NEW ZEALAND NEWS

Taihape Daily Times, 14 May 1918, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND NEWS

j THE LIQUOR QUESTION. | CHIEF JUSTICE SPEAKS OUT. j NEW PLYMOUTH, May 13. ! In his charge to the Grand Jury, the Chief Justice referred to the amount of crime directly traceable to drink. He said at least one-third of I the crime in New, Zealand was the direct result iOf drinkingAhabit. He thought the people ■word' dead to all sense of huhfanity towards their fellows in hot'* stopping: ‘ J drinking by which some of'the "best-—m-en—of--the Country ‘ were- brought He was also' amazed that rn-the ‘midst of a terrible War people" cohtihue to spend money on drink and pleasures, those at home'leaving all the sacrifices to be made by the men who had gone to the front.

TWO SOLDIERS DIE AT SEA. 'AUCKLAND,, tMsjuday. : I, Two soldiers returning by a hospital ship, died on the voyage. Private C. Thomas, of TuatepeVe, '-Sduthlahd, died on April 19'and was'’buried at sea, and Private C: T. McKinley, of Ralclutha, died on April 2s’ and was buried in an American port, American troops providing a firing party. RETURNING SOLDIERS AND LIQUOR. Commenting on the action of the military authorities in declaring all licensed houses out of bounds last Friday for soldiers in uniform, consequent upon the return of a transport Hr F. Y. Fazer, E.M., stated at the Auckland Police Court on Saturday last that it was only fair to say that licensees had apparently endeavoured to assist the authorities in observing* the regulation. Ho appreciated the manner in which the new restrictions had been carried out. He had occasion to be in the city twice on the afternoon on Friday, and, although there wore a large number of men in uniform about the streets, he had not noticed any cases of intoxication among soldiers. Senior-Sergeant McNamara said that one regrettable feature was that some civilians supplied liquor to sol- { diers, generally in bottles. One soldier who was arrested had one bottle of whisky and six bottles of beer in his pockets, Mr Frazer said civilians who supplied liquor to soldiers, on days when hotels were declared out of bounds would be severely fined if brought before the Court, because, in the eyes of the public, the licensee, would be blamed if liquor On a soldier. The senior-sergeant, said that on Friday four drunken soldiers had been arrested.