THE The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. LuceO Non Uro. MONDAY, FEB. Ist, 1904. TOPICAL NOTES.

Southland Times, Issue 19265, 1 February 1904, Page 2

THE The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. LuceO Non Uro. MONDAY, FEB. Ist, 1904. TOPICAL NOTES.

< ne Treatme.it of Habitual UruriKaruS. it will be remembered that in 1902 thq imperial Parliament passed very drastic uioasures dealing with tho vico of drunkenness, and the lJrst report on thoir work .ug was looKwd forward to with perhaps more au-^ety than confidence by thosu interested iv ono of tho greatest problem!: uf modern sociology- 'I'ho legislation .wis, as The Times pointed out, novel and experimental. It was adopted l»y rarliament before it was fully understood by those whose duty it was to give ef.wt to it. When called upon to put it into force the Justices often found that there was no available accommodation for persons who owgbt to be seat to a roiormatory. But in spite of these deficiencies, the Inebriates Acts appear to havo worked well, and beyond all doubt they arc an immense advance upon the old method of fining an habitual drunkard a lew shillings, with tho alternative of a iew days' imprisonment. Tho method of short penal sentences must now be declared useless. As the Imperial report says, it does little more than nil our prisons with men and women who are not criminals, but weak, diseased persons nocding careful attention, control and medical treatment. Under tho Inebriates Acts some 500 persona who were formerly a pest to society and their own worst enemies have been locked up out of harm's way. Many of the working men and women have been relieved from the presence of tho.se who were a curso to their families, and not a fow habitual drunkards who were infecting others with their j beastly and degrading habits have been prevented from doing further harm. But j this is not the most that has been accomplished. Apparently, it is being made clear (hat there is some hope of reforming even a confirmed drunkard to respectability. The experience of tho working of tho now Acts has taught that given a -uilliciently long sentence v marked improvement can bo mailo in the patient. Short sentences art- of no use, aa the drunkard, on being released, straightway undoes in ono prolonged debauch all that has been accomplished by six months of clean living. But if giver, from 1£ months to two years the guardians are able to send the man away with a good prospect of his resisting the craving for alcohol and regaining his place in society. In this work tho eight certified and two State reformatories in existence are achieving excellent, results, and 500 of the worst possible cases in them are all living sober, and, iv many cases, industrious lives. They are receiving every opportunity, ard the inspector, Dr Branthwaite, believes that some of them will ho converted into wage-earners instead of romaining burdens upon the sober section of tho community. How hopeful tho inspector is- may be judged from tho following words :— " We are relieving many hard-working men and women of untold misery, and at tho same time preventing tho exercise of an evil over a still greater number of young persons and children. We are reducing crime, both now and for tho future, and wo arc lessening street violence and disorder." Of the GlB persons committed to reformatories in 1902, no fewer than 435, or 70 per cent, were classed as " hopeful and amenable " ; only about 11 per cent. Were found refractory and violent ; and of the rest some 13 per cent, were hopeless, because they wero mortal degenerates, imbeciles, epileptics, and sufTorers from grave organic diseases, or were much too old to change their life-long habits of iiUemperanco. Tho reform movement has. indeed, proved itself a success, and much is to be expected of it in the future. In some ways the Inebriates Actfi were the most important departure in. criminal law in modern times, and if the success so far attained continues other legislation on the same bold lines is likely to follow at Homo, and be copied in other parts of the world. The change in this phaso of criminal law is one that must, sooner or later, bo reflectod ir that which deals with other branches of crime, and just as a long period of detention in a reformatory has taken tho place of a quite- useless lino or week In gaol as a punishment for the habitual drunkard, we expect to see the indeterminate sentence introduced 1 as a means of reforming those who fall into other courses of crime. It is the reform of the criminal character that is becoming the key-note of criminal law, and it is exceedingly encouraging to sco the bold experiment of tho Imperial Parliament rewarded in so high a degree with success. The knowledge that there is hopo for the drunkard will bring a gleam of light into many darkened homes, and to many hearts will contain a promise of emancipation from unimaginable misery. A Garrulous ofarist. Of the books that are receiving most attention at Homo at the present time the most curiously interesting Is " The Creevey Papers, " edited by Sir Herbert Maxwell, and published by John Murray. Thomas Creevey was a member of Parliament in the dajß of George IV, Though

ho has lonig been forgotten, ho was in nia time a man. of note. True, he was some- 1 what of a mystery, for, as Urevjllo tells j us, wiiiie apparently possessing no pro- i perty of any sort, no servant, no home,* S no position and no connections, he was < nevertheless at home in the great houses 1 in England, livinig on familiar terms with ] the best men of his time, and to take a phrase from the Spectator, " practising the fine art of dining out with a mastery that has seldom been rivalled in tho worlds history." He knew everybody, went everywhere, and saw everything. As he never kept a secret and nover thought twice, his diaries overflow with exceodingly candid stories of his times, and comments on the men and manners of almost a century ago. He lived in a somewhat scandalous day, and notwithstanding tho high reputation of both the editor and tho publisher of the book, it has not been issued without a protest from some quarters against the freedom with whi^h Creevoy \i allowed to babble in his unrestrained way about the lives and doings of the company in which ho moved. Many of his letters, wo are told, are unprintable, and even of what la printed a great deal is unquotable. The whole of the lottery would have filled a hundred volumes, but so entertaining are tho two that have been published that tho reader craves for the other ninety-eight. He caught tho comic aspect of all things, and laughed even at the discomfiture of himself and his colleagues. Knowing all the great men of the time, he has curious anecdotes to tell of them all. In 1815 he was at Brussels with the rest of the fashionable world, and was among the first to congratulate the Duke of Wellington on his return from Waterloo. Ho tolls us that- Wellington made a variety of observations in his short, natural, blunt way. and without the least approach to anything like triumph or joy. In fact, the Duke's words were these : " It has been a damned serious business. , Ulucher and, I have lost 30,000 men t It has been a damned nice thing, the nearest run thitig you ever saw in, your life.' 1 Creevey thought nothing oi Pitt. '-'"he great statesman was one of tho •vbjocts for his animosity. Ho speaks of " this , fellow Pitt," and again, he says, "Think i of such a beast as Pitt." Hut I.p I nought <;\.:n less of Mr Addington, when he j was Premier. " Ipon my fioul I he wrote indignantly, " it is too shocking to think of tho wretched destiny of r :nnkiiiil t in* being placed in the hands of i jch a I pitiful, squirting politician as this pursed apothecary and his family and friends." : Creevey had a great many pet aversims. He drove several nails into the coffin cf Lord Brougham's reputation. J T acaulay was a " noisy, vulgar fellow. '" mid .c-am- ■ uel Rogers, tho poot, was a " Sotir, ' snarling beast." and a bOi'G to niot. fto in these papers we get a lost mi.i fOng account of a most picturesque and p;'iertaining time. Creevey was an inveterate gossip. Every secret that was ove- uttered came his way Of all the voluminous gossip and scandal of the aristocracy, none escaped him and none wns allowed to pass into oblivion — he recorded everything. But In; was an Inimitable lottor writer, nnd after nil tho most interesting figure in a book full of great characters is Creevey himself. Flo ranks with Popys as a diurist, and as a man witli an un--3 extinguishable zest for life. Nothing i; camo amiss to him. He ivas always - talking, and his wit and humour overflowed to any man he met in the street i He was an Irishman, brimfull of vitality. J with an extraordinary capurity for mnk•s ing friends and striking up acquaintances i He had a talent for intimacy The nii-k---1 names he bestowed stuck from tho nioin- ' onl lie uttered them, and thoro 9treaim«l i from him a gaiety that neither misfyr* tuno nor the weight of years could dit minish. In this book he has won immort tality. and we find a Home paper doclurr ing chat the ntan who does not laugh aloud at night over these papers is to - be pitied, ard as for those ' who go to 9 bod at night to sleep, they should leave i Thomas Creovey and his book alone, i