The Herald of Wales and Monmouthshire Recorder. — 1885-06-27 (Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales)

LIQUOR ABROAD.  TILE OONSTIMPTIor _ _ _ A Parliamentary paper just published eon*nue reports from Her Majesty's diplomatic mod consular officers upon the consumption ef Intoxicating liquors abroad. Consul General Oppenheimer eetimates,vrith regard to Germany, liat in the distilleries cf the Empire in 1873 mid 1876, at least 200,000,000 litres of pure alcohol was produced for mere consumption—or In round numbers, six litres per head of the population. Reckoning the male population Peer 13 years at 30 per cent., this would give a yearly consumption of 20 lifres of pure alcohol per head, or a lines of ordinary schnaps. By year 1880 the quantity had increased to 71 Ones yearly per bead. 'the consumption of spirit in North Germany is very great : and out cif a yearly average of 4,450 suicides in Prussia tar five years, rO6 have been due to dipsomania 111111 d delirium tremens. The percentage of suicides among males due to alcohol was 13.40, Whereas ammg females it was only two With vard to fatal accidents also, a large number them were attributable to drunkenness. iilar statistics were furnished in connection ith the lunatic asylums. Taking 3,106 cases irly.treated in the general hospitals for dipmama, 690 cases of delirium tremens in the :laic asylums 597 private dipsomaniac,. 50f1 rides, and 311 drunkards accidentally kiled. sre is a tot al of 5,212 calms yearly of skull J. m in a find form. The Friesian States alone owed 1,921 men and 05 women treated yearly delirium nemesis. It appears that seveniths of these suffering from alcohol were in a prime of life—that is, between 20 and 50 are of age. In the kingdom of Prussia, in 42, the estimated expenditure on spirit alone is 261,000,000 marks, while all the direct de taxes for the same period produced but 1,000,000 marks. Taking the whole expen. are upon beer, wine, and spirits, it was ,000,000 marks or more than double the 'realized by the Prussian Exchequer for  Nagai t 'grid marS Iptutic eticides., Ilker Mem diov biat tRN rse7.‘'  Alllgonat  Its taxes and stamp duties, &e. In Sweden and Norway the consumption of spirits has been declining for some years past; but in Denmark the evil of spirit-drinking has reached a terrible pitch. The number of drunkards who have committed suicide has risen in 30 years from one seventh to one third; while among the arrests, 66 per cent, were eases of drunkenness, and adding to thoee 18 per cent, among prisoners for other offences, there it,t grand total of 74 percent. or 3-fourths of all taken into custody, for crimes committed under the influence of think. In Flolland the number of homes for the sale of drink was no less than 45,000 in 1878 80 that in a population of 4,000,000 there was a drink shop for every 90 inhabitants, including women and children. But, owing to the exe tions of a poition of the community, the Legit. latnre passed a restrictive law in 1881, with the result that in the course of one year the drink shops decreased from 45,000 to 33,000. Belgium affords incontestably the worst statistics in regard to the consumption of alcohclie liquors. In less than half a eon. - the use of '-ituous  nail a rentury to, _ liquors has more than tiebled itself in that country, while the population has only advanced from 3,500,000 to 5,500,000. The see of spirits increased 66 per cent. between 1851 and 1881, and beer increasi d during the came period 15.75 percent. The consumption of spirits, wine, and beer for 1881 amounted in value to 475,000,000 f. Although the country is so small, it contained no fewer than 128,000 places devoted to the sale r f intoxicating liquors. There was a public house on the average for every 12 or thirteen grown up cocks. The suicides rate trom 54 per million inhabitants in 1848 to 80 in 1880. 'Jibe lunatics advanced from 720 per million inhabitants, in 1846 to 1,470 in 1881. The inspector-general of Belgian prisens reports that three fourths of the crime and social misery during the last quarter of a ceotury has been directly attributable to intemperance. In France the sad effects of di unkenness once witnessed have been considerably lessened by the passing of a salutary Act. In 1875 the numbers pinioned for open drunkenness were 98,000, but by 1880 they had fallen t 60,000. Swttzerland exhibits en unsati-factory increase in the drink traffic. Between 1870 and 1880 the population advanced 6.5 per cent., but the publichouses increased by as much as 22 per cent. Austria furnishes a similar condition of things. In 1880 there were in Vienna alone 1,624 drinkhouoee and 6,103 persons were in that year arrested for being drunk. The hospitals, lunatic asylums, and prisons of the country all testify to the advance of drinking habits. It is suggested that the clergy, medical men, and schoolmasters of every nation could do much to mitigate this evil if their sympathies could be thoroughly roused. Continental workmet, generally spend a large proportion of their earnings in drink without becoming or being classed as absolute drunkards.