AUCKLAND COURT STATISTICS.D

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13874, 11 April 1907, Page 4

AUCKLAND COURT STATISTICS.D

A 'MAGISTRATE'S VIEWS. CFnoJt Our Ovra Corhesjondeht.) AUCKLAND, April 8. In reference to' tho Auckland Court statistics Mr C. C. Kettle, S.M., was interviewed,- and ho said:— 'T' attribute , to drinking and gambling 80 per cent, at tho.very least of tho crimes that camo before tho PoHco Courts. There is no question in my mind about that. It is a conservative estimate, and every magistrate must come to tho samo conclusion. I speak of tho colony as a whole—not of Auckland in particular,—but « vjjvy lnrge ■percentage of tho cases under tho' Married Woman's Summary Separation Act also arise tlirough drinking on the part of tho husbands. Drinking has such terribly far-reaching effects. We in the courts do not eee all its consequences. I am not a prohibitionist, and I am not a teetotaller, but I am, of course, opposed to excessive drinking, and I certainly think, too, that the misohief arising .from drinking would bo ten times less tliiin it is were the. drink mado a3 pure and honest it is claimed to be. I don't think, a glass of good beer will hurt anyone. The harm is in oxcessivo drinking, and especially When combined with adulterated liquors. I know nothing, however, of tho nature of tho beer—that is a matter for tho Health Department" !. What do you think of the weapons which the law places in your hands for dealing with the drunkard'?. Mr Kettle was asked. " I think we are juel fiddling with the problem,' ho replied. "Wo aro drawing a great deal-of money-in the shajxs o! fines from theso poor people, and aro doing nothing for them. We arc no nearer a solution of the nroblem than wr have over been. Time and time again I see before me the same people, and fines do not, stop them drinking. They should be settled on State farms far away fromthe influences of drink. I believe in tho prohibition order as a check, and. my opinion'is shared by the police, but does it invariably prohibit? It docs not; butsuch cases are exceptions, I am glad to sav. Thore are always people who will break the law. I believe, too, tHt our licensing laws, where strictly carried out, do good, but everything depends upon the police and tho magistrate. Here in Auckland I think tho police do their bost and all that can bo reasonably expected \of them under the circumstances. The shouting evil is responsible for a great deal of. absolutely unnecessary and absurd drinking. I' think that drinking-foiintains would do something to chock drinking." Wo have one or two drinking-fountoins, have vik not? t "I do not know whore they are, or if I do, they nre not running or have no cups. I 'have spoken about this before from the bench." ~. What, havo you to say about gambling? "This is a'terrible, rapidly-growing evil. Look at the rioc of investments on the tota-lisafor-from £505,078 in 1892 to £1,555 638 in 1905-1905. It' is stupendous. Gambling among young people and grownw> women is increasing alarmingly. One of tho chief reasons given to tho Bench by working people who aro financially embarrassed and -against whom judgment summonses aro issued U losses through betting. One hears this over and over again in trying civil casre. Money is devoted'to horse-racing which should havebeen used in the. payment of debts or the, maintenance of tho family." Then how would you propose to stop gambling? "I would make letting on any snort absolutely illegal—make it an offence." But would that stop gambling? Ifi it, not a question of tho moral regeneration of thu individual?

" Gambling, of ; course, can be carried on without horses or sports. People who will gamble can do so,' but I think much might be done by cleansing all sport with which tumbling' is or can be associated by makW betting illegal." . Have, you anything to say of tlio cviminal statistics' in so far is they may not 'necessarily have been influenced by drinking and gambling? "Well, I think tlie relationship between young peonle of both sexes as revealed by the statistics of all the courts is very far from satisfactory. It is a subject one does not care to say very much about, butiffnoring 'Mis problem will not eolve it. I attribute a great many of such cases to want of. parental control and laxity of the moral training of the children, together with the love of ■Hμ excitement of tovm life and town ploosnres." Such cases am not confined solely to the towns, Mr Kettle? "True. There k, I foar, a looseness of morals among our yoiinp r.eoplo throughout the colony, as revoal-3<l by tho court records. We know only -the eases that come beforfi the courts, but at the' openuifr of the last Auckland criminal sittings, if yon remember, attention wae called to this Gtate of thinire." • Hero again is it not, a question of the moral regeneration of the individual rather than legislative enactments?. "Precisely, but. that is outside tlio court,, in a way. But. there is no doubt about' it, weakness of parental control or lank of it altogether is responsible for a great deal , of sexual crime."