OBITER DICTA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 287, 2 December 1914, Page 8

OBITER DICTA.

(From “I'lie Triad,” Oct. 10th, 1911.,) The delay in the despatch oi the main !>)dy of the Expeditionary Force caused a lot of disappointment in New Zealand. Prolonged or futile leavetakings are always depressing, and the sudden return ol the men who had heou lavi.ddy kissed and complimented came as a sort of chill douche to patriotic enthusiasm. In point of fact, the delay at that stage could mattei very little, since it is virtually impossible that any of our men can be needed at the front before tbp commencement of the l umpean aj-’ing.

Meanwhile, t h interesting to ti-Kt passing note of one cv two things. First of all, that this force, as a whole, would seem in character and hysfquo to be superior to any that -New Zealand has so far furnished lor Imperial service. The meh are, wellbuilt, well-balanced, well-disciplined. [ never saw uniforms set better on any men, and I never saw men look more sprightly and keen and fit. In these circumstances, J was rather shocked and humiliated to find the Anglican Bishop of Wellington writing to the papers beseeching citizens not to invito the men to drink. The suggestion seems to me to he as debasing as it is unwarranted. Get ton thousand young men together, and a few of them are sure to overstep the respectable limit of convivial exhilaration. Which is only another v.>xy of saying that in every hotly of men there are a few careless souls. Among these men there lias certainly been nothing to warrant anxiety on the scoro of drunkenness.

For tluit reason, it is to bo regretted that New Zealand should determine to send out its Expeditionary Foree wearing a brand of suspicion. In nil other troopships, in all other concentration and training-camps throughout the Empire, tlie. needs of men who earn to make moderate use of alcohol are provided for. The Government of Now Zealand lias chosen to keep rumps and troopships “dry.” The Government virtually says to these men: “Yon are, going out to fight for the Empire and for our homes. You take your lives in your own hands. In all probability many of you will not come back. Possibly some of you will come/back maimed. You go on desperate and dangerous service. On yon the liberty of the

race depends. We have our eyes on you. We will do anything and everyi thing we possibly can lor you. But i you must not ask us to provide yoi with the means of getting a glass o beer, because, although you are goin, to fight and possibly to die for us, w are compelled for political reasons, t> treat you like naughty schoolboys’ unfi; to be trusted at large.” 1 don’t know what the soldier, think of this now that they are afioa on the Empire’s service. I do kno\ that some of us tingle with shann 1 to. think that brave fellows should b< so scurvily treated. We talk a mightj 'lot about the Empire but we are sc ! thoroughly under the thumbs of crawl jiug bigots and narrow sectaries than Iwe dare not follow England’s examph oven in the matter of managing troop for Imperial service. We have alien ed every member of tlio force a vote We have allowed them all to vote o. the Licensing issue. That being so, i would surely have been reasonable air, wise to have asked them to vote o the question of whether during the. voyage through tropical seas the, should he permitted to buy a pint o boor—the right freely bestowed on th meanest passenger in any ship the. trades. I feel that Mr Massey coul. have afforded to be courageous in : matter such as this. He could hav scoffed at the bigots, as Australia Ministers did. He could have take Ids stand once for all on his hones and reasonable convictions. By doin that, he would have lost a few vote hero and there, but ho would hav. gained many, and he would have solidi fied his position all over New Zealand |The first public man who dares def\ the bigots in this Dominion is going t be the most popular man of his decade Had this matter been referred to ; referendum, the troopships would no have gone “dry” to sea : Mr Masse knows that us well as anybody. Let it be made clear that I bold n brief for the Liquor Party. I neve resent Prohibition, so far as I am per sonally concerned, except when 1 an compelled to stay in some one or othe of those awful nccommodation-nouses in no-license areas. I admit quite cor dially that intemperance in any de gree, regarding any matter or an; habit, is a bad thing. I don’t evef pretend that the habitual use of alcn hoi, even in the strictest,moderation *s always good for a man. The trul; temperate man has the best chance everywhere and always—-the man win is temperate in diet, temperate in plea sure, temperate in speech; and such man is certainly not handicapped r any way if he happens to abstah from the us& of alcohol. The point is however, that if such a man desiret and prefers to use alcohol, any legis lative or departmental interference with the exercise of his desire am preference is class-tyranny. I an willing to admit that some medica authorities of the present day an apposed to the regular use of alcobo in any form. What then? Well, per haps T cannot do better than call you attention to a significant statement that appeared in the Lancet a whil ago:

In view of the statements frequent!; made as to present medical opinio regarding alcohol and alcoholic bever egos, we, the undersigned, think i desirable to issue the following shor statement on the subject—a state rnent which, wo believe, represents tin opinions of the leading clinical teach ers as well as of the great majority o medical practitioners. Recognising that, in prescribing al cohol, the requirements of the indi vidua 1 must be the governing rule we are convinced of the correctness o tljo opinion, so long and generally held, that in (disease alcohol is a rapid and trustworthy restorative. In many cases it may be truly described as lifepreserving, owing to its power to sustain cardiac and nervous energy, whih protecting the wasting nitrogenous tissues. ;

As an article of diet we hold that the universal belief of civilised man kind, that the moderate use of alco uolic beverages is, for adults, usually beneficial, is amply justified. We deplore the evils arising from the abuse of alcoholic beverages. But it is obvious that there 'is nothing. however benefiical, which does not bj excess become injurious. T. McCall Anderson, M.D., Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Glasgow. Alfred.G. Bans. William H. Bennett, K.C.V.0.. F.R.C.S. James Crighton-Bro'wn. W. B. Dixon. Dyce Duckworth, .M. 1)., LL.D. Thomas 11., Kraser, M. 1)., F.R.S, T. R. Glynn. W. R. Gowers, M. 1)., F.R.S. W. I). Halliburton, M.D., LL.D., F.R,C.P., F.R.S., Professor oi Physiology, King's College, London. Jonathan Hutchison. Robert Hutchinson. Edmtmd'Owen, LL.D., F.R.C.S. P. H. Pye-Smitk. Fred T. . Roberts, M.D., B.Sc, F.R.C.P. Fdgcombe Venning, F.R.C.S. This is the deliberate and earnest testimony of eminent medical men, and I suppose it has some bearing on the general question. I base no argument on it, however. My argument is that, as the habitual use of alcohol is prevalent among civilised men all over the world, as the habitual temperate use of alcohol is still tolerated in New Zealand everywhere, there is no justification for prohibiting alcohol among the volunteers who go to face the stress and deadly risks of baffle for us. Once more we prove our singularity in a rather discreditable way.

People aro asking what the Pro--Itil»ition Party lias done for tlio »ni,funds. People have a right to ask, ijust as the Prohiliitiou Party has a right to refrain from doing anything patriotic whenever it is in the mood for that sort of abstinence. In point of fact, what yon call toraporance people are. as a class, particularly temperate in the matter of benevolence —

apt, perhaps, to overlook the well-os- | tablished tact that he prayeth best uho lovetli best. This being admitted, it is well to keep in mind the tact that if New Zealand .Prohibitionists desire to abstain from every form of patriotic generosity, as they abstain from every form of alcohol (more or less), nobody has any right to scold them, about it. A few Prohibitionists do give, liberally, and the hearts of the rest may he sound though timid. The man with a faint heart generally has a close pocket, anti what with paying fat fees to Mr Philip Snowden and other special pleaders against good cheer and the liberty of the subject well, your poor faint-hearted Prohibitionist is taxed quite enough maybe.

Queer things happen, and even Prohibitionists may like a patriotic spectncle. When the Expeditionary Force marched through Wellington the hig balcony of the Albert Hotel commanded an excellent close view of . the procession', and Mr McDonald was sorry that he couldn’t admit all his friends and clients to it. But presently to mine host, came two ladies, both Prohibitionists. “Do you mind if wo go up to your balcony?” they asked. Mr McDonald, being the most chivalrous and good-natured creature going, said he didn’t mind—there was nothing else for him to say; and up they went. Presently along came another lady. She was not young, and she was not of slight proportions, and she was not a Prohibitionist. She explained that she really couldn’t stand in a crowd; so she too went to the balcony, and was given a chair to sit on. When all was over, the two Prohibitionists slipped away; but the other one sought out the modest propiietor again. She said: “You’re very kind, and 1 know you hadn’t too much room. 1 can only thank you; but perhaps you’ll put this to the patriotic fund.” To the fund the coin went, since she would have it so. Matter of difference in type between women. ' But now consider the people wbo are concerned with the wicked business of licensed-victualling. These men, as a class, have given more to the warfunds than any other class of men in New Zealand has given. The Triad i has no brief for any class, and whenever the Prohibitionists head the line for generosity the Triad will very joyously and heartily declare the fact. Meant ime, credit must go where credit is due. There can be no doubt that the men whose business is imperilled as no other business in New Zealand is imperilled—traders many of whom may possibly have to face stark ruin some day soon—are almost recklessly generous in regard to these national funds. It is mere nonsense to pretend that they give the money because they are well-off. The wealthy licensed victuallers of New Zealand could easily ride in one bus, and take a few of their friends with them. I am burning no incense at the shrine of the publican and the sinner; but it is a notorious fact that it is very easy to get at the publican’s pocket.

Take the case of Mackie and Company, Glasgow, distillers, the celebrated whisky people. When the war broke out they immediately announced that men in their employ who joined the fo'-ces would receive full pay during the period of their service, the pay going to their dependents. Nor was that all. Mackie and Company promised that the places of men on service should be kept open; and, further, that after the war preference of employment should in • all cases be given %o men who had served in the defensive forces of the country. And distillers, it Is well to note, are very busy at such times as these. When great armies are afield, when thousands of men are wounded and sick, when epidemics threaten,..the demand for good spirits is greater than it is during normal periods. Many of Mackie’s men are men with special knowledge and special skill, and they go out to light on full pay at just the time when Mackie can least spare them. Personally I don’t care twopence about the whisky interest, and 1 am as little concerned with one distiller as with another; but . this is practical patriotism, and I’m glad of the opportunity to say a cordial word about it.

Patriotism, like piety, is not at all a matter of profession.' The true patriot, like the true Christian, is proved wholly and solely by his deeds. It’s easy to sing “Soldiers of the King" (or whatever your fa ey V m that queer line of stuff), easy to shout with a shouting mob ; but it’s mighty tough work giving a sovereign away when you don’t know how long 'he meagre source of smc o.gns is going to keep trickling. Once again, the Triad does "ot believe in Prohib rion, and does not hesitate to say ■'). This is ;:o mattei ot politics, but of human right. II ihe trade of licensed victualling is a bad trade (which ‘t isn’t), » and a tme majority of the people-decides that it is a had trade, then let the trade bo made illegal. Put to say, not merely* that licensed victualling is had, but also that any accidental or faked apparent majority of electors may at, any time prohibit the use of alcohol among free citizens—that is an altogether different matter; that is a farce, a criminal and a senseless farce. Our communal security and free institutions have made ns strangely apathetic with regard .to our individual liberties; and that is suffocation of demo, eraey. Some day men will again awaken to a sense of the sovereign rights of human beings as units; and that will lie the next revolution. There was a time when individuals enshved the people. That time ended, and now we are suffering the recoil—the people are enslaving individuals. If every man were honest with himself,,, and hones! with his fellow, we should hear no talk of Prohibition or any such re- - turn to the mediaeval. Coercion by enfranchised majority was the mediaeval rule. Which ever party was.uppermost worked its will by herding and driving to its service the masses of

*the oppressed and disenfranchised people. Democracy is reverting by devious ways to that baruarous system. It provides methods by which one sec- * tion of the people may be enslaved by anotlier section. Once we admit coercion by majority in a mattei; of habit, we cannot logically protest against coercion by majority in the matter ot religion. The matter is one of which the intelligent electors will do well to think earnestly—the more earnestly because the unintelligent electors never think at all