SOBERED BY LAW

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 84, 3 January 1919, Page 8

SOBERED BY LAW

DRINK .CONTROL IN BRITAIN. Many people who ought to have known better used to say that man cannot be made sober by Act of Parliament. "Tliat assertion," enid Lord D'Abernon, chairman of ,the Control. Board, "has been disproved completely. The question to-day is rather by what Act of. Parliament can he be kept as sober as he is." He told a temporanco meeting at Caxton Hall that convictions for drunkenness have fallen by over SO per cent.; thero has been a corresponding improvement in public health, a corresponding decrease in crime, in so far as tiieso aro-affected by alcoholism; and as there .must prof> ably I)lo'added a proportionate/reduction in unrecorded totals of minor; excess, one can judge what a vast amount .of inoffi- ' ciency, unfitness, and ill-heaUlr'has been saved the nation. . A relapse into the old pre-war condition is, lie said, inconceivable. It would ■re-create drunkenness at the rate of nearly -M.OOO convictions a year,' with its ■terr.ble accompaniments of crime; disease, and death. American' observers* liavo been .impressed with the "tremendous strides" .towards sobriety in this country' during the last. three years.- I'toiu a low place in; ti.e temperance scale of nations we have goue to the top in a very' short time. T«ere is good ground for confidence that the present level can be maintained. To achieve this, while the present liquqr. control organisation will cease, the main lines of the policy now in force should >£ maintained. For a permanent scheme of.drink control he suggested consideration of the following:— ', Curtail hours of sale to the minimum consistent .with reasonable needs. _ Avoid continuous opening periods of . excessive length. Divert consumption to meal hours. Dilute spirits and encourage brewing lighter' beers. .' -jj % Provide canteens and other alternatives to the pitblichouse. Abolish treating. Maintain the price of alcohol at a proper level in relation to necessities, Establish a central authority to coordinate and supervise licensing, Many of these, he said, are easier to adopt and more likely to produce results than the older, more violent solutions, , Customs duties collected at'the port of Wellington yesterday amounted to £462 15s. 9d. . • ; ■ VALUE IN WELLINGTON. It will be at once recognised that UlO value of the Wellington statements which have appeared, in the local Press for so many weeks in succession would be greatly enhanced if there were any conclusive evidence as to how they endure tlio test of time. Fortunately this evidence is forthcoming, coniirining after the lapse of years the statement made by a Wellington woman:— Mrs. E. Knight, 2-1 Royal Street, JBerhampore, Wellington, says:—"l can give Doan's Backache Kidney Pills a firstI class recommendation as a euro for backI ache and kidney trouble; this rei««iy having cured iue of a severe attack of backache some years ago. For a long time I was a martyr to kidney trouble, arid was so.bad at times that I could hardly move. After trying all sorts of kidney remedies without getting any permanent relief, Doan's Backache Kidney'l'ills were brought under my notice, and I was so strongly advised to try them that 1 got a bottle. No one knows how glad I am' that I did so, for, after taking six bottles of these Pills, I was completely cured, all signs of backache and kidney (rouble having disappeared entirely. It is about twelve years since Doan's Backache Kidney Pills cured 1110, and during all that time I have only had one slight return of backache, but after taking a few doses of these Pills I was' soon quito light again." i Four years later, Mrs. Knight says: I "I am never troubled with my kidneys 1 now, thanks to Doan's Backache Kidney Pills. Tlicy are a grand remedy, nud i should be taken by all jvha sulfor as I once did." Doan's Backache Kidney Pills are sold by all chemists and storekeepers at lis. per bottle (six bottles I6s. (id.), or will be posted on receipt of price by FosterM'Clellan Co., 76 Pitt Street, Sydney, , But, be s®re you fefc DOAN'S.—Advt..