TEMPERANCE IN THE ARMY.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9135, 2 May 1908, Page 2

TEMPERANCE IN THE ARMY.

At a public meeting at Windsor in connection lyvith the Territorial Army scheme General commanding the South Midland Territorial Division, made an important statement on the subject of temperance among Army officers. According to the general, drinking officers of other days are now almost extinct, and in the Guards’ mess at Windsor water and “minerals” have taken the place of wine. If a young man came to_ grief in the Army, said General Raitt, it was generally assumed that the officers were extravagant and that the mess was responsible for Iris downfall. On the contrary it was due to the man’s one personal extravagance — champagne, cigars, and cigarettes. The majority of officers at the Guards’ mess at Windsor drank water. Ninety-nine days of every hundred he himself drank nothing but water at luncheon Drink, he declared, interfered with work. Inquiries at Windsor bear out the general’s remarks. During the last few years a great change has _ taken nlace in drinking customs in the Guards. At the present day it is considered “bad form” to take strong drink during the daytime. At luncheon mineral water is in much request, aud although many wealthy officers are in the Royal Horse Guards and the Ist Battalion Grenadier Guards, champagne is seldom asked for. W T iue is still put on the table, but the officers’ expenses for wine are very much less than they were formerly. Work and efficiency, says a Windsor correspondent, are now the predominant features in the Brigade of Guards, and the spirit of emulation is very strong. There is no “chipping” or “ragging” of a man because he is a teetotaller; in fact, commanding officers like to get hold of an abstemious soldier. The old custom of sending champagne to the non-commissioned officers’ mess is now maintained only on very rare occasions. As with the officers, so with the rank and file. Not a single man in the Household Cavalry or Foot Guards has been brought before the " Windsor magistrates for drunkeness for a very long time.