BEER FOR TROOPS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25212, 29 April 1943, Page 5

BEER FOR TROOPS

MR LUXFORD'S VIEWS SUPPORT IN SYDNEY SYDNEY, Apl. 24. The suggestion of the Auckland magistrate, Mr J. H. Luxford, that soldiers should be able to get beer after 6 p.m. to defeat the sly-grog traffic, is widely supported in New South Wales. The Rev. Stuart Watts, of Casino, North Coast, is enthusiastic about the idea. “I agree with the. magistrate,” he said. “I strongly favour extension of trading hours for soldiers. Most soldiers would not abuse such a service. Adequate supervision of 8 p.m. closing for Soldiers could be in the hands of the military police. Later trading hours would deal / more than a staggering blow to sly grog shops, where soldiers naturally go if they cannot get a drink under proper conditions. It would bring about a welcome change for the better in the community.” Bishop Burgmann, of Goulburn, said: “I believe there is no solution of the liquor problem short of complete nationalisation. There is no place for the profit motive in such a trade if we are going to have any real concern for national welfare. The sooner our Governments tackle this' problem with honesty and determination, the sooner we shall be free from the petty questions of hours of sale, quantities of drink, and where and to whom it shall be served. Nationalisation would provide an entirely different point of view for the solution of the many minor problems, such as selling liquor to soldiers after 6 p.m.” The president of the Second Australian Ex-servicemen’s Association, Mr R. J. Griffiths, stated: “The views of the Auckland magistrate are the soundest I have read for a long time. Extension of hours in which soldiers can get liquor would spare Sydney the spectacle of boys in uniform staggering drunk about the streets.”