THE PELORUS GUARDIAN, AND MINERS' ADVOCATE TUESDAY, 12TH FEBRUARY, 1907. TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 8, Issue 13, 12 February 1907, Page 4

THE PELORUS GUARDIAN, AND MINERS' ADVOCATE TUESDAY, 12TH FEBRUARY, 1907. TOPICS OF THE DAY.

In the earnestness of desire manifested by some temperance reformers to punish the publican and restrict the legitimate requirements of consumers there is danger that the real problem of drunkenness may be lost sight of. The main evil lies in excess, and the treatment of the habitual drunkard demands something more scientific in operation than the vain attempt to diminish his opportunities of getting liquor. The confirmed inebriate will not be prevented from getting what he wants by any of the legal devices which teetotal ingenuity has discovered for the harassment of those who do not agree with their views. Little has been done in the way of inebriate reform. We still pursue the policy of sending the habitual drunkard to gaol, though medical authority has begun to recognise that the fault is a disease rather than a crime, and that prison is neither a remedy not a deterrent. Mr Branthwaite, Inspector under the Inebriates Acts in Great Britain, has recently condemned this course as evidence of old-time ignorance concerning the psychological and neurotic aspects of the question. “ The routine of a prison,” he declares, “ is no more suited to the needs of the habitual drunkard than to the treatment of any other form of mental unsoundness.” The recovery of physical health is a necessary preliminary to the recovery of mental health, and what the patient needs is attention and discipline rather than punishment. An inebriate reformatory should be on the basis of a mental hospital. As in hospital experience there are cases beyond all hope of recovery, so with inebriate asylums there is material where reclamation is impossible. Mr Branthwaite lays stress on the importance of affording drunkards an early chance of reformation. The criminal and the lunatic are not amenable to treatment in the same degree with those of average mental capacity who have gradually drifted into their condition through carelessness or through persistent wilful indulgence. In view of the agitation (initiated by Mr Kennedy MacDonald, of Wellington), for the erection of hoillSS for clerks, on the same lines as those being erected for workmen, the following particulars of the Victorian movement in that direction will be of interest. The Melbourne Leader states Arrangements have been completed for the subdivision of the land recently acquired by the Government at Glen Bluntly, near the railway station, for homes for clerks on similar lines to the workmen’s homes which have been such a failure under the Closer Settlement Act. The Minister of Lands, Mr Mackay, approved of the plans for the subdivision of the land. Applications will be received at once for about 120 allotments under the conditions laid down in the regulations for workmen’s homes. No one will be eligible who is in receipt of more than £2OO a year, or who has more than £250 in capital, and the most deserving applicants will get the allotments. The choice lots near the station each contain a quarter of an acre, and the others vary in area from a third to half an acre. The Minister says he hopes to make this a model suburb. A reserve and playground for children have been provided, sites have been set apart for a State school and a public hall, and the Metropolitan Board will reticulate the property. Arrangements are being made with the Institute of Architects by which architects will furnish plans and outlines of specifications for comfortable residences. There will be a considerable variety of designs, and estimates of varying costs will be attached. These designs and outlines of specifications will be available for inspection by approved applicants only, who will be at liberty, on the payment of a fee, to be determined, to utilise them, and also the services of the architect who prepared the special design they may select. The cost of building in each case must not be less than £800.”