THE SOLDIERS' VOTE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 99, 26 April 1919, Page 6

THE SOLDIERS' VOTE.

Apart from its decisive effect on the prohibition poll, the soldiers' vote is interesting as affording some indication

of the proportions of the sexes in the community who support the respective sides in the controversy. It is the first time that a separate poll for men lias been taken, and tlie result will therefore be considered valuable both in New Zealand and out of it, by students of popular opinion. We may say at once, to avoid misunderstanding, that

the indication is only a rough one. Its value varies according to individual opinion as to the approximation of the average soldier's view of the problem with that of the average male civilian. There willjie some who will think that conditions place the soldier's view some distance from the civilians, and these will argue that in consequence of this difference you cannot draw from t3ie military vote anything like accurate conclusions affecting the home vote. It will be admitted that the soldier who has gone oversea has been affected by

unusual conditions. For instance, he has travelled more than the average New Zealandcr, and fought in a country where there is no serious thought of prohibition, and where the whole population is accustomed to the common use of

alcoholic liquors. From all reports there has been a good deal of resentment in the New Zealand Forces at the holding of the poll while 60 many of the soldiers were out of New Zealand. There are

other reported factors, the importance! of which cannot be gauged, and the mere mention of which might lead ito unprofitable controversy and cause ill-feeling. The question is, have all these factors influenced the soldiers so much as to make their vote for continuance considerably greater proportionately than the vote of civilians? The taking of the vote of the soldiers out of the country separately from those in uniform in New Zealand gives results which afford some guide to the answer. While the men in New Zealand who voted as i soldiers—the number is surprisingly small—voted continuance by a large

majority, that majority was smaller proportionately than that of the soldiers I abroad —roughly 72 per cent, to 81 peri cent. We think it may be 'airly said

that the difference was in part due to ihe faot that while the men at home were exposed to the arguments used in the other men were not.

Taking everything into consideration, we should say that the vote of 72 per cent, for continuance among the home soldiers represents, roughly, the proportion of unmarried male voters who are opposed to prohibition; if there is a difference, the civilian percentage would be lower, but not» we think, considerably lower. At the licensing poll in 1914, 280,000 men and 234,000 women voted. Allowing for the 16,000 men who died in the war, and the number in uniform at the time of the poll, the totals of male and female voters at the recent poll would be approximately equal —about 237,000 each. Seventy-two per cent, of 237,000 would give, roughly, 170,000 male votes for continuance. The total civilian continuance vote is, in round numbers, 231,000, so that the women's vote for continnance would be 01,000. The male vote for prohibition would be 67,000, and the women's vote 177,000. This calculation, of course, is based on the assumption that the home soldiers' vote for continuance is an approximate reflection of the feeling among the men of the country. Notwithstanding the fact that imponderable factors may affect this calcultaion, including the probability that a larger proportion of married men than of single men voted for prohibition, we believe it is worth making, so as to take advantage of the only data yet provided throwing light on the strength of the women's vote on the licensing issue.