THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1892.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9012, 18 October 1892, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1892.

*- A table showing the consumption per head of some articles in common use has been published for the information of Parliament, the period over which the report stretches being from 1878 to 1891 inclusive. During that time there has been, as is generally known, a considerable augmentation in the duties upon imported goods, and the table in question throws a good deal of light upon the consequences of that increase. If, for example, we take spirits as an illustration of the effect of the imposition of heavy duties, we find that in 1878 with an adult male population, including Maori, of 139,354, and duties at 6s upon colonial and 123 upon the foreign article, the consumption per head was £2 16s 3d at the former date and £1 17s 3d at the latter epoch, while in 1878 the revenue amounted to £392,108, and in 1891 it only rose to £339,758, although the population had advanced to 182,280. Now, it is difficult to understand how a rise in duty to the extent of 3s and 4s a gallon can be answerable for such a difference in results, a consideration which makes it probable that other influences have had a share in producing it. In. corroboration of this view, if we look at the amount of revenue derived from this source during the years when money was plentiful, it will be found that it was precisely at that period that the Treasury was most largely replenished by the taxation of spirits, while the annual expenditure per head on this account also reached its maximum—the average being no less than than £2 12s lfd for the six years ending with 1883, a remarkable contrast to the expenditure per head for the succeeding sexennial period, which only arrived at the comparatively moderate sum of £1 19s 2d. Another cause acting in the same direction has alrf been at work during the time these comparisons have been instituted, viz., the very persistent and determined attempts put forth by the party of temperance in discouragement of the use of alcohol in any shape, endeavours which we know to have been rewarded with a large measure of success, to the great advantage of health, bodily and mental, and generally to the moral and material interests of the colony. Or wine the same tale may be told, a constantly increasing duty coincident with a diminishing revenue ; thus, in 1878 the former was 4s per gallon for all wines excepting the sparkling varieties, which were liable to an impost of 6s. By the year 1888 those charges had risen to 5s per gallon for Australian wines, to 6s for other wines, and to 9s for sparkling vintages, with the result that whereas the revenue from this source in 1878 amounted to £39,635, in 1891 it had fallen to £31,513, and the consumption per head had declined from 2s lOd at the former date to Is 7d at the latter epoch.

But while the joint effect of high duties, bad times, and teetotal teaching in reducing the consumption of spirits may be matter for congratulation, it is otherwise in respect to the use of Australian wine, which is an eminently wholesome stimulant, and is probably better suited for v warm climate than any other fermented liquor, not excepting the excellent ales which are made in New Zealand. Volumes have been written to prove the loss and the general disadvantages entailed by rival tariffs maintained by countries which in respect of productions are the complement of each other, and the case of Australia and New Zealand oilers no exception to the general rule, but rather the reverse, for while both countries suffer the evil consequences of corresponding protective duties in the destruction of a market for their respective commodities, their action tends tt divergence from the fiscal system which it is the object of the most enlightened and patriotic men of the day to establish throughout the British Empire. In the case of ale and beer, which is the poor man's beverage, the effect of increased fiscal charges has been very marked in the decline of revenue since 1878, owing to the lessened consumption of that article, which fell during the period indicated from 488,225 gallons to 248,039ga110n5, the correspond- ; ing proportions per head being 175 and

061. However, to these amounts must ; be added that arising from the con-" 7 sumption of colonial ale, by''which the j totals would be increased three or fourfold, thus indicating a great defect in r the construction of the table, which in this matter is very misleading. It thus appears that in the affair of fermented liquors imported an increase j of duty has invariably been accompanied by a diminished consump- j tion and a corresponding decrease of I revenue. However, as regards the other articles included in the table, viz., tea and tobacco, an increase of duty has not been productive of the same injurious effects, owing probably to those goods not being included in the index ejcpurgatoriw of the temperance authorities. In the matter of tea, for example, | the rate of consumption per head differs little for the whole period included in the calculation, the average being about six pounds for every person, Maori included, over the age of fifteen years. But the aggregate amount consumed is, at the date of 1891, 4,055,1931b5, while in 1878 it only amounted to 2,896',7201b5, thus showing that the augmentation of consumption kept pace with the annual additions to the population, and remained nearly unaffected by the rate of duty imposed. The same may be said of tobacco, the revenue from which in 1878 amounted to £133,065, while in 1891 it had risen to £214,789, the consumption per head at the former date being 7'64lbs, at the latter 6"901b5. In this estimate is included tobacco manufactured in New Zealand, the duty upon which is Is per pound. Cigars, cigarettes, and snuff, upon which the duty in 1878 was ss, but which in 1888 was raised to 7s, have not been appreciably affected by the change, the increase in consumption following that of the population in a steady ratio, the revenue in 1878 amounting to £21,849, in 1891 to £41,745. It is to be presumed that out of the total consumption of those articles, amounting in 1891 to 127,4381b3, a considerable proportion is made up of those manufactured in New Zealand, upon which there is only leviable an impost of Is 6d per lb. What ellect this may have upon the totals, computed in weight and in money, cannot be learned from the table.

The reflection which naturally arises from a perusal of the figures presented to us by the table is the spending power of a community which is able to disburse per head of the population over fifteen years of age the large sum of £3 10s lid by way of duty upon the five articles here enumerated, all of which really come under the head of luxuries, although one of them, tea, has for many years come to be considered a necessary. Further thought upon the subject carries us to the consideration that all these luxuries and many more, the product of every clime, are to be obtained within the British Empire, which at any time may tie made selfsustaining by the will of an enlightened people.