BISHOP SPORT AND DRINKING CUSTOMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1573, 6 July 1916, Page 2

BISHOP SPORT AND DRINKING CUSTOMS.

1 1 hi I l ' 101 fKI N( 1 lo certain grave social ceils, in his presidcnlial address at Ihe Wellington Diocesan Synod, Bishop Sprott lonched on Ihe agitation Cor early closing of hotels daring Ihe war. lie said: “All the belligerent nations, or at least Ihe Allied nations, have found ilia I the drinking customs prevalent in I heir midst were a serious menace to Ihe etlicieney reipiii'eil for tin 1 snecessI'nl proseenlion of Ihe war. Three at least of these nations-—Kngland, Prance, linssia—-have tell compelled lo adopt more or less draslic measures of (•(•striction. It is imporlanl lo nolice I hat oilier nations besides ourselves have felt this need. Il at once, disposes of the gibe that the agilation amongsl British peoples is only one ol the periodic attacks of virtue to which, as Macaulay observed, British people are peculiarly liable, bill which happily do not last long. A conviction which has taken hold of peoples so widely differing from one another —racially, politically, socially, and religiously—as British, Breach, and Russian, cannot reasonably be put down to virtuous hysteria. Testimony to the marked improvement, in national health, vigour and output, in a word, in national efficiency, which has resulted from these restrictive measures, is borne by the Admiralty, the War Ollier, the Board of Trade, and by municipal officers and hospital authorities. 1 think it is a p;ty that we in New Zealand are laggards beyond others in this matter, and that up to this twenty-third month of the war, (I ugh much has been said, nothing has been done in this direction in the interests of our soldiers. Our own Oeneral Synod, in common with other groups of persons, has asked for early' closing of bars in hotels and clubs during the period of the war. You know how overwhelmingly this has been carried in New South Wales. That it has not, and possibly may not be done here will, I think, convince many how wise they were who years ago advocated (he milionalisalion of the Honor traffic as (lie best solution of the drink problem. Had that system been in force now, that could have been done in twenty-three hours which has not been done in as many months. I think that Iho opposition to the early closing movement has been ill-advised, and that (lie issue of it will he to lead many people who are not Prohibitionists to the conclusion that the present system must he abolished in order I hat. the ground may he cleared for the establishment of some system which will give the State full control of the liquor iral'luv”