The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1915. BRITAIN'S FESTERING SORES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 258, 10 April 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1915. BRITAIN'S FESTERING SORES.

Hie people of Britain are quick to follow the lead of the King in nil tilings, but tliey have been quicker and keener than jover to follow liis good example in connection with alcohol. He has banished it from his palaces during the course of the war, and by so doing has fired the popular imagination. Peers, society leaders and commercial men are, we • read, joining in the movement, which fa becoming widespread. Not satisfied with voluntary abstinence, there is an inflUen tial section which is petitioning the Go Vernment in favor of prohibiting the sab and manufacture of liquor during Mi' war, and the agitation carries all th more force because it is not connects with any temperance organisation. Tlii is, of course, ap extreme step to take The Britisher does not like compulsioi flr unnecessary interference with what h regards as his liberty to eat and drinl what he likes and do as he likes, b<it th nation is face to face with the greates crisis that lias ever confronted it, am tho people are in no mood to allow ii go on the drunkenness that has so seri ously impaired the efficiency of the fac tories engaged in manufacturing muni tions, without a plentiful supply o which the armies in the field will be o no avail. The nation has to emerge vie torious from this titanic struggle, and ni sacrifice is too great to ensure that end The sacrifice of liquor is as nothing com pared with the other sacrifices that ar being cheerfully borno on every hand b' the nation. Russia at the outset dii not hesitate to sacrifice millions sterling of revenue when vodka was vetoed, no: did France in banning absinthe. Thes national beverages, they knew, wonli weaken the physical fibrfe of the armies and they were thrown overboard. Th results already attained have amply jus tilled the prohibitory measures taken In the ease of Russia, the veto on vodki meant the turning point in her history To bcr it mean the winning of half th battle. England, "the land of the free, lias hesitated to follow the example .> her Allies, but it may not be for lorn: In England the public-house system i ft disgrace to an enlightened country There are gin palaces and drinking shop at every corner in the workers' areas mid hcTe the men (and women and litt! children, too) assemble and debauc! themselves, debase their moral senses and impair their physical fitness. Th trade is not controlled as we know con trol in this country. If the war wouh only abolish these cheap and pernicion all-night drinking shops it would no be without its compensations, for n nation can endure and achieve real greai ness that permits in its midst these fes tering sores to contaminate and ass;i: so many of its men, women and chlldre:

ADVERTISING NEW ZEALAND. Tlic Panama Exhibition, which was 1,0 have been "the" event of 1915, has been overshadowed completely in the eyes if the nations by the great, war, and New Zealand people have heard very little of the big show on the other side of the Pacific. But the Dominion is represented at the exhibition by a fairly comprehensive display of products and manufactures, and the reports of the commissioner sent from this country indicate that the display is likely to be of considerable value to exporters. The attention of American buyers is being turned to this ' country, and a needed fillip is being given to the trans-Pacific trade. New Zealand imports goods from the United States to the amount of some £2,000,000 a year, but sends less than £1,000,000 in return. The balance .if trade is thus very largely in favor of the great. Republic, and this state of affairs is neither healthy nor comfortable from the point of view of the Dominion. "The removal of the import duties on frozen meat and wool by the. United States is bound to increase greatly the, demand for two staple New Zealand products, and undoubtedly would have had a, marked effect already but for the intervention of the war and the diversion of trade to suit Imperial interests of the moment. But the war will nof last for ever, and the more advertising New Zealand gets in America in the meantime tho better for the producers of th's country. New South Wales and Victoria have established trade and immigration officers in San Francisco, and intend to maintain the establishments permanently. Now Zealand might find n better use for its exhibition commissioner than -bringing him back to this country at the end of the y' ar.