The Dramatic Workshop. The Drink Question Abroad.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 130, 28 November 1885, Page 5

The Dramatic Workshop.

The Drink Question Abroad.

Mb W. S. Gilbert h&s been telling the American public, through the medium of one of its newspapers, how " The Mikado " came to be thought of, and, generally, how he puts together hi* comic operas, It< seems that the subject of the latest of the series was suggested by a Japanese execu tioner'a sword which hung on the wall of Mr Gilbert's library. Then arose the ques tion, Could genuine Japanese dresses be t-ecured ? How would the ladies of chorus look in black wigs? and could they be taught to wear the costumes ttt^ctively V There inquiries being satisfactorily an swered, there came the task of fitting the Savoy company with parts and, inter alia, the '* three little mai i» from school '* sprung from the accidental face that the Mi-t-es Brahum, Bond, and Grey, are shoi t in sta ture aud all of a height. I^ext the two ocened were decided on, and not til) then was the story of the pkee ? reduced to a narrative form, twelve versionbeing written before one was fiaall> adopted A. sketch of the dialogue was then made ; next came the composition of the woreJa ot the songs; and, last of all, the dialogue was elaborated to itt* present shape. !<• »i 1 appear from all this that Mr Gilbert does nut disguise the fact that in the production of these operas considerations of costume and of scenery come first, and that, in-tead of finding actors for the parts he writes. [he does vice versa. Thiß certainly reduce*the art of dramatic construction to a rather, low level ; but who can quart ol with a plan which has such agreeablo, result** V Mr Gil;, berb declares; that dramatic composition •*does not call for a very highi^ordeosot merit;!' but *, requires, a good deal of practi-; cal nkill; nevertbalees/' ; Such mode? i ty; ir, becoming* but ought not to mi-le»idv j It, is, all.venv welUto -trace thejioriginAof-^* Tli*i ( Mikado".. to ,a Japanese > sw:prii k {'jbut fl «hojiWi about the quick, ingenious fahoy^^hiqh could evolve, tberietailßiof theoptra out 6f> » fcimple suggestion ? .«'/^hi»4 /

A FARti arne \tary, paper recently publiahed ooutattisrepoits from, tier Mtijo»ty,'a;df^W|K matte and coneularioffiuera upon th'a^COtK; sumption of intuxictttuigjyiquora abroad.* ,I'ti^ consumption o£ pfiuils in AortfiMerr woany * w< very; grew; ■ and outfofri*? ygarjhr: tverage of 4,450 Miicide* in for five ; fear*, 508 tuve been due to dip-somania and leltrium? 'tnmew- } The^ptfctintifge' o% uimdea amoug PP 0 * 1 ?? -d ne • 3 40 j wheretAL among* females- it; Was"onlys "only owo.. With regard to, fatal accidents also & large number ot them were attributable 0 diunkenners, . Similar statistics were rurniebed in connection with the luuatic vy lums " Taking 3,106 ewes yearly ti cited u the general hospitals for dipsomania;/ 690, I ases ,of delirium tremens, in the luuattc isylums, ' 697 piivate 'dip'om-iniaV, t£ 6oB ■ Suicides and 311 drunkards ace dentally ; tilled, there is a total ot 5,212 pares yearly at' alcoholism in a fatal torW^'J he Prussia states alone showed 1,921 men i Jaud »)5 women treated yearly tot ,(lelirivm remenn. It appears chat scven-Wnthd t^f ho-e suff r»t»g from alcohol were in* 'the tjrime ot life— that is, between 20 and 50 vearri of age In the, kingdom of Pruspia, (i 18S2, the e^imatnd expanditure* on •ftidia alone was 26l,000;0'0 marks, vhilu alt the diiecC .-tate t-ix^s for the •ame.peiiod produced but 1 5<>, 000,000 mark^ 1 akiug the whole expenditure upon bter, vine aud fpmtp, icamounteil to 907,000,000 uarka, or moie than double the amount eatided by the Prussian exchtquer for «ta axes and -tnmp duties, &c In .- wt>den and >(orwa> the con amption of epirits has been Inclining lor nuino past ; but in Dennark the tvil of gptiit drinking ha- 1 reached v tenible pi eh. Ihe n louber of drunkards vho bavo committed suicide h^s risen, in birty years from one he vt nth to one* ,hird ; while, am nt% the ariests. 16 per cent •vere ca^es of drjiikeiiiiestj, and, adding to ■ h^se 1 8 per cent, aoiontr pri^o'iera for wiher jffances, there is a grand total of 74 par ■ent., or three-fourthe of all tho-e taken into •iiHtody, for ciimes com mi' ted under the nfluence of drink. In H 1 and the number jf houses for the Hale of dunk via-* no lees han 45,000 in 1878, so tha' in a p ipulation of t, Of) 000 there wa- a drink ghnp tor every 9 inhabitants including women an J children. Buc ov* ing to the exertions ot a portion of the community, the \j g<s a vie pa ait d a re■■tiictive Jaw in 1881, with the result that in the com si of one year the drink shops decreased from 45,000 to 33 000. Belgium affords iucontestably the woisD etati-tics la regard to the consumption of ulctholic liquors. In less than half a century the udd of spirituous liqucr3 has more than tiebled itself in that coun'ry, while the population has only advanced from 3,500 0 >Q to 5,000,000 Theuse ofsuirirsincrea-irdfiQ ocr cent, between 1851 and 18"], and btet i creased during the same period 15 75 per oent. The coinuujption of spirits, wine and beer for 1881 amounted in value to 175 00 ),000f. Although the country is so -mail, it contained in 18S0 no fewer than 12:> 000 places devoted to the sale of intoxicating liquors. Tht re wap a public house m the average for every 12 or 13 grown up «nalea. The suicides rose fiom 50 per •nillion inhabi ants in 1848 to 80 in 1880. The lunatics advanced fntn 720 per million inhabitants in 18 16 to 1,470 in I SSI. The u-pector-^erieral ot Belgian pri-ons reports 'hiC four fiffchrt of the- or me Hnd misery during the last quarter of a century ■as been directly attrilutable to iiitempermce. fn France the sad eff-cts of Iriirikenneas once witnessed have been con•iderably lt->».-eneH by the pass'Titf of a salutary 1' t. In li>7s the iiumb^ra put i-hed or open drunkenness wore 93 000, but by SBO they had fallen to 60 000, Switzerland .^xhibrs an unsnti-factury in-rease in the Irink tr-^ffi j. Botween IS7O and 18*0 Mie population advanced 6 fl per cent., but _ thd public huu-es increased by at much as L'l per cent Austria furnishes a similar •ondiiion of thiny. In 1880 there were in Vienna alone 1,624 diiuk houses and 5 103 •ergons weie in that jetr arrested for being Irunk. The hospital.", lunatic a>ylumt>,and nitons of the country all testify to the advance of drinking habits. It issugue^ted hat the clergy, medical men and tchoolinistersof every nation could do much to initiya^e this evil if th9ir sympathies could be thoroughly roused. Cmttnental workmen generally spend a lar^e propmtion of bheir earnintf- in dnt»k without becoming or being classed as absolute drunkards.