Like the central group, this southern group of Slavs was divided under four crowns, Hungary, Austria, Montenegro, and Serbia; but, in spite of the fact that half belong to the Western and half to the Eastern Church, they are all essentially the same people, though with considerable infusion of non-Slavonic blood, there being a good deal of Turkish blood in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The languages, however, are practically identical, formed largely of pure Slavonic materials, and, curiously, much more closely connected with the eastern Slav group--Russia and Little Russia--than with the central group, Polish and Bohemian. A Russian of Moscow will find it much easier to understand a Slovene from Goritzia than a Pole from Warsaw. The Ruthenians, in Southern Galicia and Bukowina, are identical in race and speech with the Little Russians of Ukrainia. Of the central group, the Poles have generally inclined to Austria, which has always supported the Polish landlords of Galicia against the Ruthenian peasantry; while the Czechs have been not so much anti-Austrian as anti-German. Indeed, the Hapsburg rulers have again and again played these Slavs off against their German subjects. It was the Southern Slav question, as affecting Serbia and Austria, that gave the pretext for the present war. At this moment, the central Slav question--the future destiny of the Poles--is a bone of contention between Austria and Germany. It is the custom to call these Southern Slavs "Jugoslavs," from the Slav word Yugo, "south," but as this is a concession to German transliteration, many prefer to write the word "Yugoslav," which represents its pronunciation. The South Slav question was created by the incursions of three Asiatic peoples--Huns, Magyars, Turks--who broke up the originally continuous Slav territory that ran from the White Sea to the confines of Greece and the Adriatic. DRUNKENNESS REDUCED IN GREAT BRITAIN The result of the control of the liquor traffic in Great Britain is shown by the following figures of convictions for drunkenness in the years named, the upper line of figures referring to males, the lower line to females: Greater London--Population, (1911,) 7,486,964 1913. 1914. 1915. 1916. 1917. 48,535 49,077 35,866 19,478 10,931 16,953 18,577 15,970 9,975 5,736 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ 65,488 67,654 51,836 29,453 16,667 Boroughs, (36,) England and Wales-- Population, (1911,) 8,406,372