THE DRINK PROBLEM ON THE CONTINENT

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8288, 17 September 1903, Page 4

THE DRINK PROBLEM ON THE CONTINENT

Tlie London Daily Express contains telegrams from various parte of the Continent on the drink problem. From these it appears tlmt drunkenness itt France is steadily increasing. Alcoholism is the modern leprosy in France. Hie increase in pulmonary consumption is almost entirely due to alcoholism. Lunacy is on the increase from the same cause. The drinking of absinthe is greatly on the increase. In Belgium Anti-Alcoholic Leagues have been formed. In Switzerland the impending curse of the country is absinthe, wlueh is drunk in large quantities. Societies have been started in Germany with the object, of combating the evils of excessive drinking. The Austrian Parliament is discussing a Bill which provides that drunkards 6hall after ten convictions be sent to a reformatory, where they will be imprisoned until they receive a medical certificate to the effect that their craving for drink has been cured. ■More than half the murders and crimes of violence, for which. Italy ranks first among all nations of Europe, are directly attribut- [ ed to alcoholic excess. Wine is so cheap in Italy—a pint in. the villages only costing a "halfpenny—that drunkenness is exceedingly common. In Portugal alcoholism is almost unknown.- A drunken woman is scarcely known in Spain. Gin drinking has become so common in Holland that a league has been formed to abolish the use of spirits.Seven millions is annually spent in drink in the country. .Norway has the reputation 'of being the most sober country in the world, and immediately a man shows the slightest signs of intoxication fie is arrested and placed in prison.' Here he remains until he is certified by a doctor to be cured of his craving for drink.