COMMON USE ARTICLES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 30 August 1924, Page 12

COMMON USE ARTICLES.

WINES, SMOKES. SUGAR

AVERAGE CONSUMPTION PER HEAD.

SOME INTERESTING FIGURES

Possibly due to a great many of the fair sex acquiring the cigarette liabit, the consumption per head of population on duty paid on cigars, cigarettes and snuff first went over the £ mark in 1918, the last year of the Great War, when the amount' reached £1 3s lid. Since then it has jumped to £llos 3sd. This is only one of many interesting items gleaned from a, comprehensive table issued by the Customs Department, Wellington, and covering the consumption per head, based on duties paid iu the Dominion, of articles in common use. Tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, coffee, cocoa, tea, wines, spirits, beers, and sugar are dealt with, and, though perhaps more than one of sucharticles may not be regarded as necessaries of life, it is quite clear that all are in great demand. In reviewing the position, it must be remembered that the rates of duty have periodically undergone alteration, and it does not therefore follow that an increase in the value of any particular item means an increase in the quantity consumed. As an instance, the rates of duty .on foreign teas in June, 1923, were reduced considerably and British teas were admitted free. The value per head was then Is 10id, against 9fd in 1922, but the consumption per head increased from 6.921 b in 1922 to 7.541 bin 1923. This is only by way of explanation. Spirits. The figures in the table cover a period of 20 years, and it is interesting to note that, of the articles dealt with, the Government the greatest revenue in duty from spirits, when last year the amount collected ran into £1,070,219, but this was due to increases in the rates of duty. The greatest quantity consumed in twelve months was in 1921, the amount then being 1,000,875 gallons, or 2.55 per head, or in money £2 6s 53d. The previous year the consumption per heqd was 2.63 gallons, or £2 7s 3£d, hut in 1922 there was a big drop, the figures being 0.96 gallons, or £1 13s 3Jd, but last year there was a rise to 1.57 gallons, or £2 14s 4d per head, which, it is interesting to note, is, during the 20 years, the lowest consumption per head, with the exception of 1922, hut the value, on . the other hand, £214s 4d, is the highest yet recorded. Smokers’ Contribution. Under the heading of tobacco, which does not include cigars and cigarettes, while there is a gradual falling off in the quantity smoked per head since 1921, increased duties show an increased value, and whereas the quantity averaged 8.51b —the highest recorded—in 1920, value £1 10s 10$d, last year the figures were 6.631 b, value £1 17s 4d. The total amount consumed last year was 2,611,0491 b, which shows a considerable falling off t compared with 1920, when the quantity was 3,070,9301 b, the only occasion when the three million mark was touched. The duty collected on tobacco last year established a record, the amount being £735,398. As in the cases of tobacco and spirits the year 1920 was the most costly to smokers of cigars and cigarettes and patrons of snuff, and the average per head then ran out at £1 16s 7d, while for last year the amount is given at Wines, Ale and Beer. The statistics do not make New Zealanders out to be heavy drinkers generally, and the consumption of wine is set down at 0.17 gallons per head, or an expenditure of lOd. This is a substantial increase on 1922, when the figures were 0.13 gallons or 6Jd, which was easily the lowest since 1903, the highest again being 1920, when the figures were 0.29 gallons, or Is 4d per head. In imported ales arid beer the average consumption was highest iu 1907, when the quantity per head -was given as 0.42. gallons, or 10 per head, since when there has been a rapid decline, until last year the average per head was 0.04 of Id. However to v T as 0.04 or one penny. However to these figures have to* be added the consumption of New • Zealand 'brewed beer, and again 1920 is the record year, the figures being 18 gallons, or 8s B:id per head, the calculation heinff based upon the total number of gallons, 15,050,782. on which duty was paid. The excise duty per gallon increased considerably since 1917, and this is shown when desuite an increase in the population (over "fifteen years of age) of about 75,000 from 1920 to 1923, the total number of gallons upon which excise duty was paid dropped from 15,050,782 to 12,954,163. The consumption per head last year was 14.2 gallons per head, or 13s Bsd. which together with the amount hindier inn ported ales and beer make the expenditure 13s 9-Jd per head. Sugar. It is noticeable that 1915, with 124.81 b per head is the highest average consumption, the total amount being given at 143,410,5121 b, but this was exceeded in 1922, when the total was 143,768,464, but the consumption per head was then only 110.21 b. Last - year it was 106.91 b. Revenue Returns. The total revenue from Customs in 1903 was £2,507,478, equal to £2 17s 3Jd per head, and in 1923 £7,272,775, equal to £5 9s 6d per head, an increase per head equal to 91.2 per cent.