THE CIGARETTE HABIT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2667, 12 January 1916, Page 6

THE CIGARETTE HABIT

SAID TO BE PREVALENT AMONG SOLDIERS. _ Some remarks on tho evils of excessive cigarette smoking, by soldiers ivere made by the Dofence Minister (the Hon. J. Allen) yesterday. "I was warned a little time ago by a medical officer, who 'commented very strongly on the. dgaretto smoking habit so prevalent amongst returned soldiers," said Mr. Allen. "His statement was that many of tho men were ruining their nerves through this habit. Their hands were becoming shaky, and they themselves becoming apathetic. I consulted Surgeon-General Henderson on the matter, and his comment was simply that cigarette smoking by returned soldiers could bo controlled only when the men wore under treatment in hospitals. I can therefore only appeal to the soldiers themselves to realise that it is quite possible that over-indulgence in cigarette smoking will make them , less efficient than they otherwise would be, and that a soldier's first duty is to bo in the best possible physical condition to beat the enemy.

"If this statement that has been made to me is correct —and it oomes : from a medical officer—then I say it is the soldier's duty to limit cigarette smoking to such an amount that it ■will not do him any harm. I suppose that a certain reasonable amount of cigarette smoking does no harm, but if soldiera allow themselves to acquire the habit of smoking too many cigarettes it will do them harm." ■ .