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he ABSTAINER A Monthly Temperance Magazine for circulation in South Wales and Monmouthshire. Communications for the Editor should be addressed to the Offices of the Union 35, WINDSOR PLACE, CARDIFF. Vol.. XXI. 9. SEPTEMBER 1910. ONE PENNY. SOUTH WALES AND MONMOUTHSHIRE FIRST TEMPERANCE SUMMER SCHOOL. SWANSEA, JULY 30th to AUGUST 6th. ^THE success which attended the Temperance ^^, vSchool throughout the course, proved con¬ clusively that the committees of the South Wales and Monmouthshire Temperance Associa¬ tion and the Band of Hope Union were right in their conviction that such a school was urgently needed. The action of the Board of Education, in issuing an official Syllabus of Lessons on Temper¬ ance for scholars attending public elementary schools, was welcomed by social reformers through¬ out the country ; but it was felt by many that some special training in the handling of the sylla¬ bus was needed by most teachers, in order that their scholars might reap the utmost benefit from the new course of lessons. To supply such train¬ ing to the teachers of South Wales and Monmouth the first Temperance Summer School was organ¬ ised. The response was extremely encouraging. 112 students entered as members, of whom ro6 attended with a regularity and enthusiasm which denoted real earnestness in the pursuit of that instruction which is destined to play so important a part in the future education of the boys and girls of the country. The lecturers—Mr. Rowland H. Wakefield, Science Demonstrator to the Swansea Hducation Authority, Mr. H. Major, B.A., B.Sc, Chief Inspector of Leicester Education Authority, and Mr. John Newton, of London, a well-known writer on Temperance economics, were deeply impressed with the studious spirit displayed by their hearers. Mr. Newton reports—" My impres¬ sions of the School were extremely good, and I think it was a complete success. The students struck me as real students, not as playing at school. I am sure a large amount of sound Tem¬ perance teaching was given, which must bear fruit in days to come." Mr. Major also writes — " I was »'ery pleasantly impressed with the evident inter¬ est the ' School ' took in the work, and especially vith the satisfaction the answers to their varied juestions afforded them. They followed the line »f argument with the keenest appreciation, but >erhaps the chief good effected with them was the suggested methods of using fresh weapons effec¬ tively." Mr. Rowland Wakefield similarly expressed himself at the close of the School. THE LECTURES. Space does not permit of any detailed account of the 22 lectures, which were of a uniformly excel¬ lent character, well illustrated and given with a clearness and directness that inspired as well as charmed Hie students. The interest grew as the course proceeded, and many regrets were expressed at its conclusion. Such a marshalling of facts, physiological, sociological, and economic, in favour of hygiene and temperance, produced an over¬ whelming sense of the importance of the question, and must eventually tell with tremendous force, through their teachers, on the minds of the children hereafter to be instructed by the members of the .School. Mr. H. Rowland Wakefield dealt with Foods and their Uses, Common Beverages, Alcoholic Beverages, and the Impurities in Water and Food in seven lectures, which were followed with the keenest interest. Mr. H. Major's lectures comprised a study of the Nature and Properties of Alcohol, the Action of Alcohol on the Living Body, with the results of such action ; a consideration of the excessive drink¬ ing of alcoholic liquors, with the contrasts in this respect between certain tribes and white nations, and between women and men, with a concluding lecture on "The Great Vital Functions of Life Summed up." This lecture which was almost startlinglv original in its treatment of some of the deepest facts of human relationships, produced a very deep impression ; and Mr. Major's earnest and faithful words will, by some at least, never be forgotten. Mr. John Newton directed his attention to the Evil Consequences of Intemperance to the in¬ dividual, the home, to industry, and to the State, from the economic standpoint. The inter-relation of drink and crime, the cause and effect of drink