LIQUOR VERSUS REVENUE.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 214, 12 November 1896, Page 5

LIQUOR VERSUS REVENUE.

There was another largo audience present at the Town Hall last evening, when Mr Isitt discoursed on the above subject. He set out ta prove that all the money expended on liquor as a beverage was not only wasted, but the labor necessary to produce that liquor was wasted also. They would all admit that there were a large number who used alcohol to excess. Captain Marciel, secretary of the Christchurch Liberty League, said that because about 2J per cent, of the population used it to excess was no reason why he or any other moderate drinker should be deprived of the liberty to use it in moderation. This 2_ per cent, spoken of by the champion of the liquor interests in such airy fashion meant that there was 17,500 drink victims iv this young colony. Admitting that this country . was the most sober in the world, it was appalling to think that a number of people, totalling nine times the population of Gore, were victims of the grog shop and liquor bar. Out of the colony's liquor bill every year, they could put a gold piece oh every line in the Bible from Gene3ie to Revelation ; more than that, they could put a gold piece ou every word in the Bible from beginning to end ; and, still further, they could put a gold piece on every letter in the Bible, aud after they had done that there would be an amount over, an equivalent of which he would not mind if he had in his pocket. After an expenditure like that they should have something solid iv the way of returns or results to show. Some of the liquor men said " look at the amount of money the traffic keeps in circulation, which adds to the prosperity of the country." The very first principle of political economy showed the utter absurdity of such an argument. The mere circulation of millions could not increase prosperity, nsither could it add to the aggregate wealth a single penny. Working men talked ot monopolies, but he could tell them that no such monopoly existed in the world which'; did so much to keep the working man poor, and consolidate his wages into the pockets of the few, as the liquor monopoly. The work- . ing man who did not see that no institution | was so mimical to his best interests as the liquor bar was blind indeed. They had got a huge co-operative society that was spend- j ing two millions annually on an article as worthless and barren of good results as would be putting the money into cutting down the side of a hill and throwing it into the Mataura river. Supposing a moderate drinker bought the amount of whisky — 3ay five bottles — he consumed in a year at one purchase and paid 30s for it. Part of the profit went to the distiller, pirt to the importer and part to the Government by way of duty. Supposing this man emptied the liquor away into the harbor they would probably say that so much value was wasted, but once they admitted that it was neither *. food nor a necessity but simply a luxury it did not matter whether it was poured down a sewer or down people's throats it was wasted all the same. This argument might be used against tbe colonial product — beer — ■ and it stood irrefutable. This revenue bogie was ridiculous. They were told to go on wasting £2,000,000 annually to get back £500,000 in revenue. Where did the liquor men who provided that revenue,find it in the first place,, but in the pockets of the people themselves. The editor of the Mataura Ensign told a different tale to that aud said in effect that if tho people of Gore did not go on driuking the fi lances of the Borough would be crippled. He would talk to the ladies as he would find sense there. He would ask them if it were not supremely ridiculous to spend £5 to get £1 in revenue, therefore it was just as foolish for us as a community to go on spending £2,000,000 annually to get back £500,000. No one but an embeeile would try aad throw dust in the eyes of the people in that way and even if they-got back, the £500,000 to spand inroads, bridges, and railways it would be foolish to spend two millions in the attainment of that object ; but they did not. In four item.? alone, crime, pauperism, lunacy, and hospitals they spent £280,000 of this every year, and they could safely set down two thirds of it as directly caused by excess in drink. The testimony of gaol authorities in all parts of the colony substantiated this fully. In a hundred and one ways drink was continually hitting the community. If any of the tradesmen went through their books for the last 10 or 15 years they would see bad debts innumerable, traceable to the fondness of their customers for going to " the corner house." A draper in New Plymouth estimated seven-eighths of his bad debts to be caused iv this way ; a bootmaker in Inglewood nearly all of his; and one of the largest business men in Wanganui, told the same tale. The most startling of all was the testimony of Mr Adams, the largest draper in Patea. He openly stated that he would give to the Borough Council there an amount equal to the whole of the revenue they had derived from licensing since the place was a Borough if they would give him the money he could prove he had lost by bad debts through drinking among his customers. It had been calculated that the drink bill for each man, wom-in and child in the colony was £3 0s 5d per head, and though he had not got the figures to prove it, he was convinced that it was nearer double that amount. He had learned on the best authority that the takings over the bar for liquor alone at one of the six Masterton hotels had been £4500 for one year. He had estimated on the basis of £3 0s 5d psr head that the annual drink bill for Masterton would he £9000, but when they found that one hotel out of six made £4500 itself in one year they would see how far short of the mark those calculations were. In Gore they could not spend less than £GOOO a year in drink, and imagine what it would mean if the hotels were closed dowa and the money spent in legitimate trade — on boots, groceries, bread, etc., etc. Could they not see what it would mean to the tradespeople of the place ? Not only did they lose the money spent in drink, but they frequently lost the money that individuals could have earned were it not for the drink, and lost the value of their labor also. Against the £500,000 they reoeived in revenue they had aUo to set the enoraious amounts spent in a year in private charities. They were threatened that if thoy voted "no license " they would lose a lot of local revenue. Now in Govi they got £240 a year from their six hotels, and had to pay £150 of that amount f charitable aid and hospital expenses, aud two-thirds of it was caused by liquor excess, and which they might expect to stop when the hotels were closed down. Suppjiiug they lost £150 in local revenue for a few years they would have saved the £0000 now spent in drink, ths amounts lost in bad debts and private charity, and consequently the place would benefit to a far greater ex- ' tent than it would lose. Mr Isitt went on to speak of the excellent working of the Prohibition law in the State of Maine, and said that Prohibition must eventually come in New Zealand as the movement had God behind it, and though its coming might be delayed, it was bound to succeed iv the long run.