A SUBTERFUGE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 44, 21 January 1949, Page 4

A SUBTERFUGE

Sir,—The liquor traffic appeals for moderate drinking; Have they conveniently forgotten there never was a drunkard who was not first moderate? They claim moderate drinking is good! That renouned authority, Sir Victor Horsley, Professor of Pathology in University College, London, states: “In its work the medical profession is especially occupied with the happiness of the people and the efficiency of all. It sees that the drink custom—not necessarily leading to drunkenness, but the chronic habit of taking some alcohol—is the commonest cause of misery and poverty, of inefficiency and diminished resistance to fevers and infectious diseases/’ If the traffic is sincere in desiring moderation, why have they not already instructed their servants, the publicans and barmen, to supply no more than is “moderate”? The reason is dividends. Moderate drinking means moderate dividends, not what the traffic delights in. Is their appeal sincere? Is it not a subterfuge to hoodwink those who may be sufficiently simple-minded to think that the traffic has" suddenly reformed? Can the leopard change its spots. Neither can this traffic change its spots or its hunger for ever-increasing dividends, irrespective of the human distress entailed Behind such advertising is the fact that there will shortly be a vote as to whether the traffic is to have extended selling hours. Extended hours cannot spell increased moderation, but greater consumption and so more dividends! . * Consider recent murders, crimes, and accidents in which liquor (not in excess) has figured bnd ask if he who votes for its increased availability is not responsible for a share in its fruitage. Yours etc,, . ; AWAKE,