THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8285, 18 June 1890, Page 3

THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

TO tuk editor.

Sir, —I hasten to thank you for your prompt and courteous reply to my three questions based on your leading article in which you libelled Solomon, and alluded with some pathos to the

" Fifteen men cm the dead man's chest, With a yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum, Drink and toe devil had done for the rest, With a yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum."

And now I propose, with your kind permission and relying on the courageous liberality of the Hkrald, bo write two letters, besides this one, about those matters. In this one I shall deal with the question of increased expenditure on liquors; in the second on your misrepresentation of King Solomon, who, in spite of his broad shoulders, would not, if he were here now, plead guilty to your soft impeachment; and in the third I will deal with your inference from Sb. Paul's advice to the noble-minded Bishop of Ephesus — Timothy. I will not say one word offensive to anyone, and as 95 members of Parliament are just starting to make £13,250 worth of speeches 1 will be as brief as possible. As regards the figures in your article you said : " And 10, in last year the revenue from the consumption of spirits went up by leaps and bounds till it was £1,800,000 higher than in the previous year, and now stands at £29,205,000." According to the National Drink Bill, published in The Times, the items stood, thus for last year :— Liquors con- Quantities sumed. consumed. Expenditure. Gallons. British spirits, at 20s per gallon .. .. 27,133,351 .. £27,153,351 Foreign and colonial spirits, at 24s per gallon. „ .. „ 8,552,310 „ 10,262,772

35,735,601 £37,446,123 Beer _ .. .. 1,073,055,828 80,524,187 Wine _ .. ... 14,158,851 12,742,900 British wines.cider, etc. 15,000,000 1,500,000

1,138,550,330 £132,213,270 So that in a population of 37,808,892 men, women, and children, there were consumed last year 1,,550,330 gallons of liquor, costing over £132,000,000 of money, and, it is said 120,000 human lives ! The increased expenditure on spirits, beer, and wine, was stated to be £7,597,930, bub " The Brewer's Journal " pointed out a mistakeof 26,000,000 gallons of beer owing to no allowance having been made in the "standard gravity of beer wort [which] was reduced last year from 1 -057 to 1-055 ; " and it adds : The amount of beer manufactured is not calculated by the barrels actually tilled, but by the quantity of liquor possessing a certain .specific gravity." But even allowing that there is an increased expenditure of over £5,000,000, which principally came out of the pockets of the working classes, you doubtless feel as sorry as most rightminded people do, that the working classes, who have passed through such trials of late and absorbed so much charitable aid, should waste their earnings in liquor as soon as times improve, instead of providing for a rainy day. The Lancet of Saturday, February 15, says, " We regret this increase and have no apologies to offer for it. It is an error of intelligence that will lead to errors of health which only medical men will know of. The amount consumed by the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland was already so much in excess of all possible physiological want, and taken in such disregard of medical opinion, that the addition of seven millions worth more is a serious matter, none the less so that the amount taken is consumed by a diminishing number of persons. The great desideratum to be arrived at is the reduction of casual drinking at odd times, and on empty stomachs. This infallibly loads to disease and disaster." Our New Zealand drink bill last year was, according to Mr. Giay, of Christchurch, who publishes an annual colonial drink bill, £1,996,286, being £661,806 less than in the previous year ; but even now it is too large, and should be further reduced, because the £150,000 a year which we spend on charitable aid, crime, and lunacy, is caused by intemperance to a greater degree than is reasonable.— l am, etc., F. G. E WING TON.