INDIGNANT INEBRIATES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13093, 5 June 1913, Page 7

INDIGNANT INEBRIATES.

RESOLUTIONS AT ROTO-ROA

SALVATIONISTS' SUPPORT.

(Special to Herald.)

AUCKLAND, this day. At a mass meeting of the inebriates on Roto-roa Island, the following resolutions were carried unanimously. StaifCaptain Haines occupied the chair, and voted for the resolution. There were also present Adjutants Robertson and Clark, and Staff-Captain Canty. The chairman undertook to hand a copy of them to Commissioner Richards, and bring them before the Army Congress at Wellington.

I Resolution No. 1. — "In the cause of Christianity it is to be regretted that the Salvation Army in New Zealand so far depart from the foundation principles of their organisation as to carry on an institution, and in their name, which is nothing more nor less, under existing conditions, than a Government gaol, to which men. are committed, in many cases without proper trial, not for reformative treatment, but for punishment, to lengthy terms of imprisonment out of all proportion to the gravity of their offence, and much greater than those accorded criminal offenders in many instances.

Resolution No. 2. — The department, from the maladministration of the Act, place an unfair burden upon the officers of the institution, and render their work from a reformative standpoint practically ineffective, inasmuch as they are apparently precluded from urging the men to attend divine service, and many of the men, by reason of the position in which they are placed, harbor feelings of deep animosity against the Christian faith, and associate it and the Army- with the injustice of which they conceive themselves to be the victims.

Resolution No. 3. — Upon the principle recognised by- a free, liberal, and civilised people that no one should be compelled, against their will and conscience, to enter any institution of any religious body. Men should come into the home voluntarily under section 7, or if under section 8, only after having first been given the option of going to a common gaol for three months or elsewhere. Section 9 shall be repealed as being arbitrary and opposed to the British sense of justice, and as placing undue power in the hands of interested parties.

Resolution No. 4. — That in any system of treatment efforts should be made towards ,the restoration of the selfrespect Of the individuals, the reviving of hope, and in the encouragement of industry and conduct. Therefore the recommendation of Parliament should be adopted, viz., and that when a man has been in the home for six months, and his industry and conduct are good, and he is physically and mentally fit, he be discharged ; and, furthermore, that the illegal and highly obnoxious and unChristianlike practice of opening and reading most of the men's private correspondence be discontinued, such a practice being exceedingly detrimental in an institution such as this, where the men are only offenders, and it renders the institution unworthy of the name of home, much less a Christian one.

Resolution No. 5. — That upon the Army agreeing that the aforementioned recommendation Of Parliament be applicable to all inmates, those, under section 7 included, the resident medical officer and the manager be empowered to act thereunder, and that a right of appeal to the Minister for Justice be allowed anyone feeling himself aggrieved.

Resolution No. 6.— That there be only one period of detention for all men entering the institution, viz i} 12 months, and subject to the recommendation of Parliament as before-mentioned.

Resolution No. 7. — That under existing conditions the men are not morally improved. The Army services are avoided ; there is no confidence between officers and men, and when men leave the institution they generally resort to their previous habits as a protest against the treatment they received, and in consequence very few cures are effected.