THE RUM RATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17429, 25 September 1918, Page 6

THE RUM RATION.

1 TO THB SDITOB. 1 t Sl ?: —I desire *° thank Mr J. B. Reid i ? outspoken letter in this morni ings Daily Times. There have been quite r a few hard words sooken and -written re- , spectmg our soldiers and liquor, and it is b very pleasing to see the soldiers vindicated s by Mr Reid. t We all know how easy it is to stand on a s platform and say that the rum ration is s harmful to the soldiers and that it causes i an increase m casualties. I challenge the r author of this statement to prove it, and - to name instances, if any, where the rum i ration has " bumped " our casualty list , While a member of the A.Z.E.F. I met , thousands of our soldiers in and out of the firing me, and I hold that the rum was l certainly more beneficial than harmful to 1 them, and I defy anyone to deny it. - It is a pity that these frothy orators > had not something better to do than to i stump about this country advocating what i pur men should eat and drink in the front i line. Methwks they would be better em- , ployed doing something to assist the soldiers 3 when they return and also to help in keep- ;- in" down the profiteering which, our friend i Mr b owlds and his flock are quite aware 3 is gom«r on—l am, etc., Ex-Diggee. ' 1 Dunedin, September 24. - Sie,—Your correspondent Mr J. B Reid i says our soldiers have done splendidly and - deserve our help That is a truism known 1 by all the world! and our heln they shall I have. We propose to save them from the - harpies_ who want their money after they 3 have given their bodies in defence of such i as they. Mr Reid goes to England for his . illustrations. Of course, Wellington and i Auckland are too close at hand, and again ; of course, he knows nothing of the dis--3 graceful scenes enacted at those ports on the arrival of invalided troops. We do not - criticise our brave soldiers, as Mr Reid ■ f knows full well. Like the poor mothers, a who willingly gave up their boys, we blame f the vile stuff—which is more subtle than i the Germans.—l am, ete., M\TEB i September 24. THE TAIERT AND PENTNSTTL4 MILK SUPPLY COMPANY. TO THE EDITOR. Sib,—l am told that the purchase of the company's own shares by the directors of the Taieri and Peninsula Company, which is altogether at variance with the Joint Stock Companies Act and most unfair to remaining shareholders, in event of liquida- ' tion, is still practised by the board, notwithstanding that an assurance to the conj trary was given by the chairman, in the presence of-all the directors, at a former meeting of shareholders who objected to it. I a hope, therefore, the practice will again be 1 condemned, with no uncertain sound, by the j shareholders at the forthcoming adjourned annual meeting, and that a resolution ' will j be passed to prevent the directors so purj chasing shares in future. t I understand that Parliament—very > weakly,, I think—passed an -Act to validate such illegal and improper practices by dairy r companies; but; I understand that the validaj tion was intended to apply only to past s transactions entered into by these companies f in ignorance of the conditions of the Com- - panies Act. t There is no reason why the directors of i dairy companies should be permitted to conJ tinuo to carry on practices subversive of the 1 interests of the majority of their share--3 holders the directors of other joint stock companies are debarred by the ' Act J from doing the same thing.—l am. etc., jf A Shareholder Who Cannot Attend L the Meeting.