THE TREATMENT OF INEBRIATES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 24 January 1911, Page 6

THE TREATMENT OF INEBRIATES.

PAKATOA ISLAND HOME. INOORRIGIBLES AND CURES. SALVATION ARMY'S WORK. In Friday's issue appeared the following telegram fro-.n Christchurch : The beneficial eifects of the treatment to which .habitual drunkards are submitted at the institution on Pakatoa Island do not appear to be permanent. At any rate, they are not in cases of which the city solicitor told a reporter to-day. He had mpl several men who had been discharged from P-akatoa, and' the most marked characteristic displayed by them on their return to the regions of the open bar was a strong thirst for liquor. As far as he had learned from , these men the craving for drink remained in check only until they reached Auckland oil their return from the home. Several men had applied to him for money to pay for meals or lodging, but in each instance their single purpose was the possession of means to puTcnae liquor. Brigadier Bray, in charge of the Salvation Army's social work in the North Island, was interviewed by a "Times" reporter regarding these statements. He said:— "Of course, the statement may be quite true. We know such things ;are possible amongst men coming from Pakatoa. We have never disguised the fact that you can only !jet a certain percentage of cures. Police Sub-Inspector _endry, of Auckland, told me that if the home had only accomplished tbc good work which had come under his personal notice, its establishment wa fully justified. You must remembci that there is always a good deal < f 'back-wash' in such work of reform. THE HOPELESS CASES.

"There are a number of incorrigible hopeless cases that can never be re claimed. If we can secure thirty per cent of reforms then we will have done well. There is no inebriate institution in the world that has ever succeeded ir. getting beyond thirty or thirty-three pej cent of reforms. Take the great institution of Brentry, near Bristol, one of the most Tip-to-date institutions of its kind in the world ! There they never got more than thirty per cent. It has to be considered that vre take all kinds of' inebriate cases, including the abso-' lutely incorrigible., Classification up to the present has been impossible, though under the Government's new scheme something in the direction of propei classification is to be attempted. The doors of the Paka.toa Home have been •-■pen as much to the hopcles drunkard as to every class of inebriate, and of such inmates there must always be a certain percentage that will go back to drink. Since the institution has been established 131 patients have been discharged, and seventy-four are now there. The Christchurch solicitor, > nr. doubt, met some o.f the 'back-wash.' it it not likely that h e would have met any men who have been reformed thcr. because it is not probable that anyone would care to spread the fact that he had been an inmate of Pakatoa. ENCOURAGED TO GO ON.

"The-Army has not the slightest desire to make it appear that all the peisons passing through Pakatoa would be cured. It was anticipated at the outset that there would be a great number of failures, but we are sufficiently encouraged by the percentage of successes wo have obtained. Mr C .J. Parr, Chairman of th£ Auckland Education Board, ::nd other leading citizens, from then own personal knowledge, have givertestimony to the excellent work that has been accomplished in reclaiming vie tims of the drink habit. It may yo-t come about" that in regard to a certain setion of drunkards you will have to impose even the habitual sentence, id-. stead of the ordinary twelve months detention, by not again allowing such men loose on society. Out of the seventytour inmates at present at Pakatoa at least forty-five are a fine, decent stamp of men; surely it will be admitted that keeping these men amidst- clean sur roundings for a period does them morp *ood than if thev were allowed to Tever:. fo their old methods during that time. They are far better there than sending them to gaol repeatedly for the same offence. Even the Under-Secretary fo" Justice ,in his last report, admits thai it is better to keep these men at Pakatoa than to keen them in_prison. The percentage of "absolute wrecks does doi discourage us?- We have Teason to oe { lievo that the results so far will b< satisfactory to those who have given am thought at- all to the great difficult} that surrounds the work of reclaiming the hopeless drunkard." ,