LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3131, 9 July 1917, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

EARLY CLOSING OF HOTELS

Sir,—llavinjr followed with great iutercwl; tlio G o'clock closing movement, I would ljeg a littlo space in your columns in order to make n few comments on its bonrniK towards our soldiers. Tho leaders of the deputation deny that they ia'o out to jplaco tho troops on u dill'erent footing to the civilian and term it si coincidence iltat publicliouees arc desired to lie closed at (i p.m. when (ho soldier leaves camp. This may lio so, but many, oven the most obtuse, are begin* ning to think otherwise. If it is £0, then let mo say that it is a meddling and intolerant work of which none need bo proud. Let it bo remembered that tho men listed for foreign service are not children, but men amongst men, our physical superiors, and, to say the least, our equals in other respect, and any attempt to placo them in a different category to tho stay-at-homee cannot bo too strongly condemned. Further, theirs is no holiday jaunt, and their timo will not be passed at a young ladiee' seminary, but on fields of tumult, such as the advocates of intolerance little dream of.

In leaving this peaceful land they go to Jj help vanquish a foo that wo may all J live in peace, and in doing this they may " be called on to malco the supreme tsacri- I fice; hence the necessity of treating t'hem t in a manner worthy of/their mission. s How much better it would have been t to have made, a strenuous effort to place o drink to one side for the duration of tho t war. By dealing with the civilian first, I these gratuitous insults to armed men would have been avoided. To do this the question of adequately recompensing the I ! Trade looms up, for whatever its merits » or demerits it is a time-honoured busi- t ness and therefore legitimate. Where, I t ask would be our claim to British fair ' play if at the instance of fanatics these 1 men and their families were turned out l into the street without due regard to 1 their rights as law-abiding citizens? In ' closing, I wilt say that New Zealand i stands in the unique position of being 1 almost alone in the world in attempting i to impose sobriety on camps ; while tlie : folk on the enSe side of the fence could, : if so inclined, drink from 8 a.m. to 0 p.m., and then carry enough homo to 1 last all night. All this shows a strange i luck of tho fitness of things, and must i be due to our insularity, and distance i from the busy world of men.—l am, etc, A. DOUGLAS. July 5.