'LIQUOR COMPLEX' RESTRICTIVE LAWS

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 56, 4 September 1945, Page 8

'LIQUOR COMPLEX' RESTRICTIVE LAWS

MAGISTRATE'S VIEWS

"The cause of temperance in matters alcoholic, as in all things relating to human conduct, is one to be supported and encouraged to the fullest extent," said Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., senior Magistrate of Auckland, in evidence before the Eoyal Commission on Licensing this morning. "It .will never be advanced, however, by pressing for total prohibition or for unreasonable or unnecessary restriction. "Theoretically, to£al prohibition should result in temperance. In practice it does not do that, but produces evils far worse than if there were no restrictions at all, other than the recognised safeguards provided by the Sale of Foods and Drugs Act, 1908. Unnecessary restriction is bad, for apart from the difficulties of enforcing any law which has not the general support of public opinion, such restriction in relation to the sale or consumption of alcholic. liquor creates, or I should say, has created in New Zealand, a riationai complex." BEST BEHAVED PEOPLE. j New Zealanders as a people were the best behaved in the world, said Mr. Luxford. We were a people with a highly-developed sense of moderation and decent conduct, and yet were made to feel that by reason of the well-meant and sincere beliefs of a comparatively small section of the community, it would not be safe to leave us without the protection of a ring of restrictions and prohibitions which no other people in the world had to put up with. The consequence was that a liquor complex had developed and a problem had been created. The psychological reactions of or-' dinary people had been wholly overlooked by the Legislature in its consideration of the various enactments it has passed, to restrict and further restrict the sale, or consumption of alcoholic liquor. They should, however, have been the first consideration when dealing with a course of human conduct not inherently evil. "To the extent that a restriction is supportable on the grounds of reasonableness public opinion will support it," said the witness. "There is no trouble in New Zealand about the prohibition against smoking in theatres; it simply isn't done for obvious and sensible reasons. Immediately, however, a restriction is imposed which is unnecessary or unreasonable, enforcement becomes difficult and in many cases ineffective. "Human nature, under the influence of the personal freedom guaranteed by the .democratic way of life, looks for every chance to circumvent such restrictions, especially when they are the result of the pressure of a small but important section of the community. In no case is this so apparent as in the sale and consumption of alcoholic drink, except perhaps in the case of betting. Mr. Luxford went on to refer to the special charm with which liquor had been invested by people in the King Country and in Western Samoa when legislation prohibited it. EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. "I regard alcoholic liquor as one of the world's greatest social amenities, but like many other amenities, may be improper use, have bad social effects in individual cases," he continued. "In the last analysis, the only effective regulation of the use of alcoholic liquor depends upon a proper public outlook on its misuse. Although alcoholic excess has been frowned upon and even, in certain circumstances, has been severely condemned, it has never carried universal condemnation in the sense that getting intoxicated or drunk is regarded as an offence against society, carrying with it a degree of social ostracism. "On the contrary, drunkenness or intoxication is popularly accepted as an excuse for wrongful behaviour— even wrongful behaviour amounting to an offence against the law. "While that general attitude continues, intoxicating liquor will remain a potential social evil, but not by any means approaching the degree of seriousness I was led to believe in my younger days by those earnest and eloquent speakers who advocated total prohibition as the panacea of all b'iir social and economic ills. "During the past seven or eight years I have dealt with at least 1000 applications for reception orders under the Mental Defectives Act, 1911. I can only think of two cases which were directly related to alcoholism. The 1944 Year Book discloses that of the 1211 admissions to the mental hospitals in New Zealand during 1942 only 15 were classified as alcoholics." There was now general agreement among psychiatrists that the chronic alcoholic and dipsomaniac were primarily psychological cases, said the witness. Alcoholism was merely a manifestation or effect of a causal disorder, indeed it was mere chance that the effect should have been alcoholism; it might have been neuroses, psychoses, or one of the strain diseases, such as diabetes or duodenal ulcer. In some cases the habit suddenly disappeared, in others it persisted without ever becoming chronic. "WRONGFULLY BLAMED." "In my opinion alcohol has been wrongfully blamed as the cause of domestic unhappiness resulting in broken homes," said Mr. Luxford. "There can be no doubt that liquor is associated with these happenings from time to time, but is seldom causal. Many a • woman has told me the same story about her husband, 'He was all right until he started drinking. It's the drink that is the matter with him. He's all right when he's sober.' "Immediately, drink is regarded as the cause of the trouble, but investigation seldom is made to find out what caused the husband to take to drink. I have no doubt that in many, but not by any means all the cases, the cause lies in the wife's acts or omissions. The manifestation of emotional upset or maladjustment, or lack of understanding between a man and a woman takes many forms, of which alcoholism is only one." Similarly, excessive drinking was often advanced as the reason why an accused person did the unlawful act, for which he stands charged. It was a stock excuse, advanced by way of mitigation. It should be treated by way of aggravation. It had never appeared to him in the course of his judicial duties that excessive drinking was primarily responsible for man 3' of the crimes which he had dealt with or investigated with a view to sending the accused for trial or sentence. On the other hand, he had been struck by the number of habitual drunkards who had never been convicted of a serious offence involving dishonesty, violence, or immorality. DANGER TO YOUTH. "The greatest danger to moral wellbeing arising from alcoholic liquor1, in my opinion, is its surreptitious consumption by young people, and particularly by young people of the two sexes when they are in the one party," he said. "The present restrictions on the sale and consumption of liquor do not assist matters; on the contrary, the greater the restriction on things not inherently evil in themselves and not considered inherently evil, the greater the mysticism that surrounds them and the greater the curiosity of the younger people. Anyone who knows anything at all of the psychology of youth knows that his most potent activating force is the urge to do the things a full-grown man can do. "The boys and girls of today- go about together—to the pictures, to dances, etc., in. a way which would not have, been thought of 40 years ago —and there is no reason why they shouldn't provided there is no surreptitious drinking. Liquor has been banned from the dance hall. It gets in at times, but as far as I can see from the number of cases I have had to deal with, many young people plant bottles for after the dance. "Respectable and sensibly controlled alcoholic refreshment at a dance helps the dance along. The claret cup has been permitted for many generations —even during the stern Victorian era, but that has now been added to the list of 'Thou shalt nots' if the dance is a public dance within the meaning of the statute. I strongly advocate the granting of licences for the sale of ale and New Zealand-made wine at restaurants, dance halls, and like places of amusement." The Commissioner of Police held a contrary view and so did other senior police officers whose opinions he .also