October 09, 2017
Swill past but hangover lingers
It's 50 years since the end of the six o'clock swill, the drinking binge that accompanied the nightly closing of pub bars.
Justice reform campaigner Kim Workman, who was a young police officer at the time, says the drink licensing laws had a negative effect on New Zealand society at the time and also on Maori who were caught up in a wave of urbanisation.
He says the policy of pepper potting or not housing Maori families close together and not building urban marae or social gathering places meant Maori gathered in pubs to socialise.
That contributed to wider family disfunction, and a sharp spike in the apprehension of young Maori.
"A lot of that was around their own whanau being out of control and these kids wandering the streets and often being harrassed by the police because they were boisterous and cheeky sometimes. We really didn't plan for the urban migration well. We would have been better helping people gather within their own communities," Mr Workman says.
Copyright © 2017, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com