WAR AND WASTE.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1918, Page 6

WAR AND WASTE.

EVILS OF DRINK HABIT. COMMENT BY SIR ROBERT STOUT. In his charge to the grand jury at the Supreme Court, New Plymouth, yesterday, his Honor the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) made some strong comments on the matter of waste during war time. The question originated with circumstances connected with the Maori riot at Rahotu, and his Honor said it was evident that the men had been drinking, and he proceeded to refer to the fact that it was surprising that in the midst of so terrible a war the people seemed to see no need to curtail their pleasures, and were indulging more freely in liquor than ever. The drink bill of New Zealand fof last year was nearly £5,000,000, and in England in 1917 the drink bill had been the highest on record, and had reached the astonishing sum of £259,000,000. In that connection nvmbprs of men were also being used up. The war had already cost New Zealand more than the whole amount spent on railways and public works in the North Island, and the people were still going on wasting their money. He thought the people at home should restrict their pleasures and save their money. It was likely when what he had referred to as the "present financial inflation,, came to an end, there would be considerable depression. After the two years of the Crimean War some men had been able to obtain only 3 days' work per week, In New Zealand the effect of the war had not been greatly felt, because it was far removed from the scene of operations, and the people were not doing what they should to save their means. His Honor did not think the Maoris were worse than Europeans in the matter of spending their money on drink. He thought it very likely that but for the drinking the riot in question would not have taken place. He appealed to the public to shoulder some of the sacrifice required in order to win the war, and not leave the men who went to the front to make the only sacrifices. Later, Sir Robert Stout had further occasion to refer to the relation of drink to crime, and expressed the opinion, as a judge and a member of the Prisons Board, that drink was responsible for at least one-third of the crime in New Zealand. People seemed dead to any feeling of humanity towards their fellows, and would not give up their drinking, and in consequence some of the country's best men were falling into crime through the drink habit. People should give up drinking for the sake of others. Nothing was done by the best people of the community to lessen the drink habit.