WELLINGTON NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 266, 20 April 1915, Page 6

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent). ' | DISGRUNTLED TROOPS. I Wellington, Saturday. . . second batch of troops has returned! jiri Samoa, and the men are as angry 'and discontented as the first detachment proved to be. They are ready to shout their grievances from the housetops if the opportunity is given them, and there is reason to fear that a considerable proportion of them will tak» their discharges, as proved to be the case in connection with, the men who returned a few weeks ago. Their grievances, real or imaginary, are rankling. N'o journalist and no newspaper should want to fail flames of discontent among soldiers at the present juncture even to the extent of giving publicity to 'the complaints of the men, but one may, nay that there is every reason why the Minister of Defence should investigate the conduct of the Samoan garrison with a determination to get the whole truth, regardless of persons and influences. Malcontents are to be found in every large body of men, but here is a ease of several hundred soldiers, representing all classes of the community, united in their sense of injury, and making statements I that, if in accordance with facts, prove, certain officers to be incapable of hand-' ling troops in an efficient way. Doubt--les9 the Minister of Defence is already j in possession of documents and reports I bearing upon the subject, and a pro-1] misc from him to go to the root'of 'the-j trouble would satisfy reasonable people without involving any undesirable publicity. The new lot of returned .troops, by the. way, look in better health than the men who arrived earlier did. 'Taken | nil round, the New Zealnnders who 'gar-, risoned Samoa for some eight months j are not a good advertisement for the climate of the island. Evidently they j found the heat trying and the general renditions enervating.

THE PROHIBITION MOVEMENT. The leaders of the prohibition movement have been in Wellington this week j in connection with the annual meeting! of the New Zealand Alliance, and naturally they have been talking of the re- ; ■suits of the licensing poll held last December. The "official" explanation of the marked falling-off in the proportion of voters registered for local and national no-license is that the war made the voters averse to change of any kind, and' that the appearanco of the prohibitionists in the political arena as supporters of bare majority candidates Weakened the prohibition fighting line j as far as the licensing poll was conccrn- | ed. But one gathers-an impression in I conversation with the prohibition leaders that they are disposed to attach a deeper importance to the figures than . they will admit, especially in the light of what is happening in Europe at the cresent time. Some of them are rather loss intolerant of State control theories than they used to be, and the people of the Dominion may yet see a demnnd froth within the prohibition camp for the placing of three issues on the ballot paper: "Continuance; State Control; National Prohibition." Russia used to be quoted always as' an argument tigainst State control, and with apparmt reason, for the State liquor monopoly in that country was associated with on appalling record of drunkenness, poverty and industrial inefficiency. But the Ivor-Id has seen Russia sweep away the liquor traffic with a sSroke of the pen, while Great Britain, recognising that dtrong drink is handicapping her terribly in the armed struggle for existence, is trying still to strike a balance between national interest end s-vfv*te profit. Incidentally, of course, the prohibitionists are hailing with delight the frank admission of the great nations that the suspension of the sale of alcohol is a step towards efficiency, that the nation which wants to put forth its best and mightiest effort must abstain from strong drink.