The troublesome temperance question of the military canteen has been solved, I think, under severest tropical conditions at Hongkong, where there is a large garrison, and despite well meaning W. C. T. U’s. at home under different conditions, the canteen, where “vice is regulated”, has, I believe, come to stay for a while. At one time the soldier drifted into the slums. He sighed for company as only an alien among the heathen can sigh. He drank bad liquor and was robbed when drugged thereby. That he will drink liquor must be accepted, as he is the rougher sort of man, although worthy for all that. He committed offenses before the tender eye of the public, brought the service into ill repute, and cost the municipality money for trials and police. He endangered international peace, for in his “cups” he was always seeing differences instead of amenities when he met a soldier of another nation. He made himself unfit for real war. The Army and Navy Canteen, or Club, was adopted, I think, largely on Lord Roberts’ suggestion (and who will question “Bob’s” wisdom). The soldier was put on his honor and he rose fully to his opportunity. The sergeants on guard permitted sufficient indulgence, but regulated rows. Most of the men drank less, because they felt that they were drinking in “their own home”, but if they over-drank, their fellows were on hand to see that they were taken to barracks without being dragged through the public streets. Good liquor was supplied. Disease decreased, as the men were contented in barracks. Authority was respected, for it comes as second nature for even a drunken soldier to obey a soldier. The soldier is now never robbed; his life is safe; he saves money, and he drinks less because he drinks “as a gentleman what ’as ’is Club wi’ the best on ’em.” The W. C. T. U. is a necessary theory; the Soldiers’ Canteen of Hongkong, Manila, and Delhi, is a brilliant compromise which should be accepted as a solution until the world is so good that the brave and perhaps rough soldier is needed no more. Candy is sold to the soldiers, as it is found that the absorption of carbohydrates greatly decreases the appetite for alcohol. The Officers’ Army and Navy Cooperative Stores sell goods to men and their families at cost, and the American army is to adopt this method to reduce the cost of living at foreign army posts. XXIV LEGAL PRACTISE AND CRIME IN CHINA