GRANNIE GOSSIPS.

White Ribbon, Volume 24, Issue 284, 18 February 1919, Page 5

GRANNIE GOSSIPS.

Do I believe in compensating the Liquor Trade.'' No, i don’t, and that’s straight, but we New Zealanders arc. not going to do anything so toolish as that. Wc are only go ng to .pay for our own < rass stupidity in the past., Now, iust be sensible. 1 bis trade has no moral right to compensation, but we gave it a legal right. We allowed our politicians to say to this trade, “You most be voted out by a three-fifths majority, and then wlcn that is done we are going to give you four years in whuh to pack up and clear." See my point! We gave them a legal right to stay lour vears after they were tofd they

were not wanted. Now we want th»'m to quit in a hurry. Our boys are coming home, the dea» lads; we are so proud of them, and we want to guard even the weakest of them from destruction by strong drink. \\'* are in a hurry, and we buy the»r four years’ right. Now mark, the law gave them that four years' right, and we offer to buy it for anything up to 4j millions., That’s not compensating them any more than buying the r ght of a lease is compensation. And 1 reckon we’re getting a mighty good bargain. Look at the millions it lOsts us to keep up our gaols, mental hospitals, and every instituiioh, to look after the wrecks made by this trade., It’s dirt cheap at 4l millions. We put 4I millions in the Referendum l’en to tempt the trade, and then we say, “Dilly, Lilly, come into this pen and be killed.’’ We’d never have g >t the Referendum if the Efficiency Hoard had not recommended it, and they would not recommend that we

take away from the licensees the legal right to four years’ trade unless wc paid in hard cash for that right. How will the boys vote? Well, bless them, all my boys came back better .prohibitionists than they left here, and they were good ones even then. And Judy’s boys used to take a glask before they went away, but they tell me,

“(»rannit\ we had to cut out boose as soon as we got over thtfre.” Yes! 1 know some good boys began to drink over there, and some came home drunkards. Hut keep a level head. Many a boy in khaki is going to help us “vote it out." True, some of them arc young, and they hear so much talk about “liberty” that they want liberty to get drunk. Poor boys, they’ll gain wisdom with the passing years, but in the meantime we ll lose their votes. Hut I get fairly angry when I hear them talk as if all our fine, straight boys were going to vote for liquor. Too many, alas! will so vote, but there’s a num her who’ll line uo beside their mothers and their wives, and don’t you forget it. I’he publi< an poses as the friend of the boys. Fine friend he is! Why, when a troopship arrived at our jMjrt one Sunday the landlord of one hot**l was up for sly grog selling. Not much slyness about it —a constant stream poured in and out of his ba( k door, and the police couldn’t help seeing it. He was taken to Court, and he talked so nicely about just giving the |K»or thirsty boys a drink. Ha! he never told the Court that he c barged the “poor boys" 25s and 30s a bottle for their whisky. Well, they fined him j£io. What a farce, when his profits were more than ten times that amount. In Canada and U.S.A. they put lb*' slv grog seller in gaol for six months. Sensible people, but then they mean the law to be kept.

WHEN THE HOYS COME HACK

When the boys come back from the battlefields, Scarred and weary, and longing to rest; What shall we hnvc prepared for them, Wc that have prayed and cared for (hem ? They surely deserve the very best That we can find For body and mind And for the spirit so long distress

Shall wc tempt to sin in their hours of leisure ? Shall we offer the <up of the world’s falv pleasure? When they ask for bread, shall wc give them a stone? For a smile and a song, a sigh and a moan ? May (lod forbid. Nay ! Nay ! When it comes, that glorious day Of victory and peace, and welcome back Of the heroes who have suffered and fought, They shall certainly have of joy no lack; Hut .t must not he of the baser sort, That spreadeth destruction with poisonous breath, And withers the soul with the cyclone of death. Let us put temptation out of their way— Remove the thorns from the flowers, And give them full measure Of pure, true pleasure, 1 best* glorious lads of ours. —E. T. Wray.