Drunkenness in Victoria.

From the number of arrests made during the year 1877 drunkenness would appear to be on the increase, 823 more persons were arrested during that period than in the year 1870. From statistics, which we give elsewhere, it would appear that drunkenness obtains to a much larger extent among the uneducated than amongst those who have received a superior education. This at first sight would seem to support the idea, that by educating the people, intemperance might be greatly diminished. It must be borne in mind, however, that it is almost impossible to arrive at any correct idea of how far intemperance prevails among educated persons; they are generally well to do, and many get drunk at home or have friends who have sufficient interest in them to see that they do not get locked up in the watch-house. The uneducated are generally poor, and as a rule get drunk at the public house and are arrested before they reach home. The ordinary school education cannot do much in the way of suppressing this evil, but if teaching the nature and effects of alcohol were made part of the school curriculum, no doubt intemperance would be considerably lessened.