WHAT DRINK HAS COST NEW ZEALAND.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7609, 4 December 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

WHAT DRINK HAS COST NEW ZEALAND.

A writer in tho North Otugo Times <myn:-lf New Zealand' ]md boeu fouudod as n tnmporftneo sutfclonn'iH, tho inonuy that hsu boon spont on tho drink traffic eiucn its foondntion would inoro than pay the publio and private indebtedness of the wholo colony, ootiuiated at £100,000,000 etorlinjr. It hns beon estimated that 1600 doatlia woro cauaod directly. or indiroctly by driuk in J 884. This will give a 'yuarly. average of 1150 for tho past Ifi yoarn, on n. 400,000 population basis, or a total of 18,000 deaths for that jioriod, which at £200 per heat l , tho estimated vnliio of eaoh lifo to tbo State, aiiiounfa to £3,000,000. And if wo estinmtu tho roproduotiro power lout by thnan 18,000 deaths, which include (say) 5000 paira giving fivo ' children pur puir for 16 yoars, wo show a further loss of 25,00 ( J livt-B for that period ; which at £200 p«r head gives £5,000,000, or a total lohh 1 from cteatliß alouo of £8,600,000— 0r a 5 yearly average of over .£500,000 for the i I paafc 1 6 yearn. Whioheyer way tho

c i)riuk Problem is treated, the linAwer, 9 ~f gigantic loss. The revonvio th - drink Bringa (o tho Stuto is all pai \ away in repairing the mischief i creates, nnd we are burdened with it I desrlly influonoe-a mountain of, crim 3 and corruption, and an ar,niy pf widow ) and orphan?, iTh'n mistei' mind of M . .(Sladatattti 'understood this whon hi ■ said, "The Drink Traffic creates i ' greater national loss than iho com : bined influences of war, pestilence, anc , famine." In a leading article, the Lon. don 1 Times, of March ?!>, 1881, com. mentiug on tiVo statistics of tho lata Mi fibylo .on England's "Drink Bill," says : " Drinking ba/Hsn us, confounds us, Shames |ns, and mocks -at us every point. It outwits alike the teacher, the man of business, the patriot, and the legislator. Every other institution flounders in hopeless difficulties ; tho publichouse holds its triumphant course. The administrators of public and private charity are told that alms and oblations go with rates, doles, and pensions to tho all-absorbing bar of the pnblichonse." In conclusion, whether prohibition bs ' obtained by establishing temperance ecttlesnenls, or by a. compulsory measure forced upon legislators as c dire necessity, in the hopo of saving tho colony from uttor ruin, matters not; nothing but tbo death of the traffic can stop tho Juggernaut which is bontinually grinding us into a helpless 'muss of fuddle and imbecility, t have to thank you most sincerely for permitting tho publicity of these papers in your valuable columns ; they have been written in an earnest desire to forward the temperance cause, and with the object of ventilating tho question of prohibition which will become the burning quesfion of Iho hour in tho near future. Should tho suggestions bear fruit in the establishment of a temperance settlement, or advance tho greater onuae of prohibition for tho whole colony, I shall bo amply rswarded for tho labor bestow'od on their preparation-.