EFFICIENCY BOARD AND THE DRINK TRADE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3174, 27 August 1917, Page 6

EFFICIENCY BOARD AND THE DRINK TRADE

Sir,-Re the reported resignation of the National Efficiency Board, some of us aro wondering Yrhcthtr boards report on the drink trade has any intimate bearing thereon. To quote from their report f "The board earnestly recommends as essential to national emciency that legislation be passed, .without delay, to provide for the enforcement n r ti lo following conditions. Of the Six conditions stated (a) to (f), the most imuortant is (a), which specifics sliortencd'hours of sale. Has tho Government definitely turned down these proposals. If so one cannot .blame these gentlemen for taking the step they have taken,, even supposing there is no other reason for their doing 60. . Tho supposition that the Efficiency Board is not justly entitled to make such recommendations can only tw? 1 ™ 0 "J biased or interested parties. _ Trie 1)0 J™ lias made a searching inquiry. » s *no duly attested statement of the report

Ml ■ amply show: "Evidence was tendered by more than sixty witnesses, Vlrawn from various classes of the coniimunity, and the matter was investigated irom as many aspects as wore presented, tod, where possible, statements and quotations have been traced and verified." Among the witnesses, wo/find that, jfrom tho one side were "brewers, liotclJceepers, wine and 6pirit merchants, •jcharteied clubs, employees in hotels and ['in clubs, bop and barley growers and '•merchants, vine-growers, and wine-mak- : «rs." From the other side wore repre•■Bentatives of the New Zealand Alliance, , representatives of certain churches, of /women and ohildren protection societies, i tod of the British and Foreign Sailors' 'Society. Neutral evidence was tendered from merchants, manufacturers, employers, fanners, judges,, magistrates, doctors, and military men (see paragraph :'<& of the report). In face of all tho facts, 'surely.no reasonable mortal can say that •the investigations of the board were not 'thorough. Although, on grounds of . democracy, ijroany of us cannot approve of the apjjpointment of suoh boards, the unsophisticated common sense of tho general public most heartily approve not only of ".the aforesaid recommendations as to jiiearly closing, eto,, but also endorse the jrifollowing statements and admissions in tho report:— (1) The people should bo better ablo rto'provide the necessary amount of taxation if the inefficiency at present created by tho effects of alcohol is removed." The order, surely, is (1) efficiency, (2) levenuo. Make the nation efficient and the revenue, muy bo. Bafely trusted to .lake care of itself. (2) "The money now spent oil liquor, if its sale were stopped, would be spent ?<or invested in some other direction. If '.spent, the expenditure produces,, directly jor indirectly, ' a revenue to _ tho Stato; df invested, it becomes sjabject to , annual taxation." Many, including myself, have asserted this for years past; ■but here we have tho statement of a ''number of sane, level-headed ■ business men to the same.effect. These men ■onght surely to know something of the matters of whioh they speak. Herein is ■furnished an irrefutable answer to both tho "revenue" and "unemployment arV'Tho board finds that the two chief •factors in the continuance of the liquor trade are public custom and the financial interests involved." What is this but saying what so many of us have said all along, viz., that where people believe in tho maintenance of the drink trade, such belief is due'to either, (1) the fear of loss of enjoyment of their owh personal "we drappy," or (2) personal interest or that of their friends in tho trade itself. In other words, it is only selfishness that keeps the trade going. One who cannot see this cannot see in inch beyond his nose. . No one who has taken the step of identifying his own personal interests' with tho interests of the human family as a wholo can ever, with a due knowledge of the facts, believe in such an institution. To all this the only logical and satisfactory conclusion is the first part of the conclusion come to by the National lifficiency Board, leaving aside for the nioment the question of compensation: Tho board is satisfied that the greatest efficiency xronld he attained both by the nation and the individual by a, state of complete prohibition. . . ." I am, etC " C. BOTJGHTON JOB-DAN, i District Secretary, Methodist Social Service Union. Eketahuna, August 23.