CURIOUS TO SEE.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2703, 24 February 1916, Page 6

CURIOUS TO SEE.

Sir,— Referring. to my. letter of February 16,1 did not suggest tliat drunkenness exists inside the camps, nor that the late sickness was duo to excessive drinking. A a constant reader - of T IIB Dominion I am well aware of the whitewashing tactics indulged in on behalf of tho Defence Minister, and am rather curious to see how the undermentioned facts will be whitewashed.

Fact-1: Page 6, Dominion, February 18: Effusion irom "Temperance" . in favour of excessive drinking, concluding with "I am done with this mollycoddling of rrown mel;i —our country's defenders."

Fact 2: Pago 5, Dominion, February 18: Sydney cable, notifying closing of all hotels /from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.), within five miles of any training camp, including Sydney. Fact 3: Page 3, "Wairarapa Standard," Featherston, notes: "As a result of the efforts of the local constable and others, a picket of military police control the town each evening, and this has had a marked effect on the soldiers' behaviour in the streets. - Fish shops are now closed at 10 o'clock, and tlie men can only obtain leave up to 11 p.m."

This "last fact" must surely meet with the approval of "Temperance," as an instance of the strong vigorous manner in which the Defence Minister acts to place tho fish shops on the same level as the beer shops.—l am, etc., FACT. | I |