DRUNKARDS.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 952, 25 March 1872, Page 3

DRUNKARDS.

Mr Seager, the Steward of the Suuuyside Lunatic Asylum, Canterbury, in his annual report upon the institution, remarks that " for some time there were few lunatics in the Colony, but it is a curious fact that lunacy followed the discovery of gold in this and the neighboring colonies." lu another part of his report he states that the habitual drunkards who are sent to the asylum for curative treatment, under the Act of 1868, usually become quite sober and sane after two or three days, and "begin to look upon their confinement as harsh and cruel—as one expressed it, more cruel than a term of imprisonment, for then there is a certainty of being discharged at a stated time." He goes on to say that " Viere is no doubt but that they use every op portunity, aud take advantage of every indulgence granted them to obtain drink, and for this reason it is impossible to allow them the same amount of freedom that is enjoyed by the other patients, over whom tliey exercise a very hurtful influence." "It is a question whether, after a cure has been effected, instead of hav ing a home in our comfortable ward, and taking a part in all the amusements provided, a month's imprisonment and hard labor wduld not act as a beneficial check."