Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1904. THE WAITATI SANITORIUM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume xxi, Issue 6280, 8 June 1904, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1904. THE WAITATI SANITORIUM.

The series of articles, on the Waitati Sanitorium, published in these columns rather more than twelve months ago, from 'hepen of an " Ex-Inmate." conclusively showed that there was at least need for inquiry into Jthe management of on institution, which was costing the country so much, and achieving so little. In the main, the facts and criticisms set forth by our then contributor, bave been more than justified by subsequent events. Making every allowance for the partial view, which was almost bound to be adopted by an ex-patient, who was dissatisfied pith the methods pursued at the Inebriates' Home, there remained an incontrovertible mass of testimony to show that the management, methods and procedure adopted at Waitati, were alike faulty, and that the Home itself was not answering the purpose for which it was called into existence. Beyond this, sthe further fact was apparent that, unless radical reforms were introduced into the management of the Home, it must continue to rank as one of the administrative,rather than legislative failures of tbe Government. Mr George Laurenson's recent criticisms and conclusions on the Home and its management, corroborate the main allegations made by our contributor, and these are again supported by the independent inquiries set on foot by the " Otago Daily Times," which expresses its conviction that, " unless the State can provide more wholesome quarters for the subjects of its experiments than those provided at Waitati, the sooner it turns its attention to something else, the better for these unfortunate patients in a place like the Orokomii Home." While there are many social authorities who regard the alcoholic habit very much in the light of a disease, and hold that it is incurable, there are many cases of successful treatment on record, and it appears to us, therefore, that the State ia justified in its attempt to grapple with the social evil involved. It is one which confronts, in more or less aggravated form, every Government which has legalised the traffic in intoxicants, and the efforts which are made for tbe cure of chronic alcoholism, need therefore to be carried out on sound linea and common sense principles, and in accordance with approved methods which have been found successful elsewhere. By all accounts, however, the Waitati Home seems to have been foredoomed to failure. It is structurally defective and insanitary, and there is evident need for urgent reform, even in the infancy of the Home, Had it been properly equipped and provided at the commencement, and had approved methods of treatment been followed, the results might have proved more satisfactory than they are doing. But, from whatever cause arising, there would appear to be not only the grave defeots noted, but a cast iron method of procedure in the treatment of patients which can only spell failure in the long run. With, this, however, there are mingled relaxations of authority which are actually injurious to the patients. So much is this the case that allegations are freely made that patients, who have been committed to the Institution for definite terms, have been discharged before their expiry, under circumstances that have excited warm protests from persons interested in their welfare. And, instead of its answering the purpose for which it was primarily designed, the Home appears to be in danger of becoming a sort of select retreat, for victims of the alcohol habit who have well to do friends. This is apparent in the correspondence which I has passed between the Medicaj Superin- [ tendent and Captain Kettle, the Stipendiary Magistrate, at Auckland, the reading of I whioh has probably caused the elevation of 1 a good many eyebrows, and aome caustic i comments on the part of newspaper readers. i In sending a woman named Dunn to gaol i for 14 d*ys, Captain Kettle remarked that she was a fit subject for the Inebriates' Home. But a former inebriate whom he had committed to that institution, was not considered "a fit associate " for the inmates; of the Home. That at least was the view t&keu by the Medical Superintendent. " Neither the regulations nor the accommodation at the Home had permitted of the classification of inmates in the female department " and ifc was difficult" to 3>sk the wife of a banker, the wife of a sheep farmer, the wife of a well known hotelkeeper, and four other respectable females." to associate with a woman who had been "eighteen times in the hands of the police." From his experience, the medical superintendent added, " this class of woman cannot be benefited in 'an Inebriate Institution, and her presence is calculated to demoralise the other inmates and lower the tone of the institution." After a statement of that sort the average man is inclined to stand aghast and wonder what sort of a " toney " atmosphere the inebriate in NewZealand has been accustomed to live in. If the people who are most in need of its help and who are, by reason of their weaknesses, a constant source of worry and expense to the authorities, are not to receive its benefits, what possible justification can there be for tbe existence of an Inebriates' Home, for tho cost of which the public are called upon to pay the pipef.