CRIMINALS NOT DRUNKARDS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 312, 9 January 1908, Page 4

CRIMINALS NOT DRUNKARDS.

A lecture on "Detection and I'uiii-Oi- ' meat of Crime" was delivered l»y IJe tHctive-Superintendent Jolin Urd, oJ : t>la*gOW I'oLice Force, at ;» iueelin«{ ot ! the t'oynbee literary Society, tila-goa. on November 14tli last. Alter dealing ! with the methods of detection trom tli.- ' days «t trial Dy combat till tl» present svstein of linger prints, jiml with the : various methods ol putiir.linieiil. li- said 1 it was being continually drummed into I their ears that drink whs at the root loi all crime. Some few years ago "t i was said that if drunkard- could only ; I*- shut up in inebriate rcformatorta- | tliev would be completely cured. Incbri- | ate" reformatories had been set tip and a ; numlier of people had been <on lined in ! them for terms of three years. The lir-t j thing many of them did on being at I liberty was to get drunk. some of tncni j within a few hour** of their Hieration. ' Drink was, no doubt, the can-e ot stpvt j disorders, petty assaults, kid 1;i and such like offence-, but l"'i»ou- who I committed such offen<vs could not be

' i classed as criminals. It was here thai ■ their remrmers went wrung—those elergvman, judges, ana other puldic men who "did not make a distinction lietween > offences against the rules of good eon' 1 duct and erime. The real criminal was ; never a drunkard. In many cases he was very temperate in hi* In hits. Ihe • ! former, impostor, housebreaker. and ■ | criminals of a like nature. *<> soon as 1 thev took to drink, ended their career* 1 as professional criminal-. It might b« taken that erime in nearly every ca-e led to drink in due course. hut except in • ! c:ws of serious a*-auH, drink seldom ' letl to crime. The IneliriatfB 1 Act of IWB enacted that where a crime was cominitleil by ] a person under the influence ot drink. (or where drink was a direct call*' 1 . lie ; was to be detained ill an inebriate iej tnrmatory for three year- instead >1 I l*ing sent to prison. Nine years liad j elapsed since that Act wa* parsed, and I nearly 4<l.<KK> |ieople lu<i been coiivi-l d ! of crime in (llasgow in that time, yet ; only Hi persons had been found to be ! under the influence of drink wli-n the : crime was committed. The prinrp,! ' cau>es of crime, he held, were bettin'.:. gambling, immorality, lazines*. bad coin pany. living al>ove one, income, lov • "t i tine" clothe*, and dw ontenl: but the greale*t of all was betting, Large num ! Ihts of the best of their young men | were being ruined yearly through bet i ling. If he were asked to siigegsl re I medies. he would say to make it illegal, | for newspapers to publish betting news. I and lie would sweep seven dav brokers J out of existence. The*e were not quired. Pawnshops were ijirtc siillicient ' for the purpose of the working Ha— e-* ! getting a temporary loan "ti article-, j In a great many case* *tol'-n property | found its way to broker*, where, after j (.even da vs. it was di*po-ed ot. anil could I onlv with diflieillty Ih' traced. He would i also put certain restriction- en metal ro- ! finer* in order to cheek the immcdi.ii" I melting of articles which might have I Wen *Uilen. _