PERILS OF ‘RED LIZZIE.’

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 70, 4 January 1936, Page 7

PERILS OF ‘RED LIZZIE.’

DEADLY DRINK SOLD IN BRITAIN. A great fight against the. perils of “Red Lizzie,” a cheap wine . which has blinded and paralysed girls ot Britain, is being waged by the United Kingdom Alliance, the temperance organisation, and a bold effort is being made to influence Parliament to pass legislation to prohibit its sale. “Red Lizzie,” Mr Cecil Heath told a press representative, is being sold in London, Liverpool, Glasgow Newcastle, and Cardiff, and girls and women are being ruined by it. . It brings to its victims terrible suffering. “The spirit, which escapes the heavy spirit duty, is actually sold as cheaply as beer in certain licensed premises, he said. For many years efforts have been made by social workers to draw attention to the increasing consumption of “Red Lizzie” and a similar concoction “Red Biddy.” “Red Biddy” differs from Red Lizzie,” inasmuch as' “Biddy” is made, by the customer, who buys wine openly at a public-house and then adds a quantity of methylated spirit to the drink. Since steps were taken to make, methylated spirit unpalatable the practice lias lessened considerably. Its place, however, has been taken bv “Lizzie.” Every night in. almost every British seaport town girls and women can be seen suffering from the distressing effects of this “wine. Members of the British . wine, trade are practically unanimous in their condemnation of the “wine. “Good wine taken in moderation does a man or woman a power Ogood,” remarked one London merchant-, “but this stuff, which is imported to be sold so cheaply, is rank poison, rts effects are terrible. Any legislation to prohibit the selling of the stuff wi. have our support.”