Battles The

Everybody's Brewing It

West Samoa Battles The Home Brewer

Prom an Apia Correspondent Despite the fact that Western imoa, for almost 40 years, has

:en a “dry” area where liquor

available on a points system

Europeans and only a few

ivileged Samoans, the illicit

anufacture and consumption

liquor among Samoans has

ached alarming proportions.

TORRIED at the steady increase I of drunkenness resulting from the consumption of home brew lamafu ), throughout Samoa, the lice Department has stepped up campaign against home brewers d sly groggers.

Last October, a special section nsisting of a sergeant and two istables was set up to deal solely th liquor offences. In their first ree weeks of operation they cried out 42 raids on suspected swers and sly groggers around ►olu, the main island of Western moa, confiscating over 60 gallons home brew in kegs and tins and bottles. rhese raids resulted in 27 people [ng charged with manufacturing being in possession of intoxicat l liquor. [n spite of these intensified efforts the police, the incidence of home jwing and its consumption seems be on the increase. [n the first three weeks of De nber, the special liquor control :tion made 89 successful raids >und Upolu, and police in Savaii, ? other island, made another 24 jcessful raids. The most liquor it was confiscated on any one d was 37 bottles of home brew, d the smallest amount was six ttles.

Dn the basis of their investiga ns, the police claim that brewing being carried out in almost every lage in Samoa. rhere is no doubt that police ds have uncovered only a very lignificant amount of brewing iivities actually taking place.

Assuming the amount confiscated be as much as 5 per cent, of 3 total brewed, there must be at ,st 36,000 gallons of home brew [ng manufactured each year. This a conservative estimate and the

real amount could be double or more.

This is a staggering amount of liquor for a population of 100,000 people, the great bulk of whom are by law denied the right to drink intoxicating liquor.

"Potent and Filthy"

Laboratory analysis of the beer being confiscated by the police show that the alcoholic content ranges between 8 and 20 per cent., with an average of between 12 and 15 per cent. This is much higher than that found in beers imported for those inhabitants who have a per mit to drink. Imported beer averages around 7 to 8 per cent.

Many of the brewing jars and utensils used by home brewers are filthy, and most of the brews taken by the police contain insects and other foreign matter.

One brew confiscated contained a dead rat!

The beer is either drunk by those who brew it or sold at 3/- a bottle.

A police spokesman said: “We should have at least 10 policemen in the special liquor section, but with our present shortage of police men this is out of the question.

However, even with 10 men the liquor situation is really impossible to control. If people want liquor (and from the amount being manu factured and drunk all over Samoa, it is obvious that they do) then they will get it no matter what we do.”

General consensus of opinion is that it would be better to make available to those Samoans that want it, hygienically prepared liquor with a reasonable alcoholic content, instead of the “gutrot” they are drinking at present.