LIQUOR PRICES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 136, 8 June 1917, Page 7

LIQUOR PRICES.

THE MEASURE AT WOKBL WAR AND WHISKY. Inexorably the wealth of whisky and of other similar things which "maketh a man feci a man though he looketh it not." decreases, and soon the voice of the toper will bo as that of one crying in a wilderness, the barrenness whereof will, to him. be but accentuated by the new saplings of Australian wines and ales 1 says tlie " Sydney Daily Telegraph "). "Excuse me."' says Hebe, "you have taken too much." And she hands him a measure—to him an insulting instrument. *-Measure!" he exclaims. "What! Mc!" The toper —by him is meant the habitual long "nipper." a fellow who should have walked the earth in the swashbuckling days, when they quaffed (not drank i by flagons—is feeling the pinch. At the first rebuff he grumbles. The war. he is told, the war is the cause. What's the war srot to do with his whisky ; why couldn't the war leave that alone? Such thoughts race through his mind, and the Kaiser is execrated for | vet another outrage. The toper hopes hell be there to hand H.T.M. an empty glass and a bottomless measure. But your average drinker :s a real fellow lifter all. With British fortitude he takes a reef in his belt and accepts his "measure": a measure of strong; water being better than no strong water at all. But not all those who imbibe arc topers. There are the business men who take their ease a* an inn for a few moments before joining in the rushing stream, to ferry, tram or train. And these, too —or some of them —are affronted much as their brother who has the finer appreciation of whisky. •'What's this?" asks one icily, as he juggle? daintily with the spoonhandled thing. "A measure, indeed! T call it an insult." Keaily he has always been quite a moderate icllow. and it seems preposterous that they should do this thing to him. Mechanically he transfers the portion to his glass. "Hey. miss; that bottle, please." and he pours some back. " Deceptive thing that measure." he muses: •must want to get rid of tbe stuff quickly." These things are happening daily in Sydney hotels. Whisky, brandy, rum and jin are so scarce that soon there v> ill he none but old and long-forgotten brands to fall back on—there are fashions in whisky just as there are in fur boas. And so the publican who. since early losing has been having a had time compared to the old days, has been forced to resort to the measure. One of the sights of the bars in these days is to see the girls in a busy hour searching for that elusive euplet. and wondering where some darkly-designing fellow has hidden it. The e<-onoTni.-s of the whisky bottle are simple—unless, of course, you are a prohibitionist, in which :-asr you trace them beyond the crave. over the counter without a measure, the bottle, acording to the learned, yields an average of 14 nip~ at t'.d. each. That is "/. Before the war. the purveyor bought the bottle for 3/10. and thus, if the topers were reasonable, ma.ie a .r.iss profit of 3/2. To-day it costs him •"• £ ! . and yields only 1/3$ over, which, after the costs for services xn.l accessories are paid, practically dis-sr-pear*. m-.r- especially if cordials are taken v. :th it. Tlie same thing happens with sir,, which has risen in cost to the 'eil-T from 4 r. to S r.: rum. from 4/3 to s : brandy 100 per cent: and stout. from !>'!) to !7'H a dozen. With the quarter-gil! measure, the hotelkeeper can tret 20 tr. 21 nips from a bottle, so that his profit becomes aiiproximatcly what it was before.

But here's the rub. One Vitclkoeper will ;<■!] you that the majority of his customers are " under the odrls." and pii* in the measure will re-luce his prr.rits. Another finds that it is the other way abouf in his case, and has. as an sr! lei! trouble, to consider the man who. while hi« fj r? t. nip is a big one. stay» for one or two more, and takes them mighty small—" li.lit." He is the man who comes to the hotel fr, r n few minutes' social reunion with his friends. And you must be careful, they say. not to hand him tho measure, lest a jrood ctistnrr.er he lost. The hotclkeepor must be ...nscioiis of the peculiar courtesies of !;:s calling, and must act with discrimination. Indeed, the inquirer comes away feeling thankful that even if lie is a sinner, at least he is not a publican. The trade has not yet settled down mentally regarding- these things. Some there are who want no measure, and desire to charge Td. for spirits, and Sd with cordials. Others, ajrain. think 6d. a fair thins, provided 2d. extra is paid for minerals. These point out that men have been accustomed to pay fid., and that they would revolt against 7d.. j.ist as the toper and his superior friend object to having their tots administered Tike doses of medicine. But there is going to be an increase. All are affreed that, in course of time, the spirit drinker will have to take what he can tret, not what he asks for. and later still will have to fall back on the alcoUcJicalh- lighter Australian wines and ales—which from a public point of view might be a good tiling, though not from the viewpoint of the publicans, who m r-uch contingency profess to see themselves driven to yield the control of their houses into the hands of tbe brewers and wine and spirit merchants.