BUSH BEER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 152, 27 June 1914, Page 11

BUSH BEER.

. , THE COOK ISLAND PROBLEM. AX ANCIENT CUSTOM. illy Oar Special '"orrcspondenl.) RAKOTOXGA, June 10. To many New Zcalanders tho Cook Islands have but one serious problem— bush beer. Mo one who knows the Islands denies that bush beer is made and drunk, and that the habit is spreading. It is made so very easily. What U orange juice in the morning is bnsh beer at nijiht because ot fermentation. One man. a resident of long standing, said that the practice had prevailed for , many years. Before the beer was made from orangey it was made from bananas, and it the old custom ha-d been retained I things might not have been so bad. But there have be.en developments. Instead of the liquor being made from pure oranges, it is no-v made from bops, and strengthened with tobacco and other ingredients. The result is a drink that caiii-e.s trouble—a liquor of ihe sudden death variety. As a matter of ftu-t, a man died in delirium tremens a few weeks ago, but there was some doubt a,s to whether the cause w.us bush beer or Tahiti rum. Dr. Craig, a former resident medical officer, once, reported that it would be better to allow the natives to brew their own beer than to give them the imported article. hi his address to the arikis, Dr. TomaTO made an appeal for active assistance in stamping out the evil. He emphasised the disastrous effects which the habit would have upon the race, and said that if Micy wished to preserve the race they must grip the problem •with a strong hand. If they did not do that the ltarotongans would die out. i If it. were po-elblo to isolate the Islands and the islanders something might | be done to grapple with the problem. ] Each month, however, Uie steamers take I away a number of Island boys to trim coal and work cargo. At Tahiti drink — and from all reports drink of a very ibadly order —is available in any quantity. The boys, who go to Tahiti by one mailboat have to wait there some days for the mailboat coming south, and the results are disastrous. Not J only do the boys get a liking for very strong drink, but they contract diseases of a very dangerous kind. It is admit- : te.l that the source of the venereal diseases which are doing so much to destroy this island race is Tahiti. it is one of the corses of the Smith Pacific. It is not an easy matter to catch boys making bush beer, and still more dillicuH to detect those who make hop ticer, and so on, in their own houses. The Resident Commissioner has inflicted heavy fines when offenders have been caught, but the result ha-s not been to reduce bu?b-befir drinking. The only resnit is a deep-rooted suspicion in the native mind that these fines are imposed in order to S«'t the natives' money. ludecd, atnong both Europeans and natives there is a suspicion that the court is being made -a. revenue-produc-ing institution. It is stated on good authority that a ] native has, been fined a year's earnings. .!A .native named Tua Taiueku made j some -drink in his own honse. There jiwas no disturbance of any sort, and he bad no convivial friends. lie was j lined £5 for making the drink, and £2 ! for drinking it. At the Government's valuation of a man's services on the roads, it will take Tua 1411 days to get the money to pay that fine. Rama was fined £10 for the came offence. A iiiative working on a plantation can earn about £30 a rear, and these drastic fines make the natives resentful. When the Governor heard the petitions of the natives, a day or two after hiis arrival at Rarotonga, a young man named Tanei got up and asked why there should be two laws—one for the white man and one for the Maori Were they not all British subjects, and, therefore, equal. The European could get liquor and drink it, yet if the Maori j made orange beeT be was fined heavily. Why. he atsked, was the European not fined? His Excellency entered into quite a little discussion with Tanei. He said that he was quite convinced that European and Maori were treated exactly alike on oharges of drunkenness. Would it be a good thing to have unlimited drinking on the island. Tanei thought not, but contended that all on the island should be placed on the same footing. The Governor said that he would lay tbe matter before his advisers, bat could bold out no hope that the request would be acceded to. The whole trend of events, he added, was -to Limit and curtail the supply of liquor rather than to add to it, and in the long run .the white men who did -without it were better off in every way. The bush-beer problem is a difficult one. but it ie hard to see how any system of fines can improve matters. The arikis know of the danger that confronts their people, and would grapple with it if they could. But the ariki ■ has been deprived of his or her powcir. Pome look to the formation of a Federal I (Council or Parliament. Here is the 'problem, let the Maori jrrapplo with il. I Perhaps the institution of schools may !do something to train the younger 'generation in the way they should go; •possibly a direct appeal to the elderly ] natives for co-operation would do some- ! thing, but to merely fine heavily h useless. It means that the native ceases Ito cultivate his land or work. Apathy I overtakes him, and resentment follows.