TREATMENT OF INEBRIATES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 145, 13 March 1908, Page 3

TREATMENT OF INEBRIATES.

-VIEWS OF AUCKLAND' LIBERAL FEDERATION. . .',

•<BT TELEGRAPH—SPJXIAIi COMIESPONDENI.I

Au'cKlaiid; March; 12'.',: Hitherto the establisiiiiioiit; ac 'liell's .Island

by the Kalvatiori .ijiinyc-li'as been' -looked ;\ipun pretty generally ..'as 'im' excellent' institution. A' new- view was, however, expressed by the Auckland Branch of the [Liberal .and, Labour i'eueratiori [iasfr. night. in;'.proposing, a motion, which was carried .unammuusiy, disapproving ..of, tho whole.' scneme,. the • President (Mr. 'P.: J.'.iSerhorijO, said that'lie did' .'not look upon- habitual drairikards 'in' any sense as -. criminals, and lie' submitted that their reformation could not be, accomplished by taking away their manliness, separating tlieiu from their families, and degrading, thorn even , more than if; they were 'committed •to prison. In prison the taxpayers got some return for tho amount expended, whereas when ail inebriate was co'mmitted, to Bell's island they had, through the Government, to pay 7s. 6d. a ' week for upkeep. Then again, ; not only. had the taxpayers to. pay tlie inebriate's upkeep, but they had also, through the Charitable. Aid Board,'to support his family. Why, asked the speaker, should theso inebriates be sent to Bell's Island, when their labour could be used to advantage to the State, themselves, and their wives and families?: (Applause:) Many of,these men when sober were the best that any private individual could have in his employ, and if/they were put. on, a State farm, as he urged, then. they, should be paid for the work performed. What they wanted to do was to cement the family ties of these men,/not to burst tliein asunder by putting them into exile. Under such conditions Bell's Island, he declared, was a place from which they would never bring a converted individual,- but hard and fast drunkards,'who as- such' 1 , would go to the grave. ' (Applause.)

Mr. A. G. S; Black considered that no religious body should bo entrusted with the reform of inebriates, which was the task'of tho Stato. ' .- ' 1 /

Mr. J. Patterson suggested, that-it would be better to employ inebriates in'tree planting and draining swamps. The Hon.'W. Beehan, M.L.C., agreed that habitual drunkards should not be treated as criminals, and also that they should be placed on State farms, and so treated that when they v.'erd set at liberty again no stigma would attach to them.

Mr. Alfred Kidd, M.P., endorsed in tho .main what, had been said by the. President, Bell's Island, he considered, was well adapted for its present purpose,' but whether any particular ; sect should undertake the work in preference, to tho State was open to question. .The authority sanctioning inebriates being committed to the Salvation Army care was given by not by Parliament. . The discussion which had taken place,,.would, no doubt, do good, and. he thought that among the first people whom the Government would place on, their proposed. State market gardens would be the inebriates. '