“Teen-age-Adult Gap”

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32031, 4 July 1969, Page 12

“Teen-age-Adult Gap”

An ever-widening gap between a teen-age culture and an adult culture lent itself to the development of drug addictions and the abuse of alcohol in the young, the president of the Canterbury branch of the National Society on Alcoholism (Dr E. B. Reilly) said in his report presented to; I the annual meeting last! 'evening. As the Governor-General (Sir Arthur Porritt) recently pointed out, this gap was a rapidly growing menace to the whole of civilisation, said Dr Reilly. Parents had to play their part by their own good example and by a sympathetic understanding of their children’s problems. A recent analysis had shown that of the 289 cases

of acute alcoholism admitted to a major hospital in a nveyear period, 6 per cent were aged 20 or less. Statistics also revealed that admissions of young persons to psychiatric hospitals for treatment of alcoholism had increased substantially, said Dr Reilly.

The society had concentrated mainly on an education programme of prevention and efforts had been made to involve senior students of secondary schools by lectures and debates.

; A debate “that the legal [drinking age should be lowered” brought out some good arguments for and against from pupils of four secondary schools last evening. Two boys from St Andrew’s College and two girls from Mairehau High School took the affirmative and girls from Villa Maria College and St Mary’s College took the negative. Two students from the

Holy Noure Seminary summed up for the proposition and two students from Christchurch College summed up for the negative. The affirmative won by 52 to 24 on a vote by the audience.

A large part of the audience consisted of pupils from several secondary schools and many of them expressed their views strongly. Officers elected were:

Chairman, Dr E. B. Reilly; executive, Mrs M. Bell, Messrs J. G. Hunter, L. W. Warren, K. Jones, M. G. L. Loughnan, Dr M. B. Cook, Dr K. O’Connor and Dr T. W. Harrison.