THE ENEMY WITHIN OUR GATES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12539, 10 May 1915, Page 1

THE ENEMY WITHIN OUR GATES.

To the Editor.

Sir. —Some have been .saying on.occaI sions- for months past that New Zealand would not realise the awf illness of this war. till our/own -men" began 'to fall, aiid now it is coining home to us. Is it possible that the "drink-engendered | situation at Home'will make us it live, to the perils of the drink enemy? " Sir Victor Tlorsley (the eminent physician), .■•peaking in London at a large meeting in March,' said':- ''ln this country drink kills'6o.oUo people' Annually —more than a year's toll" on the "battlefield.and, while.'.we are; horrified at the Gorman atrocities., we have . similar crimes, caused, at home through ■' drunkenness." -"... -, -.''.' ■". Again, all electors who follow the lead of Kitchener,. JeUicpe, French, and Joffre are. indebted to yon ..in - trying to'bring home to us.the appalling .selfishness and terrible hold which ;tho Trade, has, pit. Britain. An article in the S|>ectatpr : , (London) by the editor (Mr. J. is calling forth' much .attention. Imagine a preminent London editor boldly .advocating prohibition! But- this is 'what lie; does. . . "If. we want;" says the editor, "to get the maximum of energy into our war preparations, the wayto do it is to. follow the. ilttssian ' exainvjle, and j 'during the war ? prevent the public sale, of intoxicants. ; ... . . In |

our .aim is strictly practical. _ "VYe. see that at the moment public facilities, for the, purchase-, of .liquor are interfering with the proper carrying, .on of the •war,, .and therefore they must be stopped.". Into the question of detail wg ca.nont enter now, but we feel certain that, if prohibition were once decided upon,. Parliament would have, no difficulty in arriving at a just and wise settlement of details." , Then '. in an editorial note, Mr Strachey says; — ' "The country is waiting for a lead. Nothing would rouse it more quickly than if our rulers were to take the glasses out of our hands, throw the liquor on the ground, and tell us firmly: 'No more of that till the, war is over!' 'All right: but; why -didn't you do it'earlier?.'' wauld, we are convinced, be the instant reply of the nation." So wrote Mr St. Loe Strachey near the end of March. But when the Imperial. Government tried to tackle the problem in April, what do we learn? That this prominent London editor had hot rightly gauged the power' and absolute selfishness 'of the liquor magnates. The' Government; Lord Kitchener and Sir John Jellicde : are all flouted', and the Unionist Party (vide Mr Chamberlain's .speech) comes' to the aid of :the trade: "Eye-witness"' may. write: ''lt may not be: realised at tome that for the lack"'of means wherewith from afar "off to blow into the" air some trench or post' bristling: with' machine giins or barbed wire, friends, or at any rate countrvmen, may be mown down in swathe's. '.."..""' . . - For every failure' to perform their share of the common task on the "oart of. the industrial combatants the price will'have to be paid bv their comrades in "the field—in blood." "S

But such language falls heedless upon drink-sodden workmen, and .the Trade is-adamant. Shall we forget this? Let us hooe that Kitchener will demand absolute, 'banishment' hv the House of Commons as the condition of continuing as War Minister.—Tarn. etc, J. A. LOCHORE.