The British Ministers and Consuls abroad, in reply to a
series of questions sent out by the Scottish Anti-Tobacco Society, have furnished full and interesting information as to the extent to which the use of tobacco by the young is regulated or prohibited by the State in the various countries to which they are accredited. It appears that although there is no legal restriction on indulgence in tobacco in any of the principal European countries, its use by cadets and school- boys is more or less strictly regulated, notably in Germany and Russia. On the other hand, nine Colonial Legislatures within the British Empire have passed laws against juvenile smoking, the age limit varying from thirteen in Tasmania to eighteen in Ontario and New Brunswick. In the United States the majority of State Legislatures have adopted the same attitude, the age limit in ten States being as high as twenty- one, while the evil results of smoking are taught in the common schools of thirty-five States. But the most rigorous anti- tobacco legislation is found in Japan, where all minors are forbidden to smoke, the police being under orders to con- fiscate their smoking instruments and tobacco, while parents, guardians, and tobacco dealers are fined for encouraging the practice.
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