A CHAPLAIN IN FAVOUR OF CANTEENS.

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

A CHAPLAIN IN FAVOUR OF CANTEENS.

Then coiuos the opinion of a chaplain wtio saw service with one of the biggest' contingents of .New JSealahaerp during the South war. r "I don't believe in .these scare statements about the demoralisation of troops through the catffceens in Africa;" ; he said. "The fact is people desiring to make slanderous statements must have a victim, and they have seized on Colonel. Bauchop, who" is merely doing

'X wlat the regulations provide. I saw v«y little drunkenness in the field at aC and then rdost^oj ft Jte# *!£ < l run fe r enuess of officer!^ on^ Amay Service suppW-, " *"i" i3 *" <f ;^' , *'I resent exceedingly the imputation th&t New Zealand soldiers were drunken men. The worst offenders were thjose few officers who were not equal ml social standing to the men they commanded, and. who,, when opportune, ty^ocenrred, "frequently ■ made' •beast* of themselves. There weie no canteens available for soldiers. If soldiers had a supply they goj? it; from offers. .;.The 'tot of rum was a benediction to tne troops. It heartened them up and was fairly won. -If that /tot', » demoralise^ tiie troops^ — well I'm demoralised too. I do not know any soldier, who being s decent man.;before he; went to A^ffica, has 'gone 1 to' "pof- • since because 1 of: Africa, but I know a good many who were not decent men, before, who/ were ; not decent men there, and who "are* still not decent men now. In Africa I- never saw a drunken soldier. The laws in regard to liquor were very stringent i&dffed'&s> fajjas i tb,e' < rank l attcL Service> J m^S#* ' v*P?SWi*w'*S?«fr»!' and «iatU%hey Weqttenify travel in Government supplies, including liquor.''; '.An officer, who. served with most . of the contingents ■■: during ithe \ war said t%at the orify .possiftte way that drrnk ceriild get to the troops in greater quantities thrift by the usual and pr ? frequent ''ration" was by the officeTfcs^ They were able in some cases by underhand methods to obtain whTsk^y for^ thirty shillings (&^n& Sf|gply),| aitd retailed it at £s^^ case to feivHians wsio were under martial law. Soldiers might obtain it also at the price, "but," said 4 the, officer, "who ever heard of soldiers giving £5 a case for whisky P They were infinitely more •sober in Africa than they are in any town of considerable size, and you will' remember that there were masses, of troops together who would fill a large, town. And they were all men."