LIQUOR AND LICENSE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10579, 7 October 1910, Page 2

LIQUOR AND LICENSE.

THE RATE OF DRINKING IN DRY AREAS.

THE VIEWS OF MEMBERS.

By Telegraph. (From Our-Own Correspondent;)Wellington, October *l. The controversy; regarding Mr 3 Day's magisterial opmion that .thejefe | feet of • uo-lieense 1 was-.tov $ temptations to drink was; conl Jnued to dav .111 the House by the v. request s of* n two members that tlie .figures i the Attorney-General yesterdays' show-.:: 1 ing the consumption of* liquor T.in.'no-' license areas shoultl.be tabled. imme-;2 diately and made an official docu- * ment. N - > Mr T. E. Taylor remarked that he . was "anxious to see it; published; •as vits - was exceedingly favorable [to no-, license. vl'he Prime Minister said .that :;,he.; would, lay the figures on "the'table, lomonofl " 1 DRINKING AND 1 POPULATION. ■' Mr Taylor maintams that the figures . of Dr FincUay are .v€;ry,favorable to. aicfe;license and for the purposes of comI parison ho lias prepared the: following, figures showing-, the population and. consumption of liquor. _ District Population Consumption Ashburton ... 11,459 22,291 Gals. Bruce 10,314- ,16,325. ~ Clutha '■ ... 10,868 12,479 „ Eden ... 12,304 10,935 „ v Grey. Lynn ' 13,493 5,946 • Invercargill ... 12,507 78,283 ~, Masterton ... 11j916 26,547 ~ Mataura 11,474 39,723 ~ Oamaru ... 11,934 20,260 „ Ohinemuri ... 11,535 33,658 ~ W 7 ell ing to n South ... 13,333 15,697.: j, Wo 11 ingt on Suburbs v . -13,147 12,170 ~ Totals ... 144,284 293,314 „ 1 MR TAYLOR'S COMMENTS. Commenting to a Mail reporter on the figures; /Mr Taylor stated that the twelve no-license districts had an actual population of 144,284, and the consumption of liquor as shown in the Attorney-General's return was 293,314 gallons, or a fraction over two gallons per head. The licensing districts. _of New Zealand contained a population of 855,716, and the consumption of liquor was gallons, or twelve gallons per head. Even supposing that very large quantities of liquor went into no-license areas oyer and above what was officially registered the difference of consumption was still enormous and fully explained the tremendous opposition shown by the liquor interests; to the carrying, of no-license. Supposing the quantity of liquor consumed : in no-, licenso areas was doubled, it did not eveii then! amount to anything like half the quantity per head, of the consumption in licensed areas. ! ■. . . When other comparisons were drawn, Mr. Taylor : continued, the same striking results were obtained in favor li no-license. There was no doubt that the figures given by the Attorney-. General were approximately correct, because the crime statistics in regard to crimes caused by drunkenness -indicated a shrinkage parallel to the reduced consumption. In fact, the difference between license and no-license districts was even more favorable to no-license when considered by the charges of drunkenness and offences associated with drinking than by the liquor figures. Ho had asked for a returii showing how many different persons were represented in the Ashburton district by the 3000 official permits said bv Mr Day to have been filed 111 the district during the first six months of the present year. He thought it would be fouiid that a few hundred persons only were responsible for the jlr Taylor remarked that the figures were particularly significant as showing the leakage into no-license districts from contiguous licensed districts. Invercargill bad „ the most stiikuiff figures, but tliat district was clustered round with licensed areas. In Clutha, however, which lay between other nolicense districts the consumption was little over a gallon per head of the population.