PROHIBITION AND THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2436, 15 April 1915, Page 7

PROHIBITION AND THE WAR.

Sir,—l was talking with a leading doctor on the matter of drink, and tho soldiers, and asked him if Prohibition in New Zealand would add 25 per cent, to the number of men available in New Zealand for the war. His reply was: "More than that," and I don't think many would venture_ to dispute his statement. So that it is evident that drinking habits, or even occasional drinking, renders 20 per cent, of our young men valueless for the war, and we need all we can send. • Again I was talking to a leading merchant on the same matter, and asked him the pointed question: "How would you regard a young man, who held a. responsible position m your business, and who went eveiy day to a publichouse and took a glass of beer, and restricted himself to it?" The reply was—"l would sooner he would not.'* I have found that in talking over this question with employers of labour that, though far from advocating Prohibition, yet, when asked pointedly if thej; would like those holding responsible positions under them to drink even in _ the _ strictest moderation, they have invariably replied that they' would rather employ the total abstainer, so that the consensus of leading men is that young men who take alcoholic liquors at all thereby destroy their opportunity of serving their country as soldiers, or as responsible citizens, and when once a man has been made to feel that he is not wanted owing to such a habit he generally gives up hope and abandons himself to excess. —I am, °to., _ (REV.) FRED H. SPENCER. ' Wanganui, April 13.