MILITARY CANTEENS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14700, 7 December 1909, Page 6

MILITARY CANTEENS.

Wis do not always find ourselves iu accord with the New Zealand Alliance. A e arc, however, in agreement with it on the question which is at present causing it some concern. We hopo we shall not be accused of taking n narrow view of the matter when we express regret at the inclusion in the Defence Hill, noff beforo p ;irlia . ment, of the provision it contains with reference to military cantcens. Eveu the proposal that no intoxicating liquor snail be sold or supplied at any canteen to any person under the age of twentyone yea us does not reconcilo us to the official sanction of the canteen system. • Vi e presume that in order to make the prohibition ot the sttlc or supply of liquor to minors wholly effective there will be no canteen at all at any encampment cf the general training section, in which youths between eighteen and twenty-one years will compulsorily have to serve. lint- it is not an unreasonable assumption that the Territorial Force, which is to ta substituted for the Volunteer Force that is now in existence, will bo largely composed of persons in their early manhood, and it may contain a liberal proportion of youths under the age of twenty-one years transferred to it, in terms of the defence scheme, from the general training section. And it would be a mcvst unfortunate thing if the younger members of this force should be led, through the evil example, and perhaps under the pressure or upon the persuasiou of tho older men iu the force to

Acquire a taste for intoxicating beverages. Tlio Defence Bill proposes to re-enact tho somewhat stringent provisions of the present law that are designed to prevent the introduction of liquor into a camp. Of the necessity for tho retention of these provisions u recent cccurreneo in a battalion encampment in our own district furnished a sufficient proof. But the Government is surely stultifying it-self to some extent when, v;hilo it seeks to exclude liijuor from an encampment by the enactment of cno set of provisions, it proposes by another provision to establish the means whereby liquor may be sold and consumed in a, camp subject only to tho control, in all likelihood vary perfunctorily exercised, of the officer in command 1 . Wo aro quite unable to perceive tho need for the existence of a canteen in an encampment. Tlio considerations that may fairly bo applied to the condemnation of the nolicense system in general do not touch this question. It is quite certain that tho training of tho Defence Forces of the Dominion will bo tho more satisfactorily accomplished if tho uso of alcoholic drink in tho encampments is Kfricl-ly forbidden. It is equally certain tliat thousands of parents throughout tho country will be impelled to oppreo tho compulsory training scheme strongly if the adoption of it is to oxposo their sons to the temptation thnt is associated with the presence in an encampment of facilities for drinking. As a. matter of 'fact-, to suggest that a. body of young men in tlio enjoyment of mde health cannot undergo a fortnight's training unless they are to have recourse to stimulants would be transparently absurd. We have not much more patience with the plea that a canteen is indispensable in a military camp than we have with the ridiculous pretence that a booth for tho sale of liquor is absolutely necessary on a racecourse. Because the canteen ■system is unnecessary and, because it is liable to gross abuse, wo hope tho proposal to sanction it will bo eliminated from the Defence Bill.