RECLAIMING INEBRIATES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19931, 27 April 1928, Page 12

RECLAIMING INEBRIATES.

ROTO ROA AND PAKATOA. MINISTERIAL INSPECTION. " THOROUGHLY WELL PLEASED." PATIENTS' LIFE OUTLINED. " I am thoroughly well pleased with what I saw, and great credit is due to those in charge," said the Hon. F. J. Ilolleston, Minister of Justice, after inspecting the homes for inebriates on Roto Roa and Pakatoa islands yesterday. Ho was accompanied by Mr. A. Harris, M.P., Mr. R. P. Ward, Under-Secretary for Justice, Mr. B. L. Dallard, Controller of Prisons, Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., and Dr. D. N. W. Murray, medical officer.

Lying off the east end of Waiheke, the islands, which aro the property of tho Salvation Army, are picturesque and ideally designed for the purposes of health resorts. Better locations for such homes could not bo imagined. Without the employment of bolt or key, the will-weakened victims of alcoholic excess are not faced with the temptations of a mainland location and have the opportunity of living active days devoted to a variety of pleasant outdoor pursuits, which are tho best basis of recovery. They provide the machinery of occupational therapy. Pleasant Environment.

People without knowledge of the place and the mode of its lifo may imagine that Roto Roa is a kind of prison, where at best patients mope away long days of hopeless regrets. While it is not to be expected that the average man sent there without his consent will admit tho justice of his committal—alcoholism being a very deluding disease —the environment and interests provided by the wisdom of the Salvation Army are calculated to lift the mind from brooding and self-pity, build up physical reserves of strength and so fallow the field for the cultivation of will-power.

Roto Roa is really a farm and the home has something of the character of a flourishing homestead, liach man has a task, often one of his own selection, which need not tax his strength, and the opportunity of the very useful diversion of fishing. It has been found in prison administration that the more useful and creative the work prescribed for prisoners the greater is the moral response, and the same principle must apply to the # inhabitants of the inebriates' home who, it must be emphasised, are not criminals. In the early days of the home it did become the practice of magistrates to commit there inebriates with growing criminal records, but soon that was stopped and no man sent there, cither on the magistrate s judgment or at his own request, has added to a sense of remorse the tortur-'J of criminal stigma.

- Tasks and Recreations. The home itself occupies a commanding site above a bay which is almost the counterpart of the wharf bay o* Motuihi, and on a flat below are spread out the vegetable gardens and the fanr buildings, with a liberal area devoted to flowers and lawns. An excellent herd of cows provides tasks for several, pigs of quality absorb the interests of others, a former patient who employed himself in this division becoming so whole-hearted in his enthusiasm that. he used to scrub his charges frequently, while a first-class poultry department, composing 600 fowls and 400 ducks, housed in model style, are the responsibility of others. A small flock of sheep is carried to supply part of the meat supply, all the work attaching thereto being done by patients. As in the best-managed farm homosteads, the bulk of the supplies are '• home grown," and so the preserving of fruit, jam-making, smoking fish, and like activities, all give usctul employment to the establishment, which is an entirely self-contained community. Apart from the supervising officials of the Salvation Al'iny, who live in their own quarters, there are no employees. All domestic duties-cooking, cleaning and laundering —are performed by patients, and theie are also workshops for a tailor, a boot repairer, a plumber and csirpenter. Amusements are not lacking. _ lhe billi u'd room is popular, and so is the wireless set, which is capable of connecting with Australian stations. In summer there is cricket and in winter football teams from Waiheke meet those of the home, and on a lawn there is a golf putting green. The cubicle bedrooms are not luxurious, but quite comfortable, and the whole place is kept spotlessly clean. The Annual Deficit. It should be mentioned that, although the Salvation Army receives from the Government £1 a week for each patient committed, and markets the productions of the island to the best advantage, it is. not clearing expenses by a fairly considerable amount, and there is no justification for the idea that their samaritan wOnc is commercialised. . In Roto Roa there are at present 35 male patients, and oil Pakatoa about a do*en female patients, who probably appreciate th© fact that control by th© Salvation Army saves them from exactions of officialdom. In charge at Roto Roa is Major W. Home, and at Pakatoa Adjutant Bolton their staff commander oeing Lieutenant-Colonel H. Simpson, Dominion social Secretary, who was present at yesterday's inspection. Having expressed his approval of what he had seen, the Minister of Justice, in an interview, mentioned that the recommendations of committees ho had appointed to report upon the homes at tho end of last year liad in the main been carried out, and that everything' was working satisfactorily, and the committee was satisfied, everything was progressing favourably. Question of Resident Doctor.

In regard to the question of the appointment of a resident doctor, there were difficulties, in view of the smallness of the numbers and the fact that his time would not be fully occupied. It. had to be remembered the islands were linked by telephone to the mainland, and that the official doctor, who made a regular monthly visit, could be summoned whenever required. As to classification of the patients, there was also difficulty owing to it being impossible to find a basis for classification. Classification on a social basis would not be satisfactory, and it would be impossible on the basis of degree of inebriety, seeing that when patients were removed from the temptation of alcohol, they were all uniformly sober. The matter of indeterminate sentences had been mentioned. The Act prescribed a minimum of six months and a maximum of two years, but there was power to discharge at any time under exceptional circumstances. The committee made recommendations for discharge after consideration of tho merits of the case. i