The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY, 25, 1888. "DRUNK AND DISORDERLY."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1749, 25 January 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY, 25, 1888. "DRUNK AND DISORDERLY."

How many hundreds, nay thousands, of times we read the words which head this article m the newspapers of the colony — nay how many thousands of times have we written and printed them ourselves, and how sad it is to think what it all means. It means that not a day passes but men, aye and sometimes (though, thank God ! less frequently) women too, have to appear m our Police Courts to answer the charge of offending against society and the Queen's peace, through ll putting an enemy m their mouths to steal awap their brains," nay to steal away not only brains but heart and soul too. Let any thoughtful man visit one of our local palaces of justice but for an hour and he will find food for much reflecItion and much sadness of thought. That greyheaded old fellow who steps into the deck with the ghsstly mark of a. cut upon his soddetvlooking features, the effect of a fall against the kerbstone while m a state of helpless intoxication, with his unkempt hair, his bloodshot eyes and his dirty hands and garments, was once a tradesman m a respectable way of business with a wife and family around him — and now what has he of all these? His wife dead of a broken heart, his family scattered, bis business gone years ago and himself a wanderer m the colony from station to station and town to town, doing an odd job only now and then and spending every halfpenny that he ever gets m the drink that has worked his ruin. That lowlived looking, heavy-eyed, swollen featured young man who comes forward next to answer the like charge of •'drunk and disorderly" was only a few years ago an undergraduate of an English University ; he is the son of a clergyman and has been brought up, with 'tender care, but alas with too much indulgence. He came out to a neighboring colony with a few hundreds less . than fiv-e years ago. He got among low and fast companions, be squandered his cash, he gambled and drank, and sank lower and lower, and the otjjer i day he found bis way orer to New Zealand with the Uit few pbupi&s of his last remittance. And ever since then he hai been drink jng^-drinktog til! he is on

the verge of the horrors, and it is a pity that he can't be " sent up " for a couple of years instead of a couple of. day*, so that he might be weaned of the terrible appetite that is fast hurrying, him to a drunkard's grave. And these are only a couple of sketches from among the hundreds of familiar pictures presented to the reporter's eye m the Police Couit every day. What a terrible state of things it is ! And what a happy country this fair land might be, nay, how happy every country might be as compared with what it now is, if only the vice of excessive drinking could be stamped out. Whj the money that is thrown away every day m this manner would more than pay for every item for which the people are now taxed, and if only what is paid away for intoxicants could be placed m a National Bank the whole cosl of government and of all the conveniencies of our civilisation could be defrayed out of it, and still a handsome dividend be left for the depositors. Will such a great reform ac this ever come about? Will people ever learn the folly of the drinking habits of society ? Well, we don't know, but we are glad to think that there is some hope of it, and we feel sure that if tTfrybody saw as much of the misery of every day life which is the direct result of intemperate habits as does the Police Court reporter, there would forthwith be an earnest and united effort to bring abont a remedy.