STATE DISTILLERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9424, 23 July 1889, Page 5

STATE DISTILLERY.

Tiie Wellington Post says—"We are considerably surprised that the House should for a single moment seriously entertain Mr. Duncan's proposal for the establishment, of a State distillery, having a monopoly of manufacturing spirits for consumption in the colony. The experience New Zealand has had, and paid very dearly for, shows pretty plainly flint the colony cannot afford to either establi.-h or encourage distillation as a local industry. When the Dunedin and Auckland distilleries were firmly established, and a differential excise duty conceded to their product, gteat hopes were raised of benefit to the agricultural interest resulting, but experience soon showed the futility of "these. The quantity of grain used was a steadily-diminishing one, and the consumption of sugar as a base was as steadily growing. The farmers got nothing out of the experiment, ami the colony lost very heavily by it. In fact, the loss of revenue was so serious as to produce considerable embarrassment, and to make Parliament glad to stop the manufacture by payment of very heavy compensation to those who had embarked in the business. The idea of a State monopoly in the. manufacture of spirits is opposed to every principle of political economy."