SOLDIERS AND LIQUOR.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 50, 28 February 1916, Page 7

SOLDIERS AND LIQUOR.

THE WET CANTEEN. EVILS OF "TREATING." MINISTER. (By Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, Sunday. A W( omen's Christian Temperance , L'mon deputation waited outtfZ 1 Allen yesterday, and astd(l)" ' " treatin g" of soldiers should be ; SafS? t u , d€r t he Defence 3 r,i f-" 1 NeW Zealand closed that tw Tl S War thne ' ° r , fa «ing that that all hotels in the vicinity of rmhtary camps or frequented by soldiers be dosed at 6 p.m.; (3) that all hotels Z > 2 n '!L eBC r it 8 of soldiers be nouorl °1. ° f Unds; < 4 > that no liquor be allowed at entertainments to soldiers. Mr Allen said the representations of the deputation would be p] aced be fore He c had . alwa y s °PP°sed the ntroduction 0 the "wet" canteen, and he did not think there was any justification for its introduction now. As far as he was concerned, he did not wish to distinguish between the soldier and the ordinary civilian in the matter of treating. If the prohibition of-'shout-ing were introduced it must be universal. (Hear, hear.) Soldiers must not be treated as children. (Hear, hear.) He wanted to make them strong enough to res,st temptation. He hoped no attempt would 'be made in a contrary direction. The matter of "treating" would be placed before Cabinet at the earliest opportunity. The question of sis o clock closing had already been considered by Cabinet, which bad' decided not to take definite action in the matter. Cabinet had made an appaal to publicans to restrict the sale of liquor, and to some extent that appeal had been answered. The shutting up of hotels in the evening would not answer his purposes. EFFECT ON RECRUITING. Another deputation, consisting of Mr. Holland, Mayor of Christehurch, Professor Chilton, of Canterbury College, and Mr. E. E. Stark, city electrical engineer, interviewed Mr. Allen. Professor Chilton said he was an antibut he and others not concerned with prohibition had arrived at the conclusion that excessive drinking had to be stopped because it was affecting recruiting. The Government was not doing its duty by not making the people take the war seriously. Men going to Trentham were getting ruined through the drink business. If the "treating" of soldiers were stopped it would be a small step towards assisting recruiting. Until the people were made to realise that the country was at war it was impossible to , introduce any recruiting scheme. The Minister promised that the depu- , tation's representations would be placed before his colleagues. He thought Dr. , Chilton had, without meaning it, ex- < aggerated the evils attending young men : in camps. He wished to remove such an impression. There had been a certain '. amount of drinking on the part of soldiers, but in the large " percentage of cases the men had not only greatly improved physically by their training in ' camp, but they had greatly improved : morally. That was a big thin™ for him : to say, but he knew the influence at '• Trentham, and he knew the influence and hold the more balanced men had on those of the weaker character. On the whole the influence was good. He did not want mothers to think otherwise. The men who came into town and gave way to drink would probably do that in any case—if they were soldiers or not. He had attempted, by moral persuasion and by war regulations, to remedy the trouble. He looked forward to the winter, however, with a great deal of apprehension unless something could be done towards assisting these men. Mr. Holland said he did not think the soldiers should be specially singled out for special treatment. Civilians, should be treated the same. The Minister said those were his views.