LIQUOR FOR WOUNDED MEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17041, 24 December 1918, Page 8

LIQUOR FOR WOUNDED MEN.

COMMENTS IN POLICE COURT. The practice adopted by the licensees of some hotels in selling liquor to soldiers who are obviously suffering from the effects of wounds or sickness incurred by their experiences at the front, was strongly condemned by Sub - Inspector Wohlmann at the Police Court yesterday, when an 18-year-old youth was charged with drunkenness. Ho said that the accused enlisted at the ago of 16, and after two years' fighting ho was severely wounded at the battle of the Somme and invalided home. The accused's arm was shattered, and it was obvious that he was not in a fit state of health to bo served with intoxicating liquor. Unfortunately, such cases were not uncommon to the court, and it was deplorablo to think that the action of certain hotelkeepers in supplying the drink was neutralising the efforts of the medical profession to restore soldiers to their former state of health. The magistrate agreed that such cases wore sad, but said that he did not see how the difficulty could be overcome unless all soldiers undergoing treatment were compelled to wear badges on their arms.