The Waikato Times OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1872.

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 64, 26 September 1872, Page 2

The Waikato Times OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1872.

Mk.v of all classes an; ready to a-lmit the fact that the n:o.-it ervinrr evil of the i.s liiat of drunkenno.AA, hoth in the Oeneral Assembly and in our Trovincial Councils have attempted to deal with the dillieulty by adding additional restrictions lo tho.--o already in force, on tho.se who retail spirif.iioii.s lirpior.s. No doubt some good might be eifecied by the improvement of the law as regards public houses, but all the legislation in the world short of a Maine liquor law will not keep the habitual drunkard from indulgence in his favorite vice. Stat is- \ lies inform us that 7'5 per cent of the crime for which criminals are confined in our gaols is directly traceable to over-indulgence in alcoholic drink, and that 20 per cent of the insanity recorded in Great Britain, and 14 per cent in the United .States, is attributable to the same cause; and that one-half the idiots are the offspring of drunken parents. These facts should be suilicient to enlist the sympathies of j every good citizen on the side of temperance. It is not our intention in tUia present article to treat of, drunkenness generally, hut purpose considering what steps, if any, should bo adoptoil with regard to the most unfortunate of all men, the habitual drunkards. The system- of fine and imprisonment for limited periods whenever those unfortunates happen toollend the laws by appearing in an inebriated state in the streets, is in the case of the habitual drunkard, as just, as it would be to confine a child in one of our gaols becau.se it was unable to read the Greek testament. It is said, and there is some color of reason, to those who only consider questions in a superficial manner, in saying it lie has brought himself to the state in which we find him, that he should therefore sutler for his excess; in the earlier stages of a drunkard's career, this is no doubt true, at that time he deliberately, imbibes a sullieiont quantity of alcohol to produce either excessive exhileration or insensibility, mul as the net was deliberate, it 13 perfectly right that he should be punished, and inour opinion,-much more severely than in the present state of the law is possible. The object of all punishment by law is to deter from future crime on the "art ot'tne nm-nier punished, and for the iutimadatiou of other wonld-be olieuilers. When- a. man becomes afllietcd with the now well-defmed disease of dipso-mania, he is no longer responsible for his actions, and becomes an object of pity rather than reprobation ; in fact he is equally a lunatic with any of the inmates of our asylums. At the present time the law has made no provision for dealing with those men other than as criminals; in Victoria and America a more enlightened view has been taken of the question, and sanatoria or reformatories have been established. The class of men who at the present time find their way into our police courts and then to our gaols, should be committed to the asylums by the magistrates till such time as they are declared cured oi the frightful disease which is gradually destroying their mental and physical capacity. It will be urged that this would entail enormous cost on the country; we are inclined to a different opinionin fact feel tolerably confident that the labour of the patients woidd be more than reproductive ; most of us have doubtless noticed that amongst the habitual drunkards are numbered some of the most intelligent of our citizens, and the simple removal of them beyond the reach of drink would at once render their labor available, but allowing that the cost of maintaining the reformatories is greater than the value of the labor of the patients, it is clearly the duty of the Government of a civilised state to establish them. There i≤, however, another class of patient for whom it is necessary to provide—the man in a higher grade of society than those who ordinarily appear in our police courts, they drink in their own houses and do not therefore come within the clutches of the police. To meet the case of those men, it will be necessary to pass an Act giving some properly constituted body the power to commit a man to a reformatory on the representations of the friends of the diseased that he is incapable of controlling his passion for drink, and that unless he is confined he will bring ruin upon himself and his family. It will of course be necessary to take great precaution that no man is confined who does not come under the category of habitual drunkards in the strictest sense. Our space will not admit of our entering into details, neither is it our duty to do so.. The law as it stands, is a crying evil. How many families live a life of misery and want because one of its members is atliicted with a disease which, in spite of the pro- ! tests of medical and other scientific men, our laws

treat as a criminal offence. Let us hope that the day is not far distant when .some cniightened philantropist will spring up in: our midst and by his exertions rcleive us from the stain which at present rests upon our character aa an enlightened,, intelligent, and Christian people.