PERSONAL LIBERTY.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 31, Issue 27, 8 April 1919, Page 4

PERSONAL LIBERTY.

A DOCTOR’S VIEW. Speaking at Christchurch the other day, Dr. G. T. Blackmoro, Superintendent of the Cashmere Consumption Sanatorium, as reported by the Press, said it was only right that a person should forgo' his personal indulgence in alcohol for the good of others and for the good of his country. (Applause). AS a medical man, he had early in his training discovered the evils of alcohol in relation to disease. He had found that it weakened resistance of the body to practically all diseases. In the case of pneumonia, for instance, intemperate persons who caught the disease nearly all died. For such reason, he had soon begun to use great caution when prescribing- alcohol in A'ghting disease, and he had now narrowed down the amount he prescribed to a Very small extent. Dr. Blackmore briefly described what he had seen of the effects of drink while working in the slums of Scotland, and proceeded that he had at first used within himself the argument of whether it was right to penalise the moderate drinker for the sake of the man who abused the use of alcohol. He had argued with himself that he was not his brother’s keeper, buff gradually there had developed within him an uneasy feelirig that in certain circumstances he certainly was his brother’s keeper. (Applause), For generations the moderate drinkers had had the opportunity of showing what they could, do to check the great evils attending the abuse of drink, but they had done nothing, and if they lost their right to drink at the forthcoming poll, they would'have nobody but themselves to blame. (Applause). They resisted all the efforts of the prohibition advocates, yet they brought forward no other proposals to deal with the matter. They insisted on their own right, to drink, notwithstanding the effect that alcohol was having on the thousands who were abusing it. Whatever lingering doubt he might have had as to whether or not he was his brother's keeper, Dr, Blackmore continued, had been dispelled by the war, and its results. In his dealings with returned men, he had found that at any time he experienced any trouble, the root of that trouble was drink. Institutions throughout the country; told a similar story. He had seen the sons of the most respectable families go away bright, alert, temperate young men, and return hopeless drunkards. He had seen them die as the direct result of drink, and he now felt that if he did not give up his own use of alcohol for the rest of his life, if he could save even one boy from a degraded death, he could no longer keep his selfrespect. (Applause). .Dr. Blackmore spoke briefly of Sir James Allen’s action in regard to drink on troop-trains, giving heartrending instances of men returning to their parents under the influence of liquor, and concluded that the streets of Christchurch, and of any other town in New Zealand, bore witness of the effect of drink on the men who had come back after fighting for their country. It was for the audience to decide whether or not these things should continue. He himself had long since ceased to doubt for an instant that he was his brother’s keeper. (Loud applause).