TEMPERANCE ITEMS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5076, 13 July 1895, Page 3

TEMPERANCE ITEMS.

The Workington magistrates investigated tho circumstances of an extraordinary Easter carousal last week. Sevon men stole a 86-gallon barrel of ale from a public-house, ijfaaiid conveyed it to an empty cottage, Jpyhoro ono of them was captured by two concealed policemen, the remainder escaping after a long midnight orgie. Tho principal offender, Graham, was sentenced to threo months' imprisonment, and the others for varied terms. Another young man, Jonathan Fannon, who bad been four times convicted of larceny, was sent to prison for two months, for stoning a constable who attempted tho arrest of Graham, who sat in tho river Dcnvcnf for two hours whilst the policeman j waited,

An extraordinary instance of wanton damage has been investignl cd at the M,arylobone Police Court. Two young barmen, Herbert Hoane and Henry Carter, aged eighteen and twenty, were, after a few weeks employment by Mr I'l. Turiiham at the Tally-Ho public-lioiise, Korlis road, Kontish Town, discovered at noon mad drunk in Ihe cellar. The

plnco was a scene of wreckage, and

an alcoholic Hood covered the Hour, «A quarter cask of port and one of sherry had been overturned, and the bungs withdrawn; thirty-six buttles of cherry brandy, eighteen bullies of whisky, nino dozen bottles of aie and stout, ten gallons of various cordials, and six bottles of brandy lay smashed all around. In this way some £6O in liquor had run down the sink. The two youths rushed upstairs and threw their own property, including two or three garments belonging to the landlord,into the heavy clothes boxes, which they dragged downstairs. On the arrival of the police a terrible strugg'c ensued, The youths, who were much cut by broken glass, were ultimately secured. The Times correspondent at Ottawa, says that the Royal (Joinmission on Prohibition, which has been taking evidence for two years, lias presented a report, stating that the Prohibition of the liquor trallic, would prejudicially affect the business interests, both industrial and

commercial, of Hie country. Such a

law would practically wipe out the municipal revenues. In She province of Quebec, it would Wnean an annual loss of £120,001). If Prohibition were adopted, the Commissioners say that the payment of compensation could not justly be avoided. The report adds some recommendations as to the curtailing of the liquor traffic, and the prevention of adulteration, and suggests the adoption of the system of high licensing. This (says the LwU ifmnnj) cai: scarcely bo said to throw even an added ray of light upon the problem of the "liquor traffic." Who can have required to be informed that a sudden and ruthless adoption of " prohibition " would disturb, and for the moment at least, "prejudicially" affect certain business interests ? And who can be surprised to learn that the local revenues of the great Province of Quebec would have, in such a case,

to face a loss of £120,000? The

real point is, how much of the huge ixevcnues that both the Mother ■L'oimtry and her Colonies derive Tfroni the trade or traffic in drink, is so derived at the cost of the physical and moral health and capacity of the consumers ? Revenue obtained at such a sacrifice is not gain, but loss. It is an economic is well as a moral loss. Even the sacrifice of revenue would only be temporary. Theothcr sources of the public income would he strengthened, and the public expenditure, especially upon the relief of poverty, and the punishment of crime, would be reduced." The following is out from the Pall Ml thxtlt!.—" For the 274 th time she was removed to the cells. Doing who? Who but Jane Cakebread ? For three months she has been away -she speaks as if she pawned herself in Holloway-and at her departure the sorrowing chaplain gave her those nice new spectacles, and repeated thenow familiar truth that she is the best needlewoman that comes to Holloway. Good man, he was sorry to miss one of the fewbright lights in the dull round of daily life—and he will not. For BMr Lane adopted the startling expedient of forty shillings or a month, and our Jane, with respondent originality, took the month. For

herself she would hayc preferred another course. Jler friends at Bishop's Stortford are an-hungored for her; often she has stinted to the old homo she loves, but iias always been waylaid by two of ruin or thereabouts, no further on limn Stamford-hill. Now they tell her she has come into L7OOO. If the cheerful endurance of adversity qualifies for prosperity, then is Cakebread litted for fortune indeed, tint a drop of bitter rises in the cup ! Seven thousand pounds means, indeed, 840,000 drops of bitter, and Unit calculated in months, means 70,000 years of Holloway, We fear she will hardly live toget the full good of her wealth." The deaths recorded as from alcoholism in Knglaud are increasing year by year. According to the last annual report of the liegistrarGeneral for England and Wales,

which is for tlio year 1893, " tlic .doafclis directly ascribed to intern(kiemncc iimnbcred 2,17-i, or 73 pur nnillion, which is the highest rate on record; the rates in the three preceding years had been respectively 70, 71, and 07 per million." The deaths referred to are of those persons whom no one would deny were the victims of intemperance, no note whatever, being taken of the deaths caused indirectly by the use of liquor; or the subtle and fatal diseases produced by habitual drinking, and attributed to something else. Figures also given in this ( report, show that from 1869 to 1893, deaths from acute alcoholism, have more than doubled, At a Tomporance meeting held at Willand, Devonshire, last week, Dr. Engene Tracoy referred to his hospital experiences in connection with strong drink. Ho spoko of what he bad seen in the surgery, in the outpatient rooms, in the adult-wards, in the children's wards, and in the dead-houses of the London hospitals, « jo said tho wards of the London ospitals were cammed full of persons suffering from tho effects of strong drink, but who had not been dwnkards. They had been men who had "stood thoir drink well" bnt yet had been taking "more than tlie physiological quantity." The drink had never got into their heads bo ut to make them appear drunk, but the result was that they wcro rotting in their arteriei, livers, and brains through their blood being poisoned. Four out of six' beds were occupied by men who would never have been in \h hospitals but.for strong drink.

Mora remarkable etill was Dr. Tracoy's tostimony as to children drunkards. Ho related one case of asix-yenr-oldchildbionffhttotiiohos-pital who had a craving for spirits, and was frightfully diseased through drinking the sumo. The other case lie would not have believed had it not come under his own personal observation. It was that of a 11 years old, very emaciated and unwholesome- when brought in. It recovered somewhat under most careful nursing, and one day a cup of milk was offered it. Puckering its little fiico and lowering its brow, the infant pushed the cup on one side, and with puling voice exclaimed —" Take it away ; give me half-a-piul of ale and some bioad and butter." This dreadful fact showod the hereditary inlluenot) of strong drink ; and hundreds of children weio thus being wrecked all round.