura

By Nola Rawson

In 1977 the Kaikoura Historical Society produced a booklet on the history of the hotels in the area from 1854 to 1920. This document produced many amusing details and incidents but spare a thought please for those that were not amused, Kaikoura's own Temperance Movement, the Independent Order of Good Templars.

They fought the good fight from 1879 until the early 1900's when, owing to lack of numbers this branch faded out. The closing decades of the 19th Century and the first decades of the 20th saw the Temperance movement at the height of its influence. The Temperance movement had reached New Zealand in 1842 and the place was Mangunga on the Hokianga River, at the Wesleyan Methodist Station.

It was Mrs William White, the wife of one of the missionaries who was moved to propose to attempt a remedy for the prevalence of drinking and drunkenness among the natives, resulting in the serious loss of life by drowning in the river. She herself had taken the pledge in England, and it was from the medal she received at that time that she wrote in a copybook the pledge "We agree to abstain from all intoxicating liquors except for medicinal purposes and for religious ordinances." From this start came many such Temperance groups.

In 1850, at first through Provincial Councils and then through Parliament, the Temperance movement proposed popular control over the granting of licences in each district. The first of these was Otago where Justices were given the power to reject a new licence application if it was opposed by two-thirds of the local householders. Taranaki, Nelson and Auckland soon followed suit.

In 1873 the first Licensing Bill was introduced into Parliament directing the licensing authorities in each electorate to reject a new licence application on the same two-thirds demand. Temperance agitation continued through the 1870's with Bands of Hope, Lodges and Conventions in every town.

The Independent Order of Good Templars originated in Central New York in 1852 and in 1868 it was introduced into England by Joseph Malins, an Englishman who had joined it in the United States. The Templars, apart from being tee-totallers, bore a marked resemblance to the Freemasons with their secrecy, elaborate ritual and costumes, honorific titles and tradition of mutual help. The Order met an obvious need, and within six years there were nearly 4,000 Lodges, with more than 200,000 members in England alone and it supported its own Templar and Temperance Orphanage.

Rev. B. J. Westbrooke, a Methodist Minister, on his emigration from England, obtained a commission to act as a deputy for New Zealand. Upon his arrival in Invercargill he set about the work of organizing a Lodge of Good Templars. He succeeded in securing a sufficient number of signatures to apply for a lodge charter, and on September 9th, 1872, 16 gentlemen assembled for the purpose of being constituted the 'Southern Cross' Lodge No. 1 of New Zealand. Their organization was noticed in the local page 43newspapers and thus heralded through the Colony and caused interest to be taken in the movement. Dunedin opened its Lodge No. 2 on October 30th, 1872, and from that date the cause went forward with surprising success, the Independent Order of Good Templars became one of the most popular organizations in the Province.

In the North Island the first movement in favour of the Order was made in Wellington, the Charter being issued on May 30th, 1873, and by 1876 there were over 7,000 members in New Zealand.

The link with America seemed likely at one time to prove a source of weakness for a split in the parent society on the treatment of negroes spread to Great Britain and then to New Zealand in 1878. This resulted in two Grand Lodges working in New Zealand for ten years, but the problem was resolved and the Lodges became united in January 19th, 1888, in Wellington.

Kaikoura founded its own lodge on January 10th, 1879, with a handful of members that were to be plagued with the problem of a meeting place. Owing to the ritual involved in the meetings a private house was unsuitable, and as the number of members fluctuated, and therefore so did the finances, the Lodge was continually changing its rented accommodation. For a number of years they rented the Masonic Lodge room on the Esplanade, where Waterman's Supermarket now stands. In 1886 the Good Templars tried to rent a classroom at the town school for their meetings but were refused, and so they stayed at the Masonic Lodge Room, the rent now having increased to one pound per month. This proved too expensive and on May 11th, 1895, the Town Hall was engaged at a shilling per week. The Town Hall then being Gordon Fisher's old garage in Brighton Street, which was blown down on August 1st, 1975. This arrangement lasted until 1898 when a letter was received from Mr S. W. Maxton, custodian of the Town Hall: "I let the Lodge the Hall at 1/- per week as their numbers were reduced to 9 or 10 and they could not pay more, but as they have now increased to about 30 I think they should pay 2/-. At any rate please consider the 1/- per week cancelled from the above date."

A minute book of the North Star Lodge in Kaikoura showed a membership in 1897 of 21 brothers and 13 sisters. Two brothers having been suspended for "breaking the pledge". Entertainment at the meetings after the formal business had been concluded was varied and included parlour games, sisters' nail driving contest and a brothers' sewing competition. Some evenings members were requested to 'sing, recite, give a speech or otherwise a fine of 3d.'

One can only pause to wonder at the account received by the lodge on July 11th. 1898, from S. W. Maxton, General Storekeeper and Auctioneer, for repairing a table broken by the Lodge Minstrels — 5/6. 'Fruit Banquets' were held once a month, members exchanging pieces of fruit at the end of the business session, this was also done on 'Surprise Night' with small gifts. Meetings were held every Monday at 7.30 p.m. and the business part was always very formal in full lodge regalia.

New members were only admitted after a successful ballot had been conducted and on admission to the Lodge had to make a solemn pledge to abstain for life from using or giving to others as a beverage any intoxicating page 44drinks. They were then shown the signs of recognition, test word and signals, working sign, grip and passwords. All these were used to gain entrance to the Lodge meetings. The password was changed quarterly and this in itself would have encouraged good attendance at the meetings, the motto was 'Faith, Hope and Charity'.

If a member confessed to violation the Lodge could take direct action and ballot upon any penalty as reprimand or fine, or would appoint a committee to investigate further and report as to a penalty. In the case of nonconfession a formal charge was laid, and on the member's guilt being established and any penalty short of expulsion being inflicted and met, the Lodge restored the member without fee, using the special Restoration Ceremony and singing the Restoration Ode.

There were many suitable hymns for Temperance, "275 Gems of Song" in fact, all "recommended for their respectability, piety and sentiment."

After a member had proved his worth and refrained from drinking alcohol for six months he or she could apply for a degree. These degrees were conferred at special meetings and called District Degrees and made a member now eligible for election to office. Office bearers could also then apply for Grand Lodge degrees as they progress with their temperance.

A second temperance movement was started in Kaikoura in the 1880's, the name of this one is not known for sure, but it is presumed it was a Band of Hope. A small hall was erected in the Suburban on the northwest corner of the junction of Mt Fyffe and Postmans Roads, but owing to lack of numbers this group faded out.

In 1881 Sir John Hall's government introduced an act intended to go some way towards the prohibitionists' demands while protecting the vested interests of the trade. The Act closed the pubs on Sundays, introduced elected licensing committees and gave residents in each electorate a right to prevent the granting of new licences every three years. This resulted in a virtual freezing of licences for nearly 70 years. Naturally, prohibitionists elected to licensing committees refused to re-new licences.

Then in 1893 the government introduced yet another Bill, the result was a law providing a three-issue triennial poll on local option (retention, reduction, abolition), with a provision that the latter two alternatives each required a three-fifths vote to be carried.

This system resulted in 12 separate districts going "dry". On Wednesday, December 6th, 1899, at the General Elections, Kaikoura voted retention 195, reduction 76 and abolition 121. A great show of strength for the prohibitionists but under the law, not quite enough. In an attempt to reach the younger age group Temperance Societies all over New Zealand urged that School Committees adopt the Temperance Lesson Book in the classroom, but Kaikoura opponents claimed that the syllabus was already overcrowded.

Later it was agreed to if "some of the more numerous subjects of little practical use now taught were set aside". Also bowing to pressure the Christchurch Press on September 9, 1899, started a Temperance Column where members of the society could voice their opinion. The fact that they never went unchallenged made very interesting reading and showed that feelings were running high.

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By the late 1890's the suburban Temperance group disbanded leaving the hall empty, and this prompted the Good Templars in Kaikoura township to look for a suitable section. A piece of land in Torquay Street was rented from the School Commissioners in Christchurch and the hall was removed by Mr Sandford, a carpenter, for the sum of 23 pounds 10 shillings to this site on November 21st, 1898. Unfortunately, having now solved their problems of a meeting place, membership started to drop off. As the licensing laws gradually changed in New Zealand so too did the strength of the Temperance movement.

In the polls of 1902, 1905 and 1908, the no-licence vote was more than 50 per cent throughout the country. Prohibitionists soon realised that the three-fifths restriction was cheating them of victory and that a national poll on prohibition versus continuance, with a bare majority vote, means total victory. This was granted in 1911 but still with the three-fifths restriction, so, although gaining 55–83 per cent of the vote they were denied victory. The only victory to be had was during World War I when after a long campaign, the hotels were closed at 6 p.m. A 50–50 vote, prohibition versus continuance, was finally held in 1919, at first the prohibitionists held a lead of 13,000 but the forces still overseas soon changed that, a possible retribution for closing the hotels at 6 p.m. while they were away.

After 1919 the prohibition vote showed a steady decline and along with it the Temperance movement. The North Star Lodge of Kaikoura has long since closed its books but let us remember them with this quote from one of their magazines: "Alcohol is a poison, but every year it is getting more difficult to diagnose the effects of it on the brain because those who have brains are giving up the use of it".