The Week in Review.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 26, 25 June 1913, Page 1

The Week in Review.

The “ Have Another ” Habit. IT is generally recognised in the Dominion that much drunkenness, especially amongst young men, is due to the system of shouting, br the “Have another” fetish. This applies elsewhere, and a gentleman at Home, the medical superintendent of Dalrymple House, a home for inebriates, has been busy compiling statistics bearing on the point. Of 1,064 patients who had been received at the institution, more than one-half owed their condition to the “have another” habit, 548 cases being classified under the heading of “sociability.” Lack of occupation, according to the report, is a great cause of habitual drunkenness; 256 of the total number of patients received being of “no occupation.” The next worst class were merchants, of whom there were 107. and then follow: Medical practitioners, 70; clerks, 77; manufacturers, 56. The professions least addicted to drunkenness, according to these statistics, are builders, jewellers, naturalists, shopfitters, surveyors, and tobacconists, only one of each class having been admitted to the home in twenty years. After “sociability,” illhealth accounted for 178 cases, and overwork for 53, domestic trouble for 74, business worry for 69, and financial loss for 8. © © © Exciting Canse. ‘’lnfluence of occupation” is given as an exciting cause, and he subdivides it as follows:—Commercial travelling, 9; Wine and beer merchants, 29; cattle salesmen, 2; stock exchange, 2; colonial life, 16; army life, 13; retail corn business, 1; journalists, 4; theatrical, 1. The nature of the inebriant is a curiously instructive table. In 344 cases it was .whisky, in 218 all spirits, in 192 beer and spirits, and in only 23 beer alone. Gin accounted for the condition of eleven of the patients, and only two of them were addicted to absinthe. The. average of time of addiction in all cases was 8.61 years. The dangerous age. to judge from these, tables, is between thirty and forty. The average age of all patients was 36.6 years, and while only 154 were between twentv and thirty years old when admitted, there were 476 between thirty and forty. After that there is a noticeable falling off, 312 between the ages of forty and fifty being admitted, 98 of from fifty to sixty years of age, 21 of from sixty to seventy, and 2 between seventy and eighty'. More married people than single were among the patients in the proportion of 533't0 477. with 54 widowed. The researches made are so complete that it has been possible to tabulate the patients under their different temperaments, and it is curious to note that only eighteen of them were classified as “passionate.” The others were: Nervous, 680; nervoBanguine, 177; sanguine, 150; phlegmatic, 29. © © © Court Cases in Camera. Further particulars of the decision of the House of Lords, declaring that there is no power by which judges can order cases to be heard in camera, are to hand by the latest English mails. The chief points from the opinions delivered are: — Lord Haldane: There was no reason why thus case should be heard in camera at all. The paramount factor in deciding the question of procedure is that justice shall be done to the parties. There is no power to hear in camera, and Any justification for such an order on the part of the judge must be basen on the finding that justice would not

be done, or would be rendered doubtful, if the case was heard in open court. The facts in the present case fall short of what is required to justify a departure from the principle which requires a case to be heard in open court. Lord Halsbury: It is the right of every Englishman to have his case tried in open court. Lord Loreburn: I cannot find that the High Court has unqualified power to ?iear proceedings behind closed doom. The rule is that justice shall be administered in open court. There are exceptions to this rule, but it was impossible to anticipate any contingencies. In all cases where the public arc excluded there should be the underlying principle that the administration of justice is interfered with or made impracticable by their presence. We cannot bind anyone to perpetual silence; that would be an unwarrantable infringement of the rights of the citizen. Tn this case Mrs. Scott published the evidence in defence ■of her own character and as a moral duty to herself. Such an act cannot be punished. Lord Atkinson: The judge's order enjoining perpetual silence was unsound. A public hearing may be painful and humiliating .to the parties, but all this is tolerated and endured because it is felt that in a public trial is to be found the best security for the proper and efficient administration of justice, and the best means of winning publie confidence and respect. © © © The Woman of Forty. A breach of promise case in an English Court last week gave an opportunity for an eminent judge to speak a kind word for the woman of forty. He declared hin belief in the possibility of romance and marriage that remained to her, and suggested that a sane, attractive ‘'woman of forty” was a delightful companion. Youth, of course, will scoff because, of all the gifts of the gods, youth is the greatest. It stands for hope. It is generally instinct with a clear perception of real values. It has not been blinded by misunderstood experience. But it is at least doubtful whether youth has the same capacity for emotion as maturity, and it is certainly true that it is only in maturity that a man or a woman suffers from loneliness and neglect. Only the very young can derive any real satisfaction from a Daniel-like and glorious isolation. © © © Safety in Athletics. The athletic girl is lens liable to succumb to temptation than her sistdr, who does not go in for athletics, is the considered opinion of Dr. Dudley A. Sargent, director of athletics at “Social evils are the result of life’s forces being turned into wrong channels,” says Dr. Sargent. “The eternal longing to externalise oneself that is, to find an outlet for the emotions -is an inherent one in human nature. Th? "basic impulse may find natural healthy expression in athletics, or it may fin 1 some sinister form. Woman is more emotional than man. and athletics offer the girl who is budding into womanhood not only the opportunity to 'acquire a sound, healthy body, but a moral and mental equipose. which, I believe, can ba acquired in no other way. It is certain that girls of athletic tendencies are less liable to go astray, because they find in athletics a safe outlet for the emotions.”

State Coal. Some weeks ago an increase of 2/ a ton was ordered in the price of State coal at the Wellington depot, while the price at depots in other towns remained unaltered. It was explained at the time that the Wellington depot had been running at a loss, while the other depots had not. It should have been stated also that until the 'Wellington price was increased the coal had been selling for two shillings a ton less at the local depot than in other towns. Uniform prices are now being charged at all the depots. The Minister for Miners hopes to reduce prices all round, possibly to the former Wellington level, when proper access has been provided to the new mine at Point Elizabeth. A middle rail, similar to that in use on the Rimutaka incline, is being laid on a steep portion of the railway from the mine. This will be completed in a few weeks, and it will then be possible, it is stated, to fully load the coal train. © © © The Auckland Exhibition. “We haven’t had a single refusal for anything we have asked for?” declared Mr. G. Elliot at a recent meeting of the Auckland Exhibition Executive in referring to the warm support received from individuals, companies and local bodies. This is one of the many encouraging features that fully justify the most optimistic anticipations concerning the result of the great project that is going to make Auckland the Mecca of New Zealand for several months from the end of the present year. Everybody is busy, interested and enthusiastic, and everything possible is being done to provide attractions that will appeal to the multitude. All -the arrangements in this direction are in a very forward state, due to systematic organisation and effective control, and with the completion of the remaining details in the same businesslike manner, the exhibition promises to "boom” from the opening day. The financial position of the movement up to the present must be regarded as distinctly satisfactory. Although there has been considerable expenditure and not very much revenue, the amount overdrawn, after payment has been made for space, is not more than £3,764. © © © Drink and Laziness. Civilisation, or perhaps the evils of civilisation, have worked havoc with the people of Hawaii, according to Air J. W. Doyle, of Honolulu, who was visiting Wellington last week. and. he adds, their days as a distinctive race are short numbered. Tile modern Hawaiian will, it is stated, only work when he is forced to it. He will not work steadily in the fields,

but do a little on the Honolulu watersidi and they are really good workers —fu

about two, or maybe three, days a week. That gives the Hawaiian enough to keep him in food and drink for a week or ten days, perhaps. These watersiders are invariably hard drinkers, and their favourite drink is a long glassful of ".square-face” or “sand paper gin,” described as the vilest of raw spirits. That is the drink they like after a day's work. Drink and sheer laziness are rapidly undermining the remnants of one of the most picturesque of the peoples of the Pacific, says Mr Doyle. © © © Standing Drinks. The question of members “standing” each other drinks between meals was dis eussed at the annual meeting of the National Liberal Club, in London, some weeks back. Dr. J. Fletcher Little moved that “no member shall treat another member to intoxicating liquors except when entertaining him at luncheon or dinner.” The movement leading to the resolution was not entirely a temperance one. It was to prevent the National Liberal custom of a number of members getting together and saying “Have another ” and thus taking more drinks than they really wanted. The motion was received very coldly, and many members objected to it as an in suit to the club itself. After a short discussion it was suggested that “the previous question be put,” and, as this was carried by a large majority, Dr. Little's motion was not put to the vote. The question is therefore shelved for a year. © © © Pauperism in London. More than one hundred persons have starved to death in the last twelve months in England and Wales, according to a White Paper issued by the Local Government Board. Forty-four of the victims lived in London, and 58 in the provinces. Eleven were in receipt of old age pensions at the time of death and four of these had been on charity pay-rolls before their transfer to the Government's old age pension list-4 Eighty-two died without letting theit hunger and destitution be known to any one. In Sunderland a mother starved to death rather than expose her son's idleness and bad conduct. He bullied her out of her last few pennies, and thei left her to perish. In Preston, a man cut his throat in such a way that he could not take food, and so starved to death in secret. A return of the London police on a recent Saturday showed 109,462 paupers, or about one in 41 of the population. Of the entire number, 67.730 were in the workhouses. and

32,732 were on the outdoor list, including 592 children boarded out beyond the workhouse districts and 13,325 other children under 16 years of age. There has been a very slight increase of pauperism since a year ago. Not included in the foregoing figures are 3,841 sick paupers and 19,682 crazy paupers. In the lunatic class are 3,552 children, not including the imbecile children. The year has been one of unprecedented trade prosperity. The “Times” charges the Increase in pauperism to labour disputes.