Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1901. THE WAITATI INEBRIATES' HOME.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume xxii, Issue 6456, 28 December 1904, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1901. THE WAITATI INEBRIATES' HOME.

As announced the other day, the Government have decided to close the Inebriates' Home at Waitati, situated a few miles north of Dunedin. About eighteen months ago the question of the treatment of alcoholism waa prominently before the public, and we published then a aeries of articles from the pen of an ex-iuinate of the VVaitai Home, criticising the institution and its management. Those articles treated the subject pretty thoroughly, and the chief conclusion come to was that the system pursued in the institution was castirou in its uniformity, and therefore, in the majority of cases, useless. What was needed wa3 some method of classification by which different patients might be treated in different ways, according to the specific characteristics of their case, Dr MacGregor, in his annual report, pointed out that the medical officer's powers of inflicting punishment for breaches of rules were quite insufficient to maintain discipline in the institution. Tho malcontents were doing their best fco nullify the efforts of the authorities, and to spread the spirit of discontent among the better disposed patients. Dr RtacGrogor also made some other valuable suggestions, the adoption of which mighfc have made the meriinal o'ficer's task leas difficult. But the Qovernment in deciding to accept no more patients for the institution have prob ibly taken the step that was most advisable under the circumstances. The treatment of alcoholism i- one of the most difficult problems known to medical sci-nce, and it is admitted tlj.it without the whole-souled co-operation of the patient himself there is no hope of effecting a cut'&. The number of permanent cures on record is lamentably small, and those who have been cured havn mostly been favoured by fortune in the circumstances surroundiug their cases. The Waifcuti institution had fcb> ruost difficult; of difficult tasks before it from the start, and it is therefore not surprising that success has not beftn attained. The majority of those sent to Waitati belonged to the class of patientfchit. are least, likely or" all to bo c ired. hey were s«nt to tho Home by their relaives or by the police, in either cas^ag-imsr their own wNhec, and a<< in ale -holic cases i>. is absolutely essential that the pafcien should undor^afcho treatment willingly ano* cheerfully, the attempt to cure the patientin question w s foiodoomed to failure. A sanguine estimate of tho proportion o( "•.ures effHCt,' d among the most f ivourab' cases in English In"briate Homes place" tho re-ult at 25 per cent. Rut other authorities doubt the permanency of even » fifth of thnt amount. Drunkenness is recognised to be a disease of the will power and can only be cured by the exercise of the patient's will. Before such an institution a.T the Waitati Home could hive any hope of successfully treating an alcoholic patient, the latter must recognise the seriousness of his own condition and the misery he is bribing on his family and friends, and h<tniist be aniciowfi to help in effentiug V>>s iwn reform, ft has fo.oen asnerwinod that fcho nwage period l'>ria^ which the inmates ?ent to Waitati had b»on addicted h> «mi9Rßivo drinking was fcwplve voars, so thnt the material which the authorities bad to work on waa not of a very "hopefnl kind. Tho cost to the State w»b not and couM not h« justified by the results attained, and under tho ejrcumfltances th^ Govurnmo'it wisely dpoided unfc to spend m»re money on attempting to achieve the injnossiMe. Th«> "xcerim^nfc hns, however, m\t bean ■ »s vilne, and thn lessons learned thnre will ..rovfl good guides in the future, should *ueh a invitation nver be pgfc*ihlish«i If a similar Home i-i "Rtahlishia J it any time, a rigid system, of selection will

have to bo carried out, so that the " impossibles " may be rejected, and some system of classification of those patients who are selected will also have to be pursued. It is net likely, however, that the experiment will be made in the near future.