Be Working Well
p. 77 · Read in the full issue
New BSIP Liquor Laws Appear To Be Working Well
From a Honiara Correspondent
Despite the gloomy forecasts,
the natives of the BSIP have not gone to the dogs since the BSIP Legislative Council passed a bill last December enabling them to drink beer without permits.
THE bill also enabled the Melane sians to obtain permits in certain circumstances to drink wine and spirits.
Questioners in the Legislative Council were told recently that beer drinking had not increased the num ber of brawls in Honiara, Auki, Yandina and Kira Kira, although there had been more cases of drunk and disorderly conduct at Gizo.
In the Western Solomons and parts of San Cristoval, Melanesians are reported to be drinking more beer than before the bill was passed, but no significant increase is evident elsewhere. No special police super vision or protection seems to be called for.
Meanwhile, a poster on the evils of drinking has been widely distri buted. With the caption, “This Might Be You,” it shows a man in patched pants and a torn, unbuttoned shirt holding bottles of liquor with his left arm. A thin wife with two small undernourished children looks on, crying. At the bottom of the poster is a note saying: One case of beer equals 1 bag of rice or 12 lb of fresh meat and five calicoes.
The poster, which should frighten any drinker from drinking to excess if he has any heart, was produced by the SPC Literature Production Training Centre, Honiara. It is the first of a series the centre will pro duce.
The Chief Medical Officer is also preparing a series of articles on liquor and health for inclusion in the syl labuses of Standard V classes and above.
Because of a growing awareness of the Things that money can buy (including beer), more Solomon Islanders are now offering them selves for work on plantations and elsewhere. This is especially so in and around Honiara. Wages are now mainly paid wholly in cash, and ex cept for waterfront workers and ships’ crews who receive full rations besides wages, the issue of rations has almost stopped.