War and ’Flu.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2500, 31 October 1922, Page 5 (Supplement)

War and ’Flu.

I am a Colonial, bom in Tasmania* and lived in New Zealand for %he past thirty-five years (except for four years' war service in France and Belgium). I am agaiust Prohibition for many reasons, and when any sensible person reads my personal experience with liquor he will have to admit that it ia absolutely'a necessity in any country, In War. When we were hard pressed Sn France we were allowed a tot of rum each day, usually just before an attack on the enemy and another after we returned, sometimes, if we were weary and worn out. I’ll guarantee if we had not had it that 'half of ius would never have been able to stand the strain of the hardships that we hacL We had for weeks and weeks on end with from two to four hours’ sleep and some nights no sleep at all. It woo the best and only cure for the nerves. I was in most of the raids on the Belgian and French coasts, including tho Zeehrugg© and Ostend raids, and m the former I could never have seen it through if I bad not kept my tot of rum for the actual raid. I was decorated with two decorations for my services, eo I must have been in good nick, and I am sura it was the ram that helped me. The ’Flu. I know dozens of cases where brandy has saved th® lives of people, and will give you an instance which happened in Hahtonibum, near Kinross,. Scotland. A pal of mine and I were staying with a New Zealand lady, who invited ns up through the New Zealand War Contingent Association. He got laid up with’ the “awful ’fin” when it was tine rage, and waa given up by th© doctor who was attending to bun. I hurried, to th© nearest hotel and bought him a bottle ®f three-star brandy, and gave him ahodt half a pint glass of the brandy with half a lemon and a teaspoonful of sugar each night and morning, and in three days he was up and about and £* still living. His temperature was within two points of death when I took him in hand and was helpless and turning black- Now, if that brandy is a necessity, then, tell me.

I have had. relations who havo been in much the same position, and in every case it has relieved them. Why on earth should temperate people be robbed of their liberty for a few people that abase their liberties. I mean men and women, that abuse Continuance and the “wowsers” and Prohibitionists who have ncrver tasted liquor. I’ll admit that the sale of liquor could he better managed than it is at the present time all over the world, but the rulers of the countries ano too busy looking after No.. 1 to bother their .heads. rn u.s.a. After the war, myself and four pals of mine came back through America and Canada, and wo bad eight. weeks there- Prenihition had been carried there, but it was not a hap’orth of trouble to get liquor in any quantity. We were well treated by all the merchants and business men there, and in every house we went into they had “grog to bum.” If yon wanted to buy ft you only had to fake up a prescription and get it from the Government stores iin any quantity—whisky, brandy and any other liquor.. Why should there be one law for tho man with cash, and another for the poor? Wo were charged about 500 per cent, more than its value, but a determined man can get it iu any country if. ho fa as the cash. O. P. (Wj^lingtonq