SIR ROBERT STOUT ON ALCOHOL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 21 November 1911, Page 6

SIR ROBERT STOUT ON ALCOHOL.

At the Supreme Court, Wellington, the other day, Mr Wilford applied for probation for a young fellow who had pleaded guilty to several charges of theft and one of forgery. As to the last-mentioned case. Sir Robert Stout remarked that if these were the only charges against the prisoner he might have given him probation; but he found that there were other things. It was impossible to give probation. He could not violate the rules which had been laid down by the other Judges, and in which he had concurred. It was a rare thing for probation to be/given on charges of forgery, bnt he had done it before, and he might have done it in this case if it had not been for the other offences.

Mr Wilford: It was one of drink. His Honor: No, there were six months between the offences.

Mr Wilford: But drink was the cause all the time.

His Honor: Well, if he was on a •Irinking bout for six months he must t>« given some time to get the alcohol out of his system. I am just as anxious as jou are to help young men. I have been all my life. lam very sorry, but in this case the number of offences cannot be overlooked.

Mr Wilford urged that t,%e young man should not be sent to gaol to herd with ci-iminals when he might be sav*d by a little stretching of the law. His Honor: And in stretching, the law might be broken. Alcohol was a poison, and should be treated as such. They had not here come to that belief yet, but they would have to' if the rac» were to be saved.

Mr Wilford: It is a pity to send a man to gaol because he has been poisoned.

His Honor: I propose to send him to a place where he can get the alcohol out of his; blood. You have said everything that can be said for him, and I do not say that I am not impressed; but I must carry out the law. I am not the lawgiver, and I should be doing wrong in allowing one man to go free when others are punished. The prisoner must be sent to Rotoroa Island for 12 months for medical treatment. I hope the magistrate will take the same view and treat this as punishment for the other offences. I ask the prisoner never to touch alcohol again. Drink has been the downfall of hundreds in the community. Not a month passes in my judicial experience, but I see some young people falling through drink. Drink is not ne-<-ossary for them. They can live without it, and hundreds are now living without it.