WANTED A SOLUTION.

White Ribbon, Volume 20, Issue 236, 18 February 1915, Page 1

WANTED A SOLUTION.

The war i> making many demands, and these demands are increasing. Great sacrifices are being offered at the shrine of Mars, and greater sacrifn es will be necessary before this terrible conflict is ended. Weapons arc being forged at a rate never before known; but it is the man who directs the weapon that counts most. And men .ire wanted, not by the thousand merely, but by the thousand thousand. Halt! Your country calls you and Kngland expects! So runs tue < larion call of this sea-girt Dominion to every mother’s son of fighting age and ability within our borders. The need is < lamant, and we are proud to state that the appeal is not being made in vain. Young men are “signing on” daily, urge I thereto by the British love of adventure, love of justice, and love of Fmpire.i Ju-t all that our soldier-sons may be called on to endure who can say.'' May the God of Hatties guide and protect each one leaving our shores and faring forth o the fight. While their departure from these favoured i>les will be tinged with sad ness, the hope of service, and perhaps of renown, will minimise that feeling. It is those that are left behind who will realise most deeply the “sadness of farewell.” It i- a noble thing to offer one’s life for King and Umpire. Not less noble is it for fathers and mother- to endor-e that offer. It is in many easier to say “I go” than to say “You may go.” Mothers especially, at such times as these, reali-e the bitter truth of the inspired

>< ntem e, “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own heart also.” Yet mothers in Great Britain, and no le-s, mothers in this Britain of the South, are giving their consent — proudU and confidenth although the word may be spoken with a trembling 1 ip. Kaeh true mother will sav in effect, as she gives up for Kmpire tho-e whom she lir-t gave to the Kmpire, “I give them for God, and Home, and Kverv T.and; For the wrong that needs resistance! For the cau-e that lacks assistance! For the future in the distance, And the good that we may do. But whilst New Zealand mother-, may be willing, and are willing, to give their sons to fight against the Fmpire’s foe, and for Ju-tice, Righteousness, and Peace, yet they know full well that those sons will meet many an enemy before they meet the Germans. Indeed, they are meeting them to-day, before they leave our shores. Temptations in camp and city have already assailed our soldiers, and in some cases the foe h.i> won! Manhood has been disgraced by a minority among the troops, and motherhood has been made to blush thereby. Not the least of the temptations in question has been that coming through liquor. True, the canteens have been dry, and for that we are thankful; but in the cities the »pcn bar has been a lure, and many citizens who should have known better have been the tempters of manhood. W ith the result that the King- uniform has been disgraced, and manliness has been draggl'd in the gutter,

ITged by such facts as these, a deputation, representing the Alliance, Temperance Lodges, W.C.T.U., Y.M.C.A., the Salvation Army, and Ministers’ Association, recently waited on the Minister for Defence in Wellington, and urged him to take st» ps to prevent, if possible, this crying evil. Mr Allen, in “eplying to the deputation, said that drinkng by the soldiers, and other evils, had caused himself and his colleagues much anxious thought, and if any feasible way of dealing with the problem could be presented he would only lie too thankful to a* t upon it He could not see his way to declaring ill die hotels in the < ity and suburbs “out of bounds.” Some hotels had been subjected to -u< h tre.tment, and if any other hotel broke the law in inducing the soldier- to drink liquor that hotel would be dealt with promptly and firmly. Al-o, if any citizen contributed to making any of the men drunk they would, if detected, he given short shrift. Mr Allen said that it was impossible to prevent some “wasters” coming into camp, but he was trying to weed these out wherever that was possible. In conclusion, he reiterated his willingness to adopt any reasonable remedy that might at any time be put forward. The rase, so far as the motherhood of New Zealand is concerned, was put in a nutshell by Mrs A. R. Atkinson: “The mother- are willing to give their sons to fight the Germa.is, but they are not willing to give them for this.” Here for the present this grave matter stands. Who will furnish a

remedy for this 11«»k•«' evil? Lord Kitchener has made hU appeal to the troops to abstain from liquor. Not urgently has. he appealed to the civilians of the Kmpire to abstain from enticing the men to drink. The Government is at its wits’ end to know what to do because the appeal of the great soldier is being disregarded. For the honour of the Kmpire, and for our sons and our own honour, something must be done- but what?