"Drinking, A Problem Of Attitudes”

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30998, 2 March 1966, Page 3

"Drinking, A Problem Of Attitudes”

(A.Z. Press Association) INVERCARGILL, March 1. The real problem of minors drinking in hotels was one of attitudes, the AttorneyGeneral, Mr Hanan, said when addressing the annual general meeting of the Federation of the Justices of the Peace Associations in Invercargill today.

He was discussing two remits on the agenda relating to the problem of minors and liquor. These remits pressed for increased penalties for various offences, but Mr Hanan said that he wondered how far an increase in penalty increased the deterrent.

“If penalties are made very severe indeed, no doubt the additional deterrent would be substantial, but you will appreciate that one must have regard in setting penalties to the seriousness of the offence itself,” he told the federation.

“The real problem of minors drinking in hotels is one of attitudes,” he said. “Many of our younger people do not see anything wrong with this. Most of them, at

least if they have left school, drink at home and at parties, and the law makes no attempt to stop this. “They see their workmates who may be only a little older than themselves drinking in hotels. If they happen to have lived in England or Australia, they are used to a law that allows minors in hotels from the age of 18. RESPECT FOR LAW “The important thing is that people should have sufficient respect for the law’ to obey it for its own sake, and this is a problem that I am afraid affects many adults as well as young people,” said Mr Hanan.

Turning to the problem of enforcement, Mr Hanan recalled that it had been said that certainty of detection was a more powerful deterrent than severity of punishment.

“Perhaps we tend to create offences too lightly and then, having done so. congratulate ourselves and think no more about the subject,” said Mr Hanan.

He was not talking of serious offences or cases where it was essential to give protection to those who might be exploited, but of the great mass of what have been called “welfare offences,” he said. “There is a danger in multiplying offences that are obviously seldom going to result in prosecutions,” he warned.

“This is the danger of a gradually decreasing respect for law in general. The per-

son who commits such an offence is regarded by his fellows as unlucky rather than as a wrongdoer. This is certainly something that deserves some hard thinking and reflection,” said Mr Hanan.

Mr Hanan also said that the possibility of applying periodic detention not merely to adolescents but also to some adult offenders was being considered. He recalled that periodic detention had been established in three of the main centres and in Invercargill. “It may well be that this week-end discipline may be applicable, in a modified form, not merely to adolescent but also to some adult offenders,” he said. In his appraisal of penal

treatment, Mr Hanan told the federation that the problem of staffing was still acute. The recent national recruiting campaign based on the State Services Commission’s revised salary scale had “unfortunately proved abortive.” “Undoubtedly a much more bold and imaginative attack must be made on the vexed problem of providing ample staff for our institutions, adequately equipped physically and mentally, and motivated by a desire to help their less fortunate fellows,” said Mr Hanan. It was reassuring to know that New Zealand’s police force compared so very favourably with those of other countries in solving and detecting crime, he told the federation.

“From the figures available there seems little doubt that our methods of detection and the efficiency and integrity of our police force are equal to any in the world,’’ said Mr Hanan.

“In their work they need, and have, every reason to expect the support of the community,” he said. Mr Hanan recalled that some weeks ago the Comissioner of Police had made this timely point when he asked for an end to old prejudices and outdated attitudes on the part of the public. “From the standpoint of sheer self-interest we ought to rally behind the forces of law and order and become more zealous in the defence of all that is worth while in our lives,” said Mr Hanan.