THE STUDY OF THE ABNORMAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13589, 10 May 1906, Page 10

THE STUDY OF THE ABNORMAL.

TO THE EDITOR. Sin,—Fu your leader, under (lie abovo title, of May 5, you say: "It secnis pertinent to us!; why a Government should neglect to study tho causes of crimo that so seriously affects it," and later: "Tho fact cannot be gainsaid that, whild Governments are put to great expense and trouble in catching, trying, and caring for tho criminal, very little is given to advance tho study of the causes that lead to crime"; and again latei, "Prevention is better than cure." All this is accurato and praiseworthy, but why do not papers of the standing of tho Otago Daily Times follow out the tnaching of their own leaders whe-n application is needed to the greatest crime-producer of the age? Your leader says further: "Many praiseworthy efforts have been made, and arc being made, to grapple wth these, social evils, but almost all of them are of a palliative nature and do not go to tho root of tho matter." Now, my charge against, your paper. Sir, is'this: when a body of earnest reformers, at their own expense and by reason of an expenditure of elt'ort anil loss of social case and communion which only those in the centre of tho light, know, attack a great " cancer on tho body politic" (to quoto _Mr Justice Denniston) which is universally acknowledged by all to be productive of more crime, disease, and social dorelicts than any other known cause, then, Sir, your journal rises up in its might and smites those struggling reformers hip and thigh. There is in this just cause of complaint. Wo are doing the very thing that you say ought to be done, and attacking the cause of the bulk of the crime and a- very large proportion of the suicides, accidents, lunacy, family uiihappiness, and deterioration of'charactcr that daily comes to light in our courts ami Iho columns of trie daily papers, and yet you smite us! You may answer Mat you do not agree with our methods of attacking tli& general consumption of alcoholic liquors (for it is to this I refer as the main crime-producer); but, Sir. again I say you have no right,' from tho'standpoint of actual criminal statistics, to disagree with our methods, and. further, you refuse to attack tho evil by any method. Tho statistics prove my assertions. Even the small measure of success granted to us in the isolated electorates, surrounded by liquor areas, that have carried no-license proves it. In order that it may not rest at mere assertion, I attach a table of. comparisons which even tho ingenuity of a .bitter opponent of no-license could not attack with any hope of success. (I have also some most convincing official statistics on a larger scale front America, but can afford to stick to our own New Zealand examples.) You yourself advocate, in this instance palliative measures, such as moro carpful supervision, better men to conduct the trade, etc., and propose to leave tho cause—i.e., the huge evil of the general sale and careless consumption of hurtful and poisonous liquors as beverages untouched! I defy you now, as I have defied you before, to produce a single instance where the general sale of alcoholic liquor to all who like to buy. under any system, or by any individual has not produced precisely tho same evils that we see resulting in New Zealand. It is not the manner ofsalo or tho seller, but Iho sale itself, that, produces the evil. Almost every day .of late there has beetr chronicled in your columns a suicide, murder, or fatal"accident, of which drink is the cause. Two or three times a wee!; for the last tliroo vears there has been unfolded in tho local court sordid tales of heartbreak and home misery; result. prohibition orders, 118 of which were issued in Dunedin alone in 1905, and 123 in 1904. For six months fApril Ist to September 30. 1905). I out out of your columns and those of the Evening Star nil those eases of crime and offences which were them shewn to. be the result of drink. In f.hosfl six months ((wo were 519 eases so shown, and a ghastly record it. is. To nuote Mr F. N, Oharrington (who sacrificed his claim to a great brcwerv estate sooner than defde his hands with money thus eimorll, "Drink is the cause: drink is Hie curse." Will you lielr. us to remove that cause? Vested interests are all that stand against, you doing so. Wero there are no vested interests to consider, you would be as well able to see that prohibition of tho salo of alcoholic liouors is necessary, as you are able to that prohibition of the rale of onium is necessary. There is very little difference' between the two. except that one is an Eastern vice and the other is a European 'one.

In the name of login, in the name of common n?nse. in thr» name of humanity, and for the sake of the future [fenerations of New Zealand. T would ask rou to put. vested interests nut of the nuestinn and reconsider the nttitud" of your paper towards this mixtion. Tf you cannot favour no-lieense. will you at. least actively heln ns in ndvocntmc total abstincreo for the individual? This much, surely, your leader compels you to do in comr~"n. honesty.—-I am. etc.. G. B. Nichous. This" is tho tablo of comnarisons between the same areas under no-license and under license referred to above—

The above figures would bo belter still if tho areas under no-liconso were larger, and wero not surrounded by places where liquor was legally on sale.—G. B. N.

Ciutha .Licet .irate — Laat 10 years ua<ler licease-— Firdfc 10 year.* uadir no-licsiise • with a larger population — All oftcaces 111 nny way serioits ' ... 292 122 All offdocoB likely to be influenced by diink .. 251 81 Bracc Electorate — Fiwt 11 minths since licenses List 11 moaths of no-liceiss— restored — Miltou (criminal offences) 50 - 15 (criminal of* feacee) 83 12 Kait*uxata (summonses 68 18 Port Chalmers— 30th June. 1001. fcp 33th June* 30fch June 1933. to 30„h Jons _ 1903, UNDER LICENSE - " 1905, under n vlicease— As per Parliamentary re» turn published in Kfening Star, August j 25, 1U35 *515 offences. 181 offense'. I PortcFAT.n.rs- "! i" \ A" ofr e n«3 l»sfc year AU 23 fi«t year j & u !. a :::::::::::: J 680 ' "«» I