Survey Of Heavy Drinkers

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32208, 29 January 1970, Page 20

Survey Of Heavy Drinkers

(N.Z. Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, Jan. 28. Heavy drinking on a daily basis was not an exclusively male practice and some women had been recorded as consuming up to three gallons of beer a day, said Mr D. Simpson, a research sociologist at Wellington Hospital. Mr Simpson was speaking today to the fourth school of alcohol studies at Massey University about a survey he made in 1968 of the drinking behaviour of rural and urban Maoris. Rotorua, with a history of at least 16 years of city life, was the urban sample and Tikitiki, on the east coast of the North Island, the rural.

Ten of the 40 urban females used for the survey had been heavy drinkers, Mr Simpson said.

It had been confirmed that some of these women consumed between 10 and 15 jugs of beer on a drinking day. This day began when work ended and continued until after midnight, he said. Some women consumed three gallons, or 480 fluid ounces, of beer during the day. Maoris drank heavily for enjoyment and did not so often become manifestly alco-hol-dependent as did Europeans, Mr Simpson said. They were severely under-repre-sented in the alcoholic wards of mental hospitals. During 1966-67 only 14 Maoris were admitted to mental hospitals for alcoholism, compared with 809 nonMaoris, he said. “Maoris in Rotorua and Tikitiki, even those consid-

ered excessive drinkers by some European standards, can apparenly give up drinking at will, either temporarily or permanently,” he said. “There is no recorded indigenous intoxicant.” Alcohol provided a measure of adjustment for Maoris, who were under pressure on the one hand to adapt to a fast, secular and materialistic European culture, and on the other to develop a strong sense of Maoriness and Maori culture.

“Such an adjustmental manoeuvre may keep Maoris out of mental hospitals, but it may not keep them out of gaols,” he said. "It can be reasonably supposed that drink is one of the chief factors in the high Maori crime rate.”

Urban daily drinkers were predominantly married males, but were not of any particular age. Six of the seven rural daily drinkers were mar-

ried men in the 30-49 age group, Mr Simpson said. Light and less-than-weekly drinkers were similarly distributed among the females. “Perhaps 25 per cent or more of the married Maori men are the Sunday ’get away from the wife and kids’ type of drinkers," he said. The urban sample spent more money on alcohol than the rural sample did. “Those spending more than $lO a week are the same people who drink seven days a week. These heavy drinkers are predominantly young married males in the rural sample and married males of any age in the urban sample." Urban drinkers were more likely to have a special drinking day and more drinking days than those in rural areas. Drinking was most likely to occur at a hotel for both samples, with the home running a poor second as a drinking location, Mr Simpson said.