LIQUOR INQUIRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25216, 31 May 1945, Page 7

LIQUOR INQUIRY

POSITION OF MAORIS racial equality wanted DOCTOR GIVES EVIDENCE The position of the Maori race under existing licensing restrictions was discussed bv -Mr, Kahi Takimoana HaraMaori vocational guidance officer ; n Auckland, when giving evidence Wore the Royal Commission on vesterdav. -Mr Harnwira stated had served with the Maori Battalion overseas both in the last war and the present conflict, and had ■worked in-many Maori districts as a minister of the Church of luigland. The decision at the recent Uotonin conference of Maori representatives to : res , for the lifting ot present restneSons on the sale of liquor to Maoris «u more concerned with destroying discrimination between races than securing the right to take iquor fwar "from hotels, witness stated. Maoris objected to being placed under restrictions while the Pacific islanders. Chinese and Indians were tree to do cs they pleased Use of Social Security Money

"I am afraid it is only too true that a 2 ood deaf of social" security moneys mid out to Maoris these davs is being spent on liquor," -Mr Harawira stated. '•I do not wish to pinpoint any one dis+r:ct it is general everywhere. To the chairman, Mr Justice Smith, he said that the Maori elders had alreadv discussed the evil with a view to finding a remedv. Among the suggestions put forward had been one that tribal committees should be empowered to collect benefits and administer them fnr the trnod of the families concerned. It had even been suggested that the principle should be applied m cases „-here men earning high wages were tnendina too much on liquor. If any finalitv was reached in formulating such a scheme he would notify the commis81°W'itness did not think that a referendum on the subject of restrictions applied to Maoris was at present advisable. unless it was conducted under tribal authority. _ The liquor question was only a small part of the great problem that faced the Maori. Mr Harawira concluded. Personally he would like to see the law left as it stood today until such time as a commission were set up to examine the whole status of the Maori, embracina every social aspect. Effects on the Human Body

Evidence relating to the effects of alcohol 011 the human body was given fcv Dr J. F Gwyther Richards, of Auckland. Liquor's chief ingredient was alcohol, rhich was a poison to the human tissues eve.i in a diluted form, said witness. Trho explained its reactions and effects when consumed. If, as he contended, the well-being of the individual-was at issue, it was clear that the retailers of alcohol should be highly trained to judge the point at which the substance ceased to be a reasonable article of sale and at which it became a poison definiteiv harmful to the individual. The witness quoted extensively front medical authorities dealing with the action of alcohol on the nervous system. Authorities were also quoted by witness on the relation of alcohol to motoring accidents and efficiency tests in typewriting, target pricking and rifle practice. The commonest direct effects of alcohol bringing drinkers under medical care were described by witness. "Under the present arrangements the trade in alcohol is both unscrupulous and traitorous." said witness. "Under cover of a permit to afford a service to the community in supplying refreshment, it prostitutes that ideal to the encouragement of excessive drinking to the point of poisoning the community from whom it derives its permit " Supporter of Prohibition

•Replying to Mr R. Hardie Boys, for the New Zealand Alliance, witness said it was remarkable that he had to write a full prescription for a small amount of poison in a cough cure and that the chemist had to keep a record of such supplies. He read details from his casebook of 14 cases arising from drink that had come under his care in the last fortnight. It was in that manner that drink cases came within the knowledge of the profession. To Mr P. B. Cooke, K.C., for the New Zealand licensed trade, witness said he had publicly spoken in favour of prohibition at the last general election and had subscribed to the New Zealand Alliance. His evidence was actually directed against excessive drinking. Some medical practitioners would prescribe brandy in certain cases, but its use in modern hospitals was decreasing. The attitude of the profession to the use of alcohol had substantially altered to a great limitation in its use. To the Hon. F. G. Young, member of th commission, he said that while individual doctors might indulge in drinking their real attitude was found in what they prescribed for their patients. To the chairman, Mr .Justice Smith, he* said he could not concede that prohibition might lead to greater evils through a sly-grog trade. The State through the police was sufficiently powerful to control and eradicate slygrogging. The minimal quantity of alcohol which should be supplied to an individual would be represented on an average by a small bottle of beer or half an ounce of whisky or brandy daily. The ideal was that all barmen should be trained to sell that. Education of the EeopSe on the effects of alcohol on the iiniHii bod- was desirable.

ASSAULT ON PATIENT male nurse charged SIX WEEKS' IMPRISONMENT 'PA) WELLINGTON, Wednesday A verdict oi guilty of common assault, with a recommendation to leniency on account of provocation, was returned Oy a jurv in the Supreme Court in a case against John William Alexander »ardle, maJe nurse, age-' 30. W'ardle charged with assaulting; Xeil Oliver Jloore so as to cause hint actual bodily harm while Moore was a patient in the Wellington Hospital. The jurv reduced the charge to common assault and returned its verdict alter a retirement of one hour. Wardle was sentenced to six Weeks' imprison men t. aii ' '''"irrant, tor accused, addressing the jury, said the case was important, as it could reflect on the administration of a great public institution -Moore's mental condition when fie entered hospital was undisputed and fie was also extremely violent. .Mr Tarrant submitted that Moore had received fii3 injurv in a struggle at the door of tfie hospital, when it had taken five ®en to return him exhausted to bed Sir.nming up, Mr .Justice Blair said male nurses were employed on account °i their muscle rather than their capacity to "soothe the fevered brow." hey were expected to u«p their brawn and muscle on proper occasions. Moore was a very troublesome patient and all the necessary and reasonable force used fi.V the accuser) to e;et him hack to bed was properly used. The quest ion was whether it was a retaliatory blow. . n °re was a hospital patient and the jury could see how necessarv it was to guard the rights of patients jealously, ■"lev might, however, accept the view Put forward bv Mr T arrant that when £ man got a blow such a* Wardle had fie might on the spur of the moment do something retaliatory almost instinctively with no intent to hurt.