THE DRINK PROBLEM,

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2728, 24 March 1916, Page 6

THE DRINK PROBLEM,

Sir.—The letter of "True Temperance' reminds me of the parson and the deacon who went to Paris. When they returned the parson said Paris was as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah, and ought' to bo destroyed. , The deacon said Paris was a beautiful city of gardens, art galleries, and grand churches. The question is: Where did the parson go when he went to Paris?" "True Temperance" goes to what he calls the lower part of the city of Wellington between 9 and 10.30,'" and finds things something awful.. Poor simple man, that he is, he thinks'by closing hotels three hours before he goes to the lower part of the city a remedy will be found. He is inconsistent and illogical. When/he says these things exist now, and, meets the argument that these things will be worse if the hotels are closed earlier, he says the police authorities will see to it that after six 0 clock - there will be no secret drinking in these bad places in "the lower part of tho city," where "True Temperance - ' has been. A well-conducted hotel'is no anxiety to the police, and more police would have to be .employed in "the lower part of the city" if 'True Temperance" had his way. ! The cure*'for soldiers coming to toivn to get ■ their liquor is the wet canteaa in camp. ,Only a few soldiers oveisteo the mark, but the wet canteen m camp would stop those who want to drin'i from _ coming to town. They would stay in camp, and there are no "lower Paris" of the camp for soldiers to e,o tn between !) and 10.30,. General Maxwell found that in Egypt ampng our boys the wet canteen was a moral and a disciplinarian advantage. So it would be'at Trentham and Featherston. It is (notorious how social diseases, are' spreading in this community, and tho absence of the wet canteen at Tren-t-ham forces men to come to town, and drives them into "the lower parts of the city .between 9 and 10.30" wliero 'J™ 6 Temperance" says these "awful things 20 on. The jproclamation of Senator Pearce, a gentleman with "wowser" leanings, closed the hotels at 6 o'clock for c 'a week in Sydney, and then relaxed tlio order to closing at 8 o'clock. Therehad_ been a fortnight of this '8 o'clock.' 1 dosing, and this is the cablegram publishcd in The Dominion in the same issue as "True Temperance's" -letter:— ' %dney, March 21. Since Senator Pearce's early closing- proclamation has been issued, fines for sly grog-selling up to last week totalled £1375. This is indicative of worse ongoings in-Sydney'than is. possible in "the lower part of Wellington between 9 and 10.30" j but, then, hotels in Sydney are closed at 8, and -those in Weihngton are open till 10. "True Temperance" f and all prohibitionists who are putting a ban upon the soldier in New Zealand, that is lifted 'from him when he gets .to Egypt or elsewhere, ought to cut out what Mr. Holman calls ■' maudlin Sunday-school sentimentaland treat soldiers like men. ' Now, as to self-denial. There is no self-denial in this matter for the prohibitionists and "True (Temperance." but they are compelling the soldier, who was in the habit of using a stimulant daily as a civilian, to do without his grog. "True Temperance" praises the soldier'for offering tho greatest of all sacrifices for the good of Empire, but he denies the soldier one of the privileges of good citizenship. This is not fair to the soldier, and "True Temperance." always talks of making others sacrifice something. Ho is sacrificing nothing himself. I forgot,. "True Temperance"• goes down into "the-lower pait of the city between 9 and 10.30" to see the awful things the police can't cope with, and writes to ,the paperß about-them! 'It is a gross libel on the young men of New Zealand, and an ir.sult to their fathers and mothers who have brought them up and gave them to King and country.—l am, etc. MODERATE.