The Bruce Herald. TOKOMAIRIRO, JUNE 15, 1897.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2862, 15 June 1897, Page 2

The Bruce Herald. TOKOMAIRIRO, JUNE 15, 1897.

It is a peculiar anomaly, and one worthy of the attention of politicians and others, that while the people of New Zealand are yearly becoming more sober, lunacy is steadily increasing. For instance, from official sources we learn that in 1883 the consumption of beer per head was 8.709ga1, Bpirits 1.005 ; while in 1895 it was only 6.996 gal of beer, and ,0593 gal of spirits. From this it will be seen tbat during the last thirteen years theconsumption per head of beer and spirits has largely decreased year by year. Taking this commendable improvement in the drinking habits of the people of New Zealand into consideration it should, one would have thought, have been followed by a decrease in those people who yearly lose their reason. Such as we have said is unfortunately not borne out by the latest statistics to hand from the Begistrar-general. On the 12th of April, 1896, when the last census was taken, there were 2198 insane people in the colony ; of these 1,330 were males^ and only 868 were females. When the cen** bub of 187*. was taken the proportion for every 10,000 of the population was only 19.93 persons and during the five census periods, sinpe then it has gone up by leaps and bounds. In 1896 the proportion bad jumped from 10,93 in 1897 to

31.13. Tbis is an alarming increase and uo reason has yet been given to account for it. So that tne force of this state of things may be clearly understood by all, it may be mentioned that in 189G one person in every 320 persons exclusive 1 of Maoris, ims afflicted with lunacy. This proportion, says the Registrar-general, though less than in Victoria in 1891 is " greater than the proportions at that time for all the other Australian colonies." The explanation of this disproportion might reasonably have beeu expected to have been found in the more sober habits of our cousins in Australia; But, so far from this being the caee we find that for the census period ending 1891 in Victoria and South Australia, the consumption of beer and spirits was roughly nearly three times as great per head as in New Zealand ; while in New South Wales it was half aB much again. The very large increase in lunacy in New Zealand as will be seen is evidently not traceable to excessive drinking ; to what cause therefore can it be assigned ? This is a problem worthy of solution by not only our medical profession but also by all thinking men. According to the sophistical reasoning of prohibition agitators, drink is the main cause not only of lunacy, but nearly all the ills of life. Here then is a nut for them also to crack, How is it, we ask, that in New Zealand, notwithstanding the yearly decrease in the consumption of liquor, lunacy is increasing year by year. Fa'bmebs and everybody having the welfare of this district at heart, will be pleased to learn that the Winter Show, to be held on Friday the 18th has now passed the Eubicon of succese* The committee of the Tokomairiro Farmers' Club since it took the work •in hand, has used every endeavor to make the Winter Show a most successful one. In this it has been ably backed up by the farmers of the district, and from what we can ascertain, everyone will be agreeably surprised at the number and variety of the entries and of the products on exhibition. For iastance, up to date of writiDg, the number of entries, we are informed exceed* 250, and entries are still pouring in to the Secretary. As there are still two or three days yet for entries to come in, no doubt the total number of entries will on the day of the Show exceed 300. This number is, of course, far and away greater than when the winter show was held by the Club on tbe 27th day of May 18G9 ; at that time there were only 38 classes, and the entries numbered 73 all told. Amongst other things this shows the great strides farming has made in this district during the last 30 years. As we have said, the promoters of the present ahow are deserving of the thanks of the community for their efforts, and it is to be hoped that the people of Bruce will show their sympathy with the movement by turning up in force on Friday at the Winter Show, and seeing for themselves the excellence of the products exhibited there. In another column will be seen an advertisement drawing particular attention to this matter.