DANGER TO THE NATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 77, 9 July 1910, Page 9

DANGER TO THE NATION.

2,000,000 BRITISH CHILDREN DRINK ALCOHOL. A remarkable statement concerning the drinking habits of school children in the Old Country was made at the annual meeting of the Women's Total Abstinence Union, held recently, under the presidency of Mrs. Servante. Mr. F. G. Mackereth asked the question: "Do school children drink alcohol?" and, answering his own query in the affirmative, gave results of investigations which he had made on the subject. In one school alone, he said, it was found that 40 per cent, of the children drank alcohol regularly. If the same proportion obtained all round there must be some 300,000 child drinkers in London (probably in all the large towns and districts there must be some 2,000,000) vnu drank alcohol. This was an enormous danger to the national life. Of all the countries in Europe only Norway and Sweden seemed to be free* from the practice, and startling figures came from all over the .world, the proportion in. NewYork being, it was stated, 58 per cent. In one hospital in New York, the Belle Vue, enquiries showed that, of the 250 patients, four began to drink aJcohoi before the age of G, 13 between 6 and 12, 60 between 12 and 16, and 102 between 10 and 21—two-thirds of them under the age of 21. He was convinced that a large number of inebriates were so as the result of taking alcohol early in life.

Mrs. Servante said parents often gave their children drink because they thought it was good. In a case which came under her notice, a child was given a penny by its mother and, when asked by a nurse what should be done with it, she said, "I want you to buy me some beer."