ANOTHER VIEW OF THE DRINK QUESTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3135, 13 July 1917, Page 6

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE DRINK QUESTION

Sir, —I seo that your correspondent "One of tho Meeting" in Monday's Dominion tries to controvert Commissioner Hod/dor's assertion: "That tho licensing- system and the facilities it had afforded for drinking had reduced tho efficiency of the nation's manhood." Ho refers to Air. Massey's and Sir Joseph Ward's speeches bearing testimony to tho high opinions, both in civil and military circles, that are entertained in the Old Country and in France towards the; New Zealand soldiers. There is no disputing the fact that our men in France and elsewhere liave done splendidly, and that they are equal to any soldiers in the world, but there are other things to he considered: Can "One of the Meeting" tell liow it is that so many of our men are sent back broken down and without a scratch? Can he say how it is that seventy-five percent, of our young men drawn in the ballot are rejected as unfit for service? It seems to "me that there is something very "rotten in the Stale of Denmark." and what is the cause if not the drink fivil? There is another thing that I have not heard spoken of—l allude to the awful prevalence of cancer. .According to t;he Year Book there are a greater number of deaths from that frightful disease than from any other two causes in New Zealand. Ts the drink demon at- ihc bottom of that ton? Hitherto I bave not been, but now I am. A PROHIBITIONIST. Wairna, H. 8., July i 1917.