THE ENEMY WITHTN THE GATES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12537, 7 May 1915, Page 2

THE ENEMY WITHTN THE GATES.

(To ttte | Sir, —Allow me to join with! s'Oiir SCrrespondent the Rev. J. A. Lochori? thanking you for your splendid an'tJ forcible articles oil the liquor evil, for I too have heard many words of appreciation from some of your numerous readers. Truly, it ls time for some olie to speak out, and speak to the point, seeing tha,t we have such a powerful enemy as King Alcohol waging wdi- against Us at this critical moment; If wo iV:nit to spare the lives of oiir Brave boys at tlie front dud bring this fearful slaughter (if human beings to an end, something iiliist be dam, | and that quickly, to check the power' of the demon drink. Is vested interest to take a. more important place than the lives and welfare of our fellow countrymen ? j Are WS to sit idly by while we allow others ... To blame and pfOtesi Jet join in the plan, , .. To share in tlie plunder w'iiilfc they pity the man 'i God forbid! We have willingly scut our boys to help in lighting for king and country, and it is our manifest duty to see that- they arc not handicapped by an additional and unnecessary danger. Wc talk of our Christianity and civilisation, -and yet we have allowed countries like Russia and France to go far ahead, of Us in eurI tailing the drinking habits of the people. In the Motherland wp set; Lloyd George doing his best-, alid fighting d. noble battle against drink; but what uphill work it is and and I fear will be so long as ho has vested interest to contend against. Strong drink, with its enormous profits, has become one of tlie most fashionable channels of speculation, and the brewers' share lists arc an interesting study. At the, time I was in. England, during the reign of the Conservative Government under ♦Arthur James Balfour, no less than | 167 peers, 129 M.P.'s, SBO titled personages, and 900 ministers of the Gospel were'financially interested in the liquor trade, and if necessary I could give you the names of every one of them, as well as the number of shares they hold. Leaving out the titled personages and the clergy altogether, just imagine those peers and M.P.'s who hold, as it were, the destiny of the people in their hands, having" those hands defiled by the drink traffic. Yes! Worse than this, imagine them having the power to throttle all attempts at reform, and literally tie the accursed trade round the neck of the nation, as was done by Balfour's Compensation Act of 1901. The Brewers' Journal of October, 1902. said: —"We arc quite sure that, i as matters stand, the shareholders in : brewery companies do not as a class ' in .the least recognise that they are the ) ' Beer Trade '!'" | Listen, again, to what the Licensed Victuallers' Gazette said on. July Bth. ' 1898: "The Trade interest is largely • safeguraded by the presence in both . Houses of many men closely allied with : the Trade." | In the face of all this we are forced to acknowledge the mighty power of the j "Trade." and we ' can fully recognise I the difficulties with which Lloyd George , ha.s to contend. To my mind the words of the late Sir Wilfrid Lawson in Hyde Park in-1904 stand' out in bold relief: "This is a free country ruled bv brewers." j Apologising for trespassing on your ' space,—l am, etc.. EYRE EVANS. Humbcr Stieet.