The Blandford and Wimbourne Telegram. — 1885-06-26 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

THE DRINK QUESTION ABROAD.  A Parliamentary paper just published contains reports from her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers upon the consumption of intoxicating liquors abroad. Consul-General Oppenheimer estimates, with regard to Germany, that in the distilleries of the Empire in 1875 and 1876 at least 200,000,000 litres of pure alcohol were produced for mere consumption— or, in round numbers, six litres per head of the population. Reckoning the male population over 15 years of age at 30 per cent. this would give a yearly consumption of 20 litres of pure alcohol per head, or 50 litres of ordinary schnaps. By the year 1880 the quantity had increased to 71 litres yearly per head. The consumption of spirit in North Germany is very great; and out of a yearly average of 4,450 suicides in Prussia for five years, 508 have been due to dipsomania and delirium tremens. The percentage of suicides among males due to alcohol was 1310, whereas among females it was only two. With regard to fatal accidents also, a large number of them were attributable to drunkenness. Similar statistics were furnished in connection with the Lunatic Asylums. Taking 3,106 cases yearly treated in the General Hospitals for dipsomania, 690 cases of delirium tremens in the Lunatic Asylums, 597 private dipsomaniacs, 508 suicides, and 311 drunkards accidentally killed, there is a total of 5,212 cases yearly of alcoholism in a fatal form. The Prussian States alone showed 1,921 men and 95 women treated yearly for delirium tremens. It appears that seven-tenths of those suffering from alcohol were in the prime of life—that is, between 20 and 50 years of age. In the kingdom of Prussia, in 1882, the estimated expenditure on spirits alone was 261,000,000 marks, while all the direct State taxes for the same period produced but 150,000,000 marks. Taking the whole expenditure upon beer, wine, and spirits, it amounted to 907,000,000 marks, or more than ifouble the amount realised by the Prussian Exchequer for its taxes and stamp duties, Sm. 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 onethird ; while, among the arrests, 56 per cent. were eases of drunkenness, and, adding to these 18 per cent, among prisoners for other offences, there is a grand total of 74 per cent., or three-fourths of all those taken into custody, for crimes committed under the influence of drink. In Holland the number of houses for the sale of drink was no less than 45,000 in 1878, so 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 exertions of a portion of the community, the Legislature 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 alcoholic liquors. In less than half a century the use of spirituous liquors has more than trebled itself in that country, while the population has only advanced from 3,500,000 to 5,500,000. The use of sPirits increased 66 per cent. between 1851 and 1881, and beer increased during the same period 1575 per cent 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 in 1880 no fewer than  125,000 places devoted to the sale of intoxicating liquors. There was a publichouse on the average for every 12 or 13 grown-up males. The suicides rose from 54 per million inhabitants in 1818 to 80 in 1880. The lunatics advanced from 700 per million inhAbitants in 1840 to 1470 in 1881. The Inspector-General of Belgian prisons reports that four fifths of the crime and social misery during the last quarter of a century has been directly attributable to intemperance. In France the sad effects of drunkenness once witnessed have been considerably lessened by the passing of a salutary Act. In 1875 th numbers published for open drunkenness were 98,000, but in 1880 they had fallen to 60,000. Switzerland exhibits an unsatisfactory 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 drink houses, and over 6,100 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 the evil if their sympathies could be thoroughly roused. Continental workmen generally spend a large proportion of their earnings in drink without becoming or ,being classed as absolute drunkards.