MR. A. S. ADAMS'S ERRORS

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 146, 21 June 1916, Page 2

MR. A. S. ADAMS'S ERRORS

TO THB EDITOR. Sir, —On further examination, I ■ find that Mr. A. S. Adams has made several errors in his Drink Bill for ,1915. His statement, as printed in the Evening Post of 3rd instant, reads:—"The increase in consumption is shown at 53,495 gallons spirits, 7392 gallons wine, 32,800 gallons imported beer, and 249,474 gallons New Zealand beer." The error here is that imported beer showed a decrease, not an increase, as Mr. Adams tries to make believe.

Another error is his computation of the consumption of wines at 40s, which is about ISs a gallon too much, as everyone (save Mr. A. S. Adams) must know if they know anything at ail about the price of wine. Another error Mr. A. S. Adams makes is that he computes beer at 4s pei- gallon, which is at least 25 per cent, too much. Of course, if you desire to make out that New Zealand is a drunken and besotted country (as the Prohibitionists' chief purpose is) you have only to enlarge the basis of your calculation (as Mr. Adams does) to get up an. enormous and apparently convincing argument. But is it clever? Is it honest?

Mr. A. S. Adams makes another griev- ' ou» error. He sets down in his Drink Bill for 1915 the total revenue from the liquor consumption as £873,431. Let me give his own words : "The total revenue derived from liquor by the Treasury was £873,431." (Evening Post.) Now, the direct revenue derived from liquor is as follows: — '£ New Zealand beer duty ... 137,225 Spirits duty revenue--.. 760,372 | Imported ale and beer duty ... 26,005' Duty on wines (imported) ... 42.258 License fees . ... ... ... 42J283 Total ... ... ...1,008,143 So that Mr. A. S. Adams is just in error a small matter of £234,712 in his? precious Drink Bill. This revenue is approximate to the. total cost of our primary.education system. To this large .re-venue Mr. Adams and his Prohibition friends do not contribute ens penny. This is voluntary taxation, and ithe Prohibitionists . dodge- it. More honesty ! More patriotism ! Mr. Adams quotes the speeches of Mr. Lloyd" George. But that gentleman changed his mind after the middle of April last year with regard to the liquor business in England. Before that he thought and spoke as Mr. Adams quotes; but Mr. Adams is-, not up to date. Mr. Lloyd George is. As' Minister of Munitions ho 'has just purchased all the hreweries and hotels in Carlisle., and is running them as State institutions for the people (see cable to Evening Post, 13th June). Actions speak louaer than words. Mr. Adams quotes Mr. George's pre-con-vereion talk. He talked about the evils of drink, as Paul of Tarsus did of Christianity, and was going to abolish it as the country's worst enemy. But he had a vision, and found he had been talking rot. Then he said. "To drink beer is to help the revenue!" "Every man or woman," he said in his famous Budget speech just after his conversion, "who drinks one half-pint of beer is contributing one halfpenny to therevenue to provide silver bullets to destroy the Germans." Can Mr. Adams quote a speech of Mr. Lloyd George delivered after April, 1915," that- modifies that statement?

In Russia beer and -(vines are as freely made and sold to-day as before the war. In France, the French soldiers are supplied with wins rations, the British soldiers and sailors with rum, and our boys from New .Zealand are supplied with beer at one penny per glass alt Ypres. Our boys in Egypt have their wet canteens open from 5 a.m. till 10 p.m. — and they were Anzac heroes 1 And 1 doubt if there was one Prohibitionist among them.. The A. S. Adamses of New Zealand contribute nothing to the voluntary taxation of the country, and they think they are better citizens than other infii}; I doubt if they are as good. Still, they imagine their way of living is superior to the rest of the community, and it is for our good that these Prohibitionists are wanting to force their blighting ways upon others. Sir Edward" Grey spoke of the Germans thus (vide Evening Post, 15th May):— "The Germans assert that their culture is so extraordinarily superior that it gives them the moral right to impose upon the rest of the world by force of will." So .'the Prohibitionists in New Zealand are fighting for the same thing by force of votes or bogus petitions.— I am, etc., MODERATE. Wellington, 21st June, 1916.