LIQUOR PROBLEM AMONG MAORIS

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22269, 7 December 1937, Page 10

LIQUOR PROBLEM AMONG MAORIS

EFFECT OF FORTY-HOUR WEEK GRAVE CONCERN EXPRESSED BY BISHOP BENNETT (PBESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WANGANUI, December 6. The 40-hour week and its effect on the Maori people through increased facilities for the consumption of liquor were the subject of strong comment by the Rt. Rev. F. A. Bennett, Bishop of Aotearca, speaking at a social held by the Wanganui Rotary Club to-night. "What will be the end?" asked the Bishop "The Labour Government has given the people five days of labour, and on Saturdays, when the are open, the Muori people, having nothing to do, waste both their time and their money in the bars with the wages paid on Friday night The men graviia:c to these places and the dire r.rc becoming apparent already. In the north of New Zealand Ine drink problem is worse than it has been for 20 years." In a recent visit to this p:--'-"t of the country, mothers and wives had appealed to him to do all in his power to combat the evil, but what could he do? In the Waikaio, where ,in previous years no liquor had found a place at tangis and native gatherings, barrels were now found at every gathering. "The ultimate effect on the rising generation oi the Maori people is one that will be apparent to all," said the Bishop. He stated that what had become a common habit up and down the Dominion must be eradicated at all costs. __