The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1901. TREATING THE CONTINGENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 15, 18 January 1901, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1901. TREATING THE CONTINGENT.

For the cause that lacks assistance, Por the KTong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, md the good that wo oan do.

It was decidedly unfortunate that the proceedings at the last meeting of the general committee which is

making arrangements for a public send-off to the Sixth Contingent assumed Ihe character they did. From much that was said on the question of supplying liquid refreshments to the departing soldiers one might easily infer that the occasion had been deliberately chosen for the purpose of debating the claims of the liquor and. anti-liquor parties. Now, it. is certain that the Committee was not. met to discuss the vexed questions of temperance and prohibition; and such discussion was, therefore, quite out of place. It was only be-

cause th c suggestion to exclude alcoholic liquors from the refresh men is was introduced under the aegis of the Commander-in-Chief that it assumed such a prominence. Wanting that support, it would have been adjudged impertinent for a section of the community to seek to manage a publio function on principles that, have never received the sanction of even the majority of the community. But it may be doubted whether the advocates of non-alcoholic refreshments were quite justified in taking as- entirely applicable to the present case Lord Roberts* request to the people, of Great Britain not to treat the returning soldiers

with intoxicants. We do not consider that the two cases were on all fours at all. In the one instance was a soldiery chiefly recruited from the lower classes of the Kingdom, who, when freed from the restraint of military discipline, and suddenly thrown into the bosoms of their generous friends, might be tempted to celebrate their return home from an arduous campaign after a fashion not infrequent among their class. The appeal of the Commander-in-Chief was most timely under these circumstances. In the. present instance, however, we are dealing with men who, individually, are sober, we presume, and belong to a community of which the prevailing vice is certainly not drunkenness. We would not do the men the injustice of supposing that they were likely, under such very mild temptations as the public send-off may afford, to bring discredit on themselves and their uniform. We have greater faith in them. There might be room for some apprehension were the refreshments on a very elaborate scale. Probably if the men were to be entertained at a banquet where champagne and rich wines, to which they were not accustomed, were on tap, they might fall into excess as many others have done under similar circumstances; and the result might be very regrettable. It would greatly mar the dignity and impressiveness of the farewell ceremony if any of our boys overstepped the temperate zone, and would add at the very outset to the difficulty of maintaining strict discipline aboard ship. But there is no occasion to anticipate any trouble of this kind if the refreshment available is only our light beers, and that is dispensed with discretion. The self-respect of the men, the authority of their officers, the arrangements of the caterers should surely be sufficient to provide against excess, without taking the precautions advocated by a section of the committee. At the meeting of the Finance and Refreshment Committee held yesterday this matter was once more under discussion, and we are glad to see that the view we have adopted met with the favour of a large majority of those present. It will therefore be a recommendation to the general committee which meets to-day that in Jthe entertainment of the men no departure be made from what is usual on such occasions. While we have large sympathy with the temperance party, we do not think that the occasion is one on which they should force their views on the public, or withhold their support from the movement because their

desii-e is not complied with. These differences of opinion should not be permitted to jeopardise the success of the farewell ceremony. This is the first occasion on whicli Auckland has had the honour of taking leave, on behalf of the colony, of au entire New Zealand Contingent bound for Ihe war. We have longed for such an opportunity, and asked for it before. Now that il. is afforded us arc we lo fall

a-bickering over what is entirely a

side issue. This is not the time to ventilate these differences. For tht-

sake of the prestige of the city, lot us bave done wilh such inopportune cont chi ions, and work together in a friendly spirit.