ALCOHOL, TEA, AND TOBACCO.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 143, 19 June 1895, Page 4

ALCOHOL, TEA, AND TOBACCO.

INSTRUCTIVE STATISTICS. A record of thg consumption from 1861 up to the present time of tea, coffee, cocoa, and chicory, of alcoholio beverages, and of tobacco, in Great Britain, compared with tho increase of population, should bo of interest to -all classes. The most striking feature in the purely diagrammatical return, which has been recently issued, and which has been ordered by the Honse of Commons to t>e printed, is that while an enormous increase in the consumption of tea, coffee, 'etc., has taken place — the line illustrating this extending as a diagonal across the diagram till it reaches the top right-hand corner (1893)— there has been a steady diminution in the consumption of . both beer and spirits, the lines indicating the last two being practically parallels not only with one another, but approximately with the base of the diagram also. Between 1861 and 1862 the total consumption of tea, etc., was 120,000,0001 b; it then Bteadily rose until in 18S3 it stood at 265,000,0001 b. In the same period the population increased from 28,500,000* 38,500,000, so that while in 1861 the consumption of tea, etc., per head was 4-381 b., in 1893 it was 6'901b. In regard to wines and spirits,, the consumption in 1861 was •equal to 35 million gallons, with the population at 28,500,000, and in 1893, with tho population at 88,500,000, the consumption was 62,000,000 gallons, so that per head it was equal to 1*22 gallons in 1861 gnd jj^lß93 to 1-35 gallons, the highest record being 1-80 gallons in 1876, Binoe which the consumption has steadily diminished. The conBTmrption of beer exhibits a similar rise and fall. Thus in 1861 the amount consumed per head was 24-3 gallons, in 1874 34 gallons, and in 1893 29-fcgallons, the total consumption varying from 20,000,000 gallonß in 1861 to 3l,000;oOO gallons in 1876, and 32,000,000 in 1893, the population having increased by 10,000,000. Coming to tobacco, in 1861, when duty was 3s 1 8-10 d per lb, the total consumption was 34,000,0001 b, being equal to the use per head of I9£oz ; in 1863 the duty on cigars was reduced from 9s 5 4-lOd to 5s per lb, and the consumption then rose to 21|oz iv 1865 to 23foz in 1877. In the following year (1878) an increase of 4d per lb O*»all tobacco waß made, and an \xtra 2d per lb on cigars in' 1879, with the rault that after that date the cowtgnipVion fell to 22£. From .this time it gradually recovered till 1887, when the* dnty on tobacco being reduced to 4d per lb and on cigars 6d per lb, the consumption quickly rose till it attained to 2tioz per head of the population in 1893. The total consumption in 1893 was 62,000,0001 b, while in 1861 it was 34,000,0001 b, i.e., an increase of 28,000,0001 b for an increase in the population^of -.10,000,000. To sum %p % this interesting return shows that there is^i decid^ diminution in the demand for intoxicating Jitimnlants, -whilst there ie a very considerable increase in the demand for non - intoxicating stimulants, principally tea and coffee. — Lancet.