Even then I am far from sure that the evil would be suppressed; much good might certainly result, but still much would remain to be done. I have great reason to think that in unlicensed houses in this Colony, which appear to be nothing more than coffee shops, oyster saloons, and restaurants, a good deal of intoxicating drinks are sold, and even in licensed houses one cannot always tell who is the soldier.
The fact is that, from the peculiar circumstances of the Colony, facilities exist for the obtaining of drink by soldiers which exist hardly anywhere else, and the case of India is not at all analogous. The comparative sobriety of the soldiers there is, in my opinion, to be attributed not so much to the fact that publicans are forbidden to sell drink to them, as to the fact that they themselves are unable to procure liquor. We all know that a soldier's pay would not afford him many chances...