VIEWS FOR AND AGAINST.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13634, 13 April 1908, Page 2

VIEWS FOR AND AGAINST.

The opposing views on, the subject of "wet" canteens at volunteers camps are well represented by two short articles in the- Wellington Post. -\ \ •■ . A CLERGYMAN'S LETTER. j The first is. a letter from Mr W. J. Williams, a well-known Methodist clergyman. He says: — , "It is, I venture to say, much to be regretted that, according to the statement made in your issue of yesterday, Lieutenant-Colonel Bauchbp has issued the order that canteens are to be provided in connection with the coming I Easter volunteer manoeuvres. For the past ten years, when the battalion 'was under the command of Colonel Collins, it had been found possible to conduct such operations 1 without the sence of such a doubtful adjunct. Does any one really imagine that his introduction of, the canteen, under ( new management^ will meet any real need, or is likely in any j way to add to the efficiency and success of the encampment? Do not the probabilities, based on the experience of bygone years, point all the other way? Is it not the case that the canteen^ wherever * and whenever set ;up, puts the temptation to- drink in the way of men who would be very much better without it? Colonel Wolfe, -who is now jn charge of the Auckland Volunteer District, is an officer of experience, extending, I believe, considerably ,beyond that of LieutenantColonel Bauchop. He has seen the effect of , the canteen, both in connection 4 with the Imperial army and. also th' 6 volunteers. pokmel Wolfe has announced his intention not to admit the canteen' 1 into, Easter volunteer encampment in Auckland, on the ground that, whether liable to abuse or not, it is certainly not required. What is not required in Auokland, what has not been required for the last ten years in Wellington,' can surely only be regarded as. a, dangerous superfluity in connection with the encampment. The army of the United 'States of Ameri-ca-—the army, thai ie« that meets the military needs of {eighty millions of people — manages to .exist without the\ canteen in any shape or form, the Senate having abolished it because it met no. real need, and was a fertile source of demoralisation. Such action as that which Lieutenant-'Colone) , Bauchop has now taken will certainly stimulate action along the same lines in New Zealand. Those who will work .hardest to put the canteen under the ban of the law are the best friends of the volunteer movement.*' ,