THE LIQUOR PROBLEM.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 907, 6 January 1917, Page 8

THE LIQUOR PROBLEM.

To the Editor of THE SUN. Sir, —In your leader of Wednesday I you state that the figh; between j extreme Prohibitionists and the ■liquor trade leads to nowhere. I | cannot take this as correct and at i the same time believe the cables ; which appear in your columns. Only 1 a few days ago you printed a cable I saying that Prohibition had come i into force in Newfoundland. DurI ing the last six months you have printed a number of cables telling i of the success of Prohibition in Arae- ; rica and Canada. Why, Prohibition has led to half America going dry • and a very large portion of Canada I has prohibited the liquor bars. Inj stead of Prohibition leading no- | where it has led to victory in many j instances. Had we had the bare nia- ! jority in New Zealand as in America i every hotel -would have been closed by the vote of the people. Russia tried nationalisation with the result that drunkenness increased, and her only hope lay in giving up the national control of the liquor trade as understood by the tern) and goi ing in for Prohibition and she has | become a sober nation, Foster Fraser ' and others bearing witness. You ask the Prohibitionists to lay aside these prejudices. What are they? Our battle cry has always been, Prohibition by the will of the people as expressed at the ballot box, so that we do not wish to impose our opinions upon others, but as lovers of our country we claim the right to advocate a reform which we believe would be beneficial. The experience of other countries shows that Prohibition is beneficial but nationalisation has proved a failure. During war time the suppression of the liquor trade has been undertaken by all the nations fighting. The war has shown how great is the evil.— I am, etc., J. COCKEh. [We are not particularly interested in American Prohibition which does not appear to be very effective, but we repeat that the results of the agitation for Prohibition in New Zealand are not worth talking about. The drink bill is bigger than ever, and the voting at the licensing poll of 1914 clearly showed that public opinion was turning against the Prohibition movement. The same energy put into licensed trade reforms might easily have acbieved much more than the Prohibition movement has done.—Ed. The Sun.l AUSTRALIA AMONG THE NATIONS. Should the strength of the British Empire prove unequal to the task of contributing its share towards the decisive and thorough defeat of the Central European Stales, which despise democracy and all its works, how long would Australia be able to resist the first powerful enemy that might attack her? A little democracy which will neither fight nor work has no place in a world where great nations are mustering every available man to till their armies, and every woman and child to mould the shells and bullets for them to fire.— "Daily Telegraph." GERMANY'S LEAVINGS. The truth is that when the (iermans eat apples there is no core left over for anyone else: that Turke/ and Bulgaria will be under the German thumb when the (ierman Empire stretches into Asia Minor. And if we read aright the "Frankfort Gazette's" article, the only advice ■which Herr Bethmann-Hollweg gives them is to open their mouths ami shut their eyes and take what Hie "old (ierman Gott" sends them.— "Express."