HABITUAL DRUNKARDS.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 8087, 26 December 1906, Page 2

HABITUAL DRUNKARDS.

Tin: llaihu ai. Di;i:nkai;i's A> r is j abiitit to ho brought into operation in i ("iristchiuvli, where the I. ede.'-Kecre- ; tary of Justice is endeavouring to ' arrange for the Samaritan .Home to j lie demoted to the purpose. 'Mr , Waldegrave, speaking on the subject, j said then; was no doubt that the present system was a failure. Men and women were brought belore the courts tim<- alter tune, there were iu..nv convii• I inns. ami sentences varying from a fortnight to six monihs were imposed, but almost as vooii as the olTenders were out of gaol tliev were charged with the same old oflence. There were institutions like the Samaritan Home and the homes controlled by the Salvation Army aud other oiganisations, which frequently took care of these social derelicts. The dilliculty, however, had been that there was |no means of enforcing detention. '1 he Habitual Drunkards Act overcomes this dilliculty, magistrates 1 being empowered to commit an olTender to an institution in which he will be properly attended to, for any period not less than twelve months. In such an institution the discipline will not be so severe as j in a gaol, but the inmates will lie I set to suitable work. The experiment is a practical attempt to solve a grave problem, and oil its success in Christcluirch will depend its adoption elsewhere.