The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-02-05 00:00:00

DEATHS BY INTEMPERANCE.
An•

The Registrar• General's Annual Report, recently
issued, shows that the registers of deaths in England,
and of their causes, indicate a substantial decrease
in the last few years in the number of persons killed
by intemperance. In 1850 the number was 863,
there being- 540 deaths from aelirium tremens and
323 from less aggravated intemperance; in 1873,
the latest year for which such• returns have been
issued, the. total was but 777, the deaths from
delirium tremens having fallen to 365, the other deaths
from intemperance having risen to 412. In the inter-
vening years there were great fluctuations in the num-
bers. In 1861 the total had fallen to 657; in 1864, and
again in 1865, they exceeded 1,000, and then they
declined again until in 1870'they reached the exception-
ally low number of 645, rising afterwards to 740 in
1871, 713 in 1872, 777 in 1873.

Comparing the deaths by intemperance in England
with the number of the population, it- win be found
that these deaths show the following annual averages.
In the five years 1850 54 the annual average was 46•4
such deaths per 1,000,000 persons living; in 1855-59
the annual average fell to 408; in 1860-64 it was 40•0,
and the same in 1865-69; in 1870-73 the annual average
has been 31.5 per million living. In the ten years 1864 73
the anhual ratio has been as follows :—ln 1864 no less
than 52; in 1865, 50; in 1866, 44; in 1867, the year
after a great financial disturbance and distress' 35 ;
in 1838, 36; in 1869, 35; in 1870, 29; in 1871,
32 ; in 1872, 31 • in 1873, 34 per million of the popula-
tion. Nearly all these deaths occur at ages above 25,
as is also the case in insanity. It will be observed that
these figures show the deaths which are the direct
effects of intemperance; no return tells how many
persons, having been damned by hard drinking,
succumb to diseases from which otherwise they might
have recovered.

• .pr. kis
' THE SALMON FISHERIES.'
With thelcommencement of February; may be said
to commence the general salmon fishing season of the
United Kingdom. No doubt the Thurso in Scotland
has been yielding some few salmon since the middle of
January, and there are also a few of the lesser Irish
rivers where fishingis now permitted to commence from
the let and the 16th of January respectively. But those
are exceptional cases. Not a single English salmon
river opens before the-beoii'ning of February, and with
the exception of the Thurso' already noticed, aria
the Tweed, which opens on the Ist, and the Tay,
which opens on the sth, none of the Scotch rivers com-
mence operations before the 11th February. The
records of the last two seasons have not, we must
admit, been as favourable as we would wish with re-
gard to.our salmon harvests. Although some districts,
for a portion of their open seasons, yielded well, and
salmon in the London and other Markets at times
reached low prices indicative of an abundant supply,
nevertheless the aggregate take of the last two years
is supposed to have fallen short of those of preceding
years. Official and other returns go far to prove this. In
some particular districts, where there are means of
ascertaining the full amount of capture, it is known
the take of fish fell very far below the take of the vi
before. Of this fact, perhaps the Tyne district offers
the most notable instance. A; to our prospects for the
present year, we have received many hopeful assur-
ances from various quarters, whence both net-men and
anglers are full of pleasing expectations of an abun-
dant harvest during 1876, while the oncoming years,
we are told, must surely be fruitful in no small degree,
because of the very favourably-prosecuted spawning
season the present winter has witnessed. Se far well,
and we are glad to be hopeful. Without a.very large
arndunt of hopefulness in the face of,gleorny prospects'
and present difficulties, ourssalfnon fisheries' wo.nld
never have been rescued from destruction aithey have
been. But while we hope for the best, and take en-
couragement from every brightening prospect we may
see, we must not fail to warn our sometimes, we fear,
too sanguine correspondents that poaching during
the present winter has been peculiarly active, while
poachers we are sorry to add, have become pecu-
liarly adroit in the stealthy prosecution of their de-
structive trade. Whatever be the advantages of a
non-uniform close time for salmon,_ the irregular open-
ing and closing of vArious rivers greatly facilitates the
illicit traffic of the poacher, and the more we improve
the productiveness of our salmon fisheries' the more
carefully shall we need to guard against this tena-
cious, and, in some instances, growing evil.--Land
and Water.

'ear I