WET CANTEENS.

Evening Star, Issue 23383, 28 September 1939, Page 10

WET CANTEENS.

In New Zealand there is a well-meaning but not completely wise section of the community which seeks assiduously to '■ shelter ” the young manhood of the country from liquor in all forms. The not unnatural consequence is that our young manhood has built up a considerable reputation for hard drinking. The fact is that the whole repressive approach to the liquor question in the Dominion, however hopeful and moral the aim, is quite- wrong, producing far too often the very evils that it is so desirable to avoid. When New Zealanders go abroad they find in almost every country of the world a much more tolerant attitude towards the alleged “ demon ” and less drunkenness among the people than they had seen in their beloved Maoriland. The lesson to be learned from this is that the sooner New Zealanders of all classes realise that liquor is a commodity which is entitled to clain 1 ! its adherents in the same way as tea, coffee, tobacco, and the like, the sooner will moderate use of it become a national habit. It may be argued from the health point of view that excessive tea drinking (this is not an unfamiliar custom in the Dominion) and over-eating claim their share of victims, and it is a trifle unfortunate perhaps that in such instances the harm is done so insidiously that the effects are not obvious to others. On moral grounds the sin of drinking lies in drunkenness. And now what of our soldiers? Are they to have wet canteens in camp or not? On this particular aspect of the subject the usual differences of opinion exist. The Dominion Executive of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association is reported as being unanimously in favour of wet canteens, this announcement having been made by the president (the Hon. W. Perry) when he commented on the Auckland branch’s attitude of support for the issue. On the other hand, the Presbyterian Chaplains’ Committee, all the

members of which are men with war experience, has expressed regret that the suggestion to introduce wet canteens into New Zealand military camps should nave been made. While the views of these gentlemen, whose presence overseas with the troops during the last war was warmly welcomed and appreciated, must be taken into consideration, it is difficult to determine the extent to which their collective judgment has been influenced by loyalty to a strong body of Presbyterian clerical opinion.

Many active service officers, the majority of those who went overseas, we should imagine, realise that wet canteens, run under proper supervision, fulfil a more than useful purpose in keeping men contented in their camps. Experiences in Egypt and elsewhere during the last war proved that temptations infinitely worse than the partaking of liquor faced the soldiers who wandered on leave from their quarters. In the House of Representatives last nightj Mr J. Hargest, an officer.of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, put the position succinctly and accurately when he said: “ I have never seen drunkenness in military camps, and I have seen many of them. But in Egypt and in Wellington I saw a great deal of drunkenness when young men got leave and went into the city. The moment that wet canteens were set up in Egypt all that was stopped, as the men had fio incentive to rush out and get liquor in large quantities.” To this may be added the point that the efficiency of men working out of doors is never impaired by moderate beerdrinking. The other side of the story applies mainly to people who are getting no exercise. '