§ Mr. REESasked whether the report of the superintendent of the Straits Settlements Lunatic Asylum showed that the substitution of cheap brandy for opium was leading to a rapid development of alcoholic insanity amongst the Chinese?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Master of Elibank)The report to which my hon. Friend refers states that alcoholic insanity among the Chinese is increasing, but the statement is scarcely borne out by the figures, which show that in 1908, the year to which the report relates, fourteen persons were admitted to the asylum suffering from alcoholic insanity, as against sixteen in 1907. The superintendent refers to several cases in which insanity was the result of overindulgence in cheap brandy, but there is nothing to suggest that this liquor was used as a substitute for opium.
§ Mr. THEODORE TAYLORWas the brandy used priced at a shilling or less per bottle?
§ MASTER of ELIBANKI have no knowledge on the point.