“POTENT POISON”

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 195, 31 May 1945, Page 3

“POTENT POISON”

EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMISSION (P.A.) AUCKLAND. May 30. “No consideration of the licensing of the sale of alcoholic liquor can achieve anything unless it bears in mind, and keeps bearing in mind, the nature of the chief ingredient in the commodity which is licensed to be made and sold,” said John Frederick Gwyther Richards, medical practitioner, in evidence before the Licensing Commission to-day. The witness said the chief ingredient was alcohol, and alcohol was a potent, poison to human tissues. It was not in itself a beverage or drinkable substance at all. Undiluted, it was to human tissues a poison, and nothing but a poison. Diluted, it was still poison, the toxicity of which was inversely proportionate to the degree of dilution. Properties which made it attractive to those who drank it were its .rudefacient effect on the lining of the stomach, producing an agreeable sense of warmth; its property of dilating peripheral circulation, producing an agreeable sensation of glow; and its property of removing from a slight to an increasingly greater extent those inhibitions and controls which civilised man had gradually built up to make his actions harmless to his fellows. Chemists Restricted. “In its less developed form this produces a feeling of liberation from the constraints of modern life, giving a sense of freedom and enlargement,” said the witness. “In suitable dilution alcohol produces these effects without any considerable development or recognition of the essentially toxic nature of the substance, alcohol, which produces them; but. the margin is small and can easily he overstepped. If the effects of alcohol could be maintained by this minimal level of toxicity, its use in such quantities, suitably diluted, could be regarded as reasonable and allowable. Now a nice degree of judgment is necessary to determine the level at which the allowable poisonous effect of this substance is passed. It is clear, therefore, if the well-being of the individual is at issue, that the retailers of this substance should he highly trained in their capacity to judge the point at which this substance ceases to be a reasonable article of sale, and at which it becomes poison, definitely harmful to the individual, and therefore injurious to the State. Medical opinion on the poisonous nature of alcohol in any hut minimal quantities is well established and irrefutable.” The witness pointed out that chemists, who were highly trained, were restricted in sales of poisons, whereas alcohol for sale was put in the hands of persons who were not experienced. The position of the Maori race under the existing licensing restrictions was discussed by Mr Kahi Tnkimoana Harawira, Maori vocational guidance officer in Auckland, when giving evidence before the Commission. Mr Harawira said he had served with the Maori Battalion overseas, both in the last war and the present war, and Had worked in many Maori districts as a minister of the Church of England. The decision at the recent Rotorua

conference of Maori representatives to press for the lifting of the present restrictions on the sale of liquor to Maoris was more concerned with destroying the discrimination between races than securing the right to take liquor away from hotels. The witness said that Maoris objected to being placed under restrictions while Pacific islanders, Chinese, and Indians were free to do as they pleased. “I am afraid it is only too true that a good deal of social security money paid out to Maoris these days is being spent on liquor,” Mr Harawira said. “I do not wish to pinpoint any one district. It is general everywhere.” Seeking a Remedy. To the chairman, Mr Justice Smith, he said Maori elders had already discussed the evil with a view to finding a remedy. Among suggestions put forward had been one that tribal committees should be empowered to collect the benefits and administer them for the good of the families concerned. It had even been suggested that the. principle should be applied in cases where men earning high wages were spending too much on liquor. If any finality was reached in formulating such a scheme, he would notify the commission. He did not think that a referendum on the subject of the restrictions applied to Maoris was at present advisable, unless it was conducted under tribal authority. Many Maoris were as yet uneducated, and therefore were not in a position to exercise their votes Wisely, and to their own good. They were not in a position to realise the importance of their vote in such a referendum, and might record their opinion without any real appreciation of the possible consequences. The liquor question was only a small part of the great problem that faced the Maori, Mr Harawira concluded. Personally he would like to see the law left as it stood to-day until such time as a commission was set up to examine the whole status of the Maori, embracing every social aspect.