SPIRIT PRICES—CONSUMPTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 281, 25 November 1921, Page 8

SPIRIT PRICES—CONSUMPTION.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —The contention that it is im- ! possible to nm'ke a nation sober by Acts !of Parliament may be well founded, but present indications are that the Govern- ! tnenfs new tariff rates wiH do more in I the cause of sobriety, certainly so far as itlie 'Auckland district is concerned, 'than any effort «f the Prohibition party. !incidentally the existing outlook is that ! the Government will full far short of the revenue it anticipated it would derive from the increased levies on the sale of spirits. For some little time ! past, owing to unemployment and scarcity of money, business aeros3 the bars 'at practically all the hotels in Auckland J ha.-, been on the decline, and the new i scale of charges brought into operation lon Monday laet has already brought about a further falling-olf. Very many habitual whisky drinkers resent the extra toll of Id (10d now being the price for a "nip" instead of 9d as before), and further, do not take kindly t o the introduction of the measure system, the latter in their opinion tending to suggest tha£ they cannot be trusted to "help themselves. A few in their anger have cu»the drink right out, others of necessity- make fewer visits to the bar, but the general experience is that a good proportion of former whisky adherents now resort to beer as their form of libation. The sale of case spirit bottles has also been disastrously interfered with (co far as the Trade is affected), and with most brands costing 15/6 a bottle little other than purchases for medicinal purposes are now l>eing chronicled. Light wines are likely to be in increased demand over the bar, especially in the warm weather, a hock and soda, for instance, being still obtainable for tid per glass. One good effect of the rise in prices is that the unscrupulous publican (and there are a few of them) who made & practice of "'doping" his spirits now finds that he must, sell-the article-true to label or he will lose hia customers.—l am, etc., MODERATE DRINKER.