CHILDREN REARED ON BRANDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14157, 4 September 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHILDREN REARED ON BRANDY.

SCHOOLBOYS COME DRUNK. j The sensation of tho International Con- S gress on Alcoholism, which has Seen sit- 1 ting in London, after being opened by I the Bishop of Croydon, was the reveia- | tion made by Dr. .lure Doczi, official re- ] porter to the Alcohol Commission in j Budapest, of drinking allowed and en- I couraged amongst the child population I of Hungary. \ He declared that in Hungary it fi § found that there are hardly any schools | in which there is a pupil who is a total % abstainer. On such occasions as Wi« I days, baptisms, wedding*?, funerals, j and harvest time, greater opportunity I of indulging in alcohol are given to the * people, and to the. children also. | These opportunities for indulging f in intoxicating liquors have in 1 some cases assumed such dimea- I sions that, according to report?, received, | pupils in the first and second elementary i classes come to the schools in quite an 1 intoxicated condition. Reports have also | been received of eases of pupils being I too intoxicated to bo able to do their i lessons. ; 1 Children were given bread soaked .in g brandy; in other instances brandy was 1 given to children to stop them crying. § In consequence of the extraordinary | cheapness of brandy in several comnnim- « ties it is given to the children regularly | for breakfast. (Sensation.) « I The effect of alcohol on the mind aiifl 1 character of children who indulged in i'» 1 was most marked, continued the speaker,! Thirty per cent, of the children were in- f attentive, nervous, and restless; 15 pa* 1 cent', melancholy and abnormally shy; i 30 per cent, coarse and without feeling; I 9 per cent, vindictive and given to -!<d ] ing; 18 per cent, immoral; and 6 per ; cent, particularly disinclined to leant. Only 20 per cent, showed no' sign of any evil effect. Concerning the bodily health of alco-hol-reared children, "three-fifths were found to be of colourless complexion and rale, with sunken cheeks; one-fifth showed arrested development of the body: and in only one-fifth was the. disturbing influence of alcohol unnoticed. Mr. Gustav Spiller urged that alcohol, however small the quantity taken, was physiologically, intellectually, and ethically deleterious. He had observed, W:|| said, at dinner that the conversation m j those who had only taken even very lit- j ; tie alcohol was less relevant, more tits- j connected, and their oratory was affected j in a more or less pronounced manner. ] Dr. C. W. Saleeby said that carefully j prepared .statistics showed that 45.445 » women and children were made widows »\ and orphans every, year in Great Britain through the direct effects of alcohol. Miss Agnes Weston, of the R.N.T.S,, . fold a large evening audience in tee |< Queen's Hall that two admirals of tW '■ fleet now in the Thames were flying lb* teetotal colours, and that 700 sailor* scattered among the ships are active workers of the 11.N.T.5. Lord Alverftone, the. Lord Chief Justice, who presided over the Queen's flail meeting, reiterated the fact, borne oik by 40 years' experience, at, the liar, tha* 90 per cent, of iho crime of England «a* caused by alcohol. ;| ■'