SOLDIERS AND THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14052, 3 May 1919, Page 6

SOLDIERS AND THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —In your issue of Friday. 25th, is a letter signed “A Father of Seven,” accusing me of attacking Sir R. Stout and Mr Hunt unfairly. lake the Scot of old, he answers my question by asking another. Well, sir, he did not toll me what I asked. He asks, “What would Mie strength of the Now Zealand Division have been from start to finish if it had depended only upon the trade, their hangers-on and constant supporters. Sir, may I ask your correspondent if he is a prohibitionist? He also asks what strength would our Division have been at the finish but for conscription? I congratulate him on his two years' service. In answer to his first question, I would quote tiie figures of the soldiers’ vole in to-day’s paper and the majority for continuance, which will still be increased—For continuance, 27,507: for prohibition, 6931. The majority of 20,570 must be good enough for any person who stocks an ordinary amount of common sense. In answer to his second question, I would like to point to the harvest of religious objectors yielded from the Conscription Act. Nuf sed, digger! He says that he waited up till 1.30 a.m. to serve a rum ration to those who had been out all night in the snow in No Man’s Land. Well, sir, I think lie found it a lot more comfortable to wait to serve the tot than the others did to earn it; and, sir, the tot was usually a lot weaker when the digger got it than when the quartermaster got it, and I fear the cHancc of abuse was very remote. Regarding the statement re the young Australian, well, I challenge this statement. He refers to the sons of Sir R. Stout: well, I may say I took exception to the statement re the rum ration, not to the sons of Sir an! Lady StoTlt. In conclusion, your correspondent advertises the fact that he is a father of seven; well, sir, when my family get round the table I feel a lot older than I look. Thanking you for your courtesy,— I am, etc., ONE NOT ON THE WATER GUN.