TELEGRAMS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 73, 29 March 1910, Page 2

TELEGRAMS.

TREATMENT OF INEBRIATES. PAKATOA CASES. AN AUCKLAND COMPLAINT. (BY TELEGRAPH— SPECIAL TO THE POST.] AUCKLAND, This Day. j A complaint m regard to the large number of men tent to Pakatoa from' the southern portions of New Zealand is voiced in the Star. It is stated that as soon as men began to be sent to tb« place from the South a complaint was raised in Auckland, chiefly by those who had subscribed funds to cstablisb the place, and the complaint in due course teached the then Minister of Justice, the Hon. James M'Gowan, but nothing -was done by the Government. The result la that men are still being sent to the island from every part of New Zealand. It has since been a frequent ground for protests by everyone concerned in Auckland that these men should be discharged in this city, frequently to remain a permanent charge on the district in some way or othsr, for not all the cases end in cures. The discharged one* are, guen a pat-sage back to their port of origin, and enough money to tide them over the journey, but they are not cscoited on the way by constables, and there h no'hin£ to prevent their alighting at tic nr»t station at which their train ctops. Not infrequently something of the kind happens. Another ground for complaint is that the place ha» been co freely pat- [ ronised by other guepU that there is now •frequently no room for patients from Auckland. This difficulty is sure to be accentuated very noon for the reason that tho presiding magistrates have much wider jurisdiction in dealing with habitual drunkards. Under the old Act the definition of an habitual was that he fhould be four times convicted within nin« months. Now an habitual is not co technically defined, and any man who can be piuved to bn in the habit of drinking to excess may be sent to the island. A man may alt<o be committed for a breach of his prohibition order. It may be expected that the number of candidates for places in the reformatory will be greatly increased, and as the institution is always full or nlmont full even now, it in unlikely that the drunkards committed from Auckland will find room there. \ Mr. Kettle, S.M., has frequently raised the question in court, and he did co again on Saturday when referring to the case of an habitual offender who certainly, in his opinion, ought to have been sent to Pakatoa. It is not claimed for the institution that it reforms everybody who enters it and stays there for a term, but many of the inmates have not after release relapsed into drunken ways again, to that the reformatory does in fact inrvke for good. Mr. Kettle is anxious that the good work should not be impeded or interrupted, and be thinks that either more accommodation should be provided here or other reformatories establiehed for men from other districts. rrAESS ASSOCIATION.! ODDFELLOWSHIP. IS THERE A SPIRIT OF INDIFFERENCE? NAPIER, 28th March. The biennial meeting of the Movable Committee of tho New Zealand Hrimch of the Manchester Unity, Independent Order of Oddfellows, waa continued to- I night. The report of the Grand Master and the board of directors stated that the I Unity wat making slow but steady progress. One factoi that had affected tho | Unity in New Zealand in common with other societies was the wave of depression that had been pat-sing over the I Dominion during the past two or three j yeara. The directois could not help thinking there was a ppiiit of indifference abroad with reference to making provision for the future. It behoved them to see that the friendly societies were not too much endangered by the provisions for relief in,,tases ot age, McknePß, and accident made by the Government. The dhectors* recommended that, tho co-operation of other friendly societies bo nought in having the clauses made law that were eliminated fiom the Friendly Societies' Act. The bulancc-eheet of the branch was adopted. The receipts of the management fund were shown to be £277 9s, and the expenditure £216 13s 3d, leaving a credit balance of £60 15« 9d. The relief fund showed a credit balance of £147 17s 9d. A telegram was received from the Prime Minister an follows :— "On the occasion of this important gathering of delegates from all parts of the Dpminion, I take the oppoit unity of congratulating your Order on its solid and continued progress. I trust that the important proposals before you for the benefit of your huge membership will 6till further promote the habits of thrift and providence among our people. ' A SMART ARREST. NEW PLYMOUTH, 28th Miuth. A smait piece of police and dctecthe work was recorded on Sunday night. During the evening a houFe octupied by Mr. SUgpoolo wns burglariously mtcied", and about £18 stolen from a tinnk with a key laken from a pocket in Hi* room. Then _ a bedroom iv a nei<;liuouring boaidinghouso wa.s entered ami money stolen fimn a pair of trousers under the pillow of a bed on which • mtn was -sleeping. Detective Boddani \va« roiifed by Conhtable O'Neill at midnight, and twohoum later had a man named James Baldwin arrested. He was in bed in another boardinghouse, and the booty was found in his possei-eion. MISCELLANEOUS. NEW PLYMOUTH, 28th March. The golf tournament was. continued to-day. J. Harold and A. H. Lewis (both of Wanganui) play tho final for the championship to-morrow. CORE, 29th March. Tho first meeting of the Gore Athletic Society today wa« a great puccef?. Trembath, from stiatch, giving starts up to 48 yards, won the quarter-mile easily in the xplendid time of 50 l-ssec, on a rough track. \V. Milne, while wrestling, strained himself co severely as to break three ribs. WESTPORT, 28th March. The body of a man named M'Minh, who had been miosing since Sunday week, waR found at Seigeant Hill in a much decomposed .state. NAPIER, 28th March. , The Thorndon water polo team, which' on Saturday defeated the Hastings | learn, was to-night beaten by the Napipr Swimming Club's No. 1 learn by two goals to nil. HOTORUA. 28th March. liotorua at present if, packed with visitois, the excursion trains being crowded each evening, and naturally the 6ighta of the district are well patronised, especially the Waimuatu round i trip and Whakarewwiw*.