THE HABITUAL DRUNKARDS' ACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6213, 15 October 1881, Page 7

THE HABITUAL DRUNKARDS' ACT.

We are now in possession of a year's experience as to the working of Dr. Cameron's Habitual Drunkards' Act, and it is clear from the report just issued that virtually it has proved to be inoperative. We owe this statute, it may be remembered, to the benevolent labours of the late Dr. Donald Dalrymple, who came to the conclusion that drunkenness is a disease as capable of treatment as any other recognised malady. It was his conviction that if you can only catch a drunkard and keep him locked up for a sufficient length of time ; if you can supply him during this period with rational amusement; if you can instil moral precepts into him ; and if you also quiet his nerves by bromide of potassium and other such sedatives, you will find, at the end of a certain number of months that he will emerge from tho asylum restored to general health and a teetotaller. Since the Act came into force on January 1, 1880, two retreats have been established, and the Inspector, in his report, says :—'"l am unable to point out a single case where a permanent cure has been effected, but I can refer to several cases in which I think some good has resulted; and I am able to say that, as a rule, the general health of the patients has improved during their residence in these retreats."— European Mail.