WHAT IS BEST FOR OUR SOLDIERS?

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2709, 2 March 1916, Page 6

WHAT IS BEST FOR OUR SOLDIERS?

! * (To'the Editor.) S Sir —'Hie movement ,in favour of ' early closing of our liotols in ti:e ini .' tereste of our soldiers : : is one r -wiiifch ; should be viewed from ono standpoint. ; and one only—the; interests'- , and the welfare of the men; who have :come.. for-'■ ; .Tvard to make the greatest sncriiicc'that patriotism demands. The ouly'ques- | ; tion. for the Government to .consider-is .what is best for the soldiers: I: am j, , not a Prohibitionist, and I drink daily f 'orjirather, nightly,, in moderation, but il do not_ think any ..claim 1 may have ■ .to- consideration counts : ono straw's •. weight when set against the welfare < 'of the men who arc going out to fight for; mo and my children; , and for the ' :brewer and the hotclkeeper and their children. What is host for our soldiers?. That . . is the only question to be considered. f\Ve all know that among the troops aro scores of young men, splendid young follows, who have no friends or re!.i- ---; tives here, and who when they come to town walk about the streets, and too > 'often'spend a good part of their t«mo in hotel bars. They do not get 'trunk, 5 but it is arrant humbug to pretend that ; in. a great many cases tlioy do not drink more than is good for them. They ■' would not do this in tlieir liome town, ! and they would not miss it n bit : f the i' hotels wore closed hero. It is'largely :■ a :mattcr of habit with most, of them, Y but it is a bad habit for men in trainT , ing, and a habit not always; easy to i shake off. ; : So far as the liotelkeeper is concernt cd lie deserves no consideration at all. i He lias already reaped a .rich harvest ' out of the men, and hjs in most cases • given nothing in return. Ho will still I''. do very well out of his business up to i six o'clock. Practically all tlio world over in belligerent .countries added 70GtrictioncCluiye been placed; o !!, the drink T frade, or-'fliolition- insistcd 011 since tl'.e war started, and ovcryone knows, and i -everyone who is not biased admits, that i this has had beneficial results. Are ; .we.in New Zealand so- spineless, or so

contomptibly selfish, that we cannot do the samo? . I know the humbug the interested people in the liquor trade talk about our superior sobriety, and all ! that-'sort of thing, ,but that sort of evasive nonsense should not be allowed to cloud the issue at such a time as this. The letters of the so-called Moderate League published in your columns today aro typical of the advocates of the liquor trado- No 0110 who knows anything at all takes .the Moderate League for anything but'a . little .coterie very muoh concerned to protect tho licensed interests, and even in war timo when men are laying down their lives in thousands in the greatest struggle for the benefit of. mankind ever witnessed, these people cling to their petty little tricks and dodges. Their letter to tlie Minister of Defence was so transparently designed-to,obscure the real question at stake thai it can deceive only the most unthinking, ana certainly will not entrap so astute a gentleman as Mr. Allen is reputed to De. Might 1 repeat that. tho only question rliat counts is the welfare of our troops. Is it In tbt j ir interests that the hotel bais should be kept open at nifjht, when the town Is full of young soldiers on 'eave. No one 7,'1i0 is about the city streets at about ID o'clock can honestly sa;, '.bat it is,—l am, etc., A DRINKER, [