WAR AND THE LIQUOR TRADE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17033, 18 June 1917, Page 3

WAR AND THE LIQUOR TRADE

A POWERFUL INDICTMENT. At n, special scrvico in tho Central Missionl yesterday afternoon itho liev. C. Eaton preached on the subject of the liquor traffic and its baneful effect on tho conduct of tho war. The sermon was at onco an eloquent appeal and a powerful indictment, thq preacher supplying his audience with facts and figures gathered from diverse authorities. A groat part of tho world, said Mr Eaton, was to-day entirely engrossed with, and concentrating all its resources on, the war. Unhappily there was no reason to believe that poaco wa3 yet near. Tho replenishing of German supplies from Rumania, cho chaos in Russia, and the lapse of time which must pass beforo America could mako herself felt heavily in tho field, all drovo homo the conviction that wo had still a long night of suffering and sacrifico ahead, beforo victory should crown our arms. The most important work in front of us, therefore, was tho winning of tho war, and tho meeting that afternoon was convened to that end War, tho great tester, had revealed tho fatal impoverishment and inefficiency bred and nourished by tho national indulgence in alcohoL But the more startling revolation was not tho evil effects of tho liquor traffic—these had long been recognised—but tho extraordinary hold it had taken in Church and State, business and politica Notwithstanding the public agitation for its abolition in the Old Land, tho trado was still treated with singular and extraordinary indulgence. Tho power of the trade could be measured by considering tho forces arrayed against it. Tho reputable press in tho Old Country, religious and secular, was in deadly earnest concerning the removal of the drink menace. Scotland was solid for prohibition, England was thoroughly aroused, the King and Lord Kitchener had set tho example. It was even on record that tho Admiralty had advised Cabinet to introduce prohibition A petition, eleven miles long and containing two million signatures, had been obtained in six weeks and presented to the British Parlia- | tnent. The lists contained the names of admirals and generals and citizens representing ©very section of tho community. All theso appeals wore disregarded by a Go- I vernment which the British Weekly affirmed was controlled by the friends of the liquor traffic. It had been said that the* workers would revolt against prohibition, but this was a libel on tho working man. Tho workers and their leaders had proved the contrary time and again. In Northumberland, in Wales, and in Govan—whero 10.649 men voted for prohibition and 2398 against it —the working men had voiced their decision unmistakably. Tho influence of the trade could be seen in tho food question. Great Britain was threatened with a very serious shortage of cercals, find the supply of potatoes was tho smallest for the last 40 years. This distress was chiefly felt by the less wealthy classes. Yet with all this want on ono hand, the Government still allowed drink to swallow 45,000 tons of sugar, 20,000 tons of maize, aud 360,000 tons of barley in making liquor for one year's time. The food so destroyed was tho food paid for by the widows and orphans of the sailors and mine-sweepora who gave their lives to enable it to be brought to England. Yet these people could secure a pittance of sugar only by buying ten shillings worth of groceries, while tho breweries got 1000 tons every week. Peace would not bring immediate relief. "God help the Government," said the preacher, "if the day comes when they have to carry on demobilisation in the face of a hungry people." Canadian loyalty, he continued, had been strained to breaking point by the infatuation of the military authorities on this question. Alcohol dogged tho footsteps of the soldier at Home from camp to trench, and had resulted, in Mesopotamia, in causing cholera 'and dysentery. "Our gross failures and stupidity," wrote Sir Victor Horsley just before his death, "are, m my opinion, due to alcohol." Among a mass of facts in connection with the military aspect, the preacher, quoting from "Defeat," said that drink had robbed England of 1G per cent, of her man-power, and had used in_ shipping tonnage -what would equal 60 ships .of 5000 tons each working

all the time. Sir Wm. Osier had stated that drink—through the medium of venereal disease —had already caused tho loss of six divisions in the army. In conclusion, the preacher emphasised the fact that the problem had been treated from a national - point of view, and parochial treatment avoided because* a national policy was wanted. What use was it for the nations

to co-ordinate their efforts for victory if such co-operation was in part only. Yet while Great Britain, Australia, France, Russia, and_ America were attacking the problem seriously, our New-Zealand politicians would suffer no interference with the sale of intoxicants. "VVe had sent away thousands of men at a cost of a million' pounds a month, yet we still spent 4-J millions a year on a luxury, the result being waste and inefficiency. If the Government, in face of all these things, still refused the small reform of 6 o'clock closing, there would' arisosuch a demand for complete and total prohibition as would sweep away before it the Government which refused to listen to the voice of the people whom it was supposed to serve. At the close of the address Mrs Lawson Broad sang the" hvmn "Where is my boy to-night" very effectively. The meeting closed with tho National Anthem.