DRUNKARDS AND GAOLERS. (FROM THE OTAGO GUARDIAN.)

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 340, 18 July 1874, Page 2

DRUNKARDS AND GAOLERS. (FROM THE OTAGO GUARDIAN.)

Pihhaps there is nothing in which legislation and common? sense, theory and practice, 10 greatly differ ai in our dealing! with that unhappy portion of mankind which ii affij-ted with unquenchable thirst. Policemen, gaolers, magistrates,and legislators hare agreed to call drunkenness a crime, a*di doal with it as'such. Physicians and psycothologists affirm that it is a disease. The first regard punishment as a remedy;, the others derm it an incentive to further excesses*. It is quite time that this difficulty should be grappled with earnestly, for the evil is on the increase. Moral suasion bu but little effect on confirmed drunkards, and therefore it isthat we regard the well-meant efforts of Good Templars and ■ kindred associations as of little avail to stem the torrents At their best they do but keep sober people more sober, and convert- moderate drinkers into total abstainers. They are' really but scratching at the outer cuticle, and th» deepseated internal disease is beyond their reach. Tht Police reports disclose the fact that during the past year 1,087* persons hare- been arrested for being drunk and, we presume,, disorderly, since drunkenness of itself is not a statutable offence. And the offence in each case has been either commuted for a trifling monetary penalty, or punished by a yet more trifling incarceration in prison. "My experienctjj| writes the Governor of our local Gaol, in his annual reporW "has convinced me that drunkenness overcrowds this gaol, '"hiore" than crime." By which we understand Mr CaldwelH to imply that drunkenness is not only an offence per te, bnt the cause of other offences also. And herein he is quite correct How many assaults, all more or less brutal, mays not b* traced to this one source? Nay, is it not a wellasoettoined fact that the violent taking of human lift, capri-■ciously-designated murder or manslaughter accordingly asthe ignorance, the weakness, or the prejudices of ajury may determine, frequently results from tbe effects of alcoholicfumes on. unevenly-balanced brain*?, Surely thes* premises being admitted, there is a weighty^responsibility attached) to the legislators who shut their eyes to this thing, or who. seeing it, yet fail to grapple with it boldly, honestly, andj. * effit icidlisly. a -And .here comes the question of how best to grapple witlP it. It is just here that the mere gaoler ansl the doctor•difier. '< Tbe author of " Erewhon" describes a state or society wherein all criminals art subject to medical treatso en t as being the victims of constitutional disease, which wa#imparted to them with their birth, and for wbioh, consequently, they should not be punished. On tht other hand the wretched people who bavt contracted malignant and in- ' factious diseases are severely punished* because thete are the result* of filthy habit!, foul water, arid defective sewage, alll of which could be avoided. Without entirely endorsing the peculiar views propounded in " Xrewbony" ire are certainly of opinion that drunkenness — dipsomania-— the propensity for drinking, is a disease, and •to be cured by remedial) measures, coupled with seclusion. We agree with Mr Caldwell that a prison," solitary coufineroent, hard labor, event " the dark cell, have not the lenst deterrtnt effect upon a " young woman" (or, indeed, any other parson) " who has- " been in gaol four or five times for being drank and disor11 derly, and whow longest sentence was 7 or fourteen days."" Bub we entirely disagree wi(b hin when be says be is certain,, that " ift on their third commitment, they received a sen- " tence of two or three years, they would bt deterred lj^ " such a powerful means from drink." We agree with him when, somewhat contradictorily, he declares that '* no length " of confinemeut, or severity of punishment willl deter the* " confirmed criminal class ;" and we differ from him when " he adds that " those entering upon tb« path of tvil, espe- " cially girls, can be turned aside from it by tbe terror of* " pfiion life and the fear of the loss of liberty." We do not blame Mr Caldwell because he is disposed to* magnify his office. We do not cren feel surprised that hoso palpably mistakes the functions of a gaoler, as to suppose that his duties embraoe remedial notion. The governor oJjjpk Dunedin gaol is a most worthy and reputable office)-, and u^ he errs somewhat in this matter we willingly admit that " Even his failings lean to virtue's side."' But the position is incongruous. It is the turnkey assuming the rdle of the philanthropist. The prison is not a. reformatory, and, however it may be regulated, it can. nearly supply the place of suolt an institution. It itsimply a place for -juniibnvent^ and wt hold that puniihnnuS

if not capable of repressing drunkenness, still lest can it cure the disease wbertaf drunkenness is the outcome. Neither it the Lonkfcic Asylum a fitting place for the Tictims of intemperance. And jot, as every magistrate in the colony knows, » t «rf )*>*£• preportion of the inmates of our Lunatic Asylums *w Jfinipornry sufferers, whoso lunacy is attributable to the *M*awrgnnt, use of alcoholic liquors. It ■ matter of regret that no report, of our local Asylum hns b#en laid on the Council table this year ; but we are sure that the Master and Sureeon of that institution will bear us OUt in thin statement. Whether the liquor that hns bereft the boor wretche* of their reason for ft jjine be genuine or adulterated » beside the question. All we havt to consider at present is, that too much liquor hath made them mad. What tien remains ? The establishment of a Hospital for Inebriates, swell as the wise and humane policy of Victorian legislators has established in the sister colony. A hospital where the doctor shall take the shattered system and the disordered brain into careful keeping, and by his skill restore health to mind and body. To this end we hare penned the present article. Our legislators have just commencing anew their annual duties, and it is possible that amongst them all there may be one who, will consent to turn aside for a brief space from more popular and attractive matters, for the purpose of initiating the good work to which we have now drawn attention.

A triil of a special express with Pullman's sleeping-car ■attached, made on 17th March, demonstrated the astounding fact that trains can be run with safety at the rate of terenty-fire miles an hour. The train wat timed rer y fast, to see if the sleeping-cars shook about ; and the trial was from Derby to London, St Fancras. The engine hod the steam brake, which is now fitted to all midland trains. The carbrake will stop a beavy express of twenty-fire carriages running serenty-five miles an hour, in 290 yards. The distance from Derby to London is 129 miles. It is all on the block system, and all the trains were shunted for this special ex* press. The exact distance of 129 miles was run in 142 minutes, but this does not show the actual speed, as three stops and three starts took six minutes, and speed reduced to twenty-fire miles an hour orer thirteen junction.*, which each took a good minute — learing the time at 123 minutes tor 129 miles, which arerages orer a mile a minute all the way. In one case on a lerel piece of line serenteen miles was run in 13min 18sec, which arerages about sercnty-fire miles an |hour, and twenty miles was run in 19min. The cars ran as steady as tables, at serenty-fire miles an hour. The driring wheels of the engine were 6ft B|in. The Melbourne Herald is responsible for the following : — ' An indiridual has hit out a way of liring, which does infinite credit to his ingenuity. He selects the slowest sailing ressel on the berth for England, takes his passage, and laysiri a large stock of 'medicinal comforts,' apples, oranges, onions, and indeed erery thing in the eating way conducire to the comforts of those who trarel by sea ; the packages being marked ' wanted on the royage.' After the ship has been out some little time, the man produces his wares to tempt the appetites of his fellow-passengers — sets up, in fact, a little Paddy's Market on his own hook, and such is the craring for the shore delicacies he had the forethought to proride, that he inrariably disposes of his wares at a profit of about 300 per cent, before the ressel arrires at her destination, where he merely stays sufficiently long to lay in a fresh supply of general produce and takes the first ship he can get to return home to Melbourne, repeating the selling manceurre as on the homeward royage.' On June 24 there appeared before Mr M Culloch, Resident Magistrate as Inrercargill, a married couple named Gough, who were charged with drunken and disorderly conduct in the immigration barracks there. The arresting constable said that both the accused were immigrants by the ship Asia, and he further characterised them as nuisances to the neighborhood ia which they resided. The man pleaded that he and bis " old woman" had nerer been so accused before, and the "old woman" roluntarily informed the Court that she might hare been a grandmother, but she wasn't." On being told by the Court that they were fined 5s each, or, failing payment, twenty-four hours' imprisonment, the man triumphantly exclaimed — " Faix, an* I harn't a ha'penny."