NEW ZEALAND'S DRINK BILL FOR 1904.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13209, 16 February 1905, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND'S DRINK BILL FOR 1904.

The Rev. Edward Wnllier has calculated New Zealand's .drink hill for 1904, which is given Mow. It amounts to £3,152,849. or £3 10s 10id per head ot tho population, or, upon an average of five to ft family, £17 14s 3Jd per family: and shows an increased expenditure ■ upon the previous year of £96,259, or of jxn- head of tlie population. The,increase is in spirits and colonial beer, both wine and imported beer showing a slight ,decrease. .Air Walker remarks that when it is remembered that at the last; local option polls upwards of. 151,000 persons voted no-license,' of -whom probably many thousands are abstainers, besides the many thousands of children, the expenditure per head of the actual drink consumers, or per family of the drink-consuming households, must be on a very largo and thriftless scale. The increased expenditure, in spite of all the temperance propaganda! and the nd-liocnse areas, lie attributes to tho deplorable degree in which it is publicly evident that young men are taking to drinking, ' and the continued prosperity of the country, by which many of those who drink spend moro on liquor than, they could get to so spend in harder times. But lie conI'leiids, from the enormous rise and fall of I the drink bill • with alternating prosperous I and depressed times in tho early days, that tlife expansion of the drink bill in the present prosperous times would have been very much greater but for the. temperance propaganda. And, further, that the actual cost to the consumers is really much greater than the figures set out, as much of the liquor is not purchased by the gallon, nor at per. gallon, hut over the bar by the glass at a much greater cost, besides being increased by dilution and adulteration, and served at less than full measure, to say nothing of illicit manufacture from essences or otherwise, excise frauds, etc. He holds that if everything could bo exactly estimated and included, probably the annual dnnk expenditure would include another couple of millions, and the rate per head be more than half as much more than it appears. He considers that the E6 millions shown below as the drink expenditure for tho last 35 years represents a real drink expenditure in that time of nearer 150 millions, "and that the wreckago of life, character, fortune, and public wellbeing it represents is incalculable. For comparison, the. figures for 1903 are given over those for 1904. JANUARY 1 TO DECEMBER 31 (inclusive), 1903. Cost per Cost to Head of Gallons. Consumers. 'Population. Spirits, at £2 per gallon, 610,049; increase, 17,628 .. .. £1,239,298 £1 8 7J Wines at £2 per gal-. lon, 122,505; decrease, 39115 .. .. 245,010 0 5 72 Imported beer'at Gs per gallon, 201,110; increase, 2620 .. .. 61,212 0 1 4J Colonial beer at 4s per gallon, 7.555.200; increase, 375,000 .. 1,511,010 114 10J -£3,056,690 t£3lo 7J Estimated population, 805,560. JANUARY 1 TO DECEMBER 31 (inclusive), 1901. Cost per Cost to Head of Gallons. ' Consumers. 'Population. Spirits at £2 per'. gallon, 617,151; in- ' crease, 27,502 .. .. £1,294,302 £19 1 Wines at £2 per gallon, 120,101; decrease aiOt .. 210,202 ~ 0 5 42 Imported beer at Cs • per gallon, 203,550; decrease 580 .. .. G1,0G5 01 4i Colonial beer at 4s per gallon, 7,780,400; increase 231,200 .. 1, 115 0 £3,152,849 U3 10 10J •Estimated population, 889,776. * The population is calculated by taking the mean of .the four quarterly estimates issued :by the Itcgistrar-gcneral, including Maoris, but not including the population (12,292) of the Cook and other islands in the Pacific annexed to the colony in 1901. f The slight apparent excess in these totals is accounted for by unexpressed fractions ot a farthing in the amounts standing over them,, Mr Walker also gives the drink expsnditure for a number of years past. Ho says: "Mr 0. Jr. Gray, of Cliristclmrcli, for a number of years published tho annual drink bill of the colony, and is quoted in the late Mr J. W. dago's admirable pamphlet (published in 1887) on ' The JOeonomics of Drink,' which is still dcspfvmg of extensive circulation. Mr Gray -calculated that the. drink expenditure 'if the colony, as determined by the customs and excise returns, averaeed £2.599,553 per annum for the 16 years from 1870 to 1885 (inclusive), wliich gives a total of £38.993,295 for the 15 years to 1884 (inclusive). The following are the annual expenditures for the 20 years which have since, elapsed. The estimated population prior to 1596 was exclusive of the Maoris, but in ]f9O and onward has been inclusive of them. For 1f97l f 97 and onward tho year's expenditure is reckoned for tho VI months from January 1 to December 31 (inclusive), but for the year 1896 for (lie 12 months from March 30, i 096. to March 30. 1E97, and similarly for the. years prior thereto: — Estimated cost Cost Estimated of liquor per head Year, population, consumed, population. 18S5" .. 600,000 J3.283.514 £3 1G 0 1886 .. - 2,154,855 311 9 1887 .. fOMGI 2.093,430 - 3 9 5 1.H89 / .. 607.380 2.055,162 3 8 8 IS?9"' ~ 620,279 1,911,78S 3 18 3890 .. 625,503 2.111,493 3 7 0 1891 i. 631,058 ' 2.033.898 3 5 9 ISO2 . 630,433 '2,169,160. 30 8 1893 .. 672,205 2,198,335 3 5 5 1894 .. CSG.I2-8 2,039 502 3 1 1 1895 .. 703,360 2,129,119 3 ofi ISSG .. 757,503 2 2G5.900 ' 209 SJ 1597 .. 762,079 2,371,733 3 2-2J 1898 .. 776,2?S 2,458,998 3 3*4 1899 .. 799,387' 2,557,90S 3 4 9 1909 . 803.333 2,747.170 , 3 8 ih 1901 .. . 2,922.982 311 0J 1902 .. 840,031 2.953.293 310 3J 1903 .. 8G5.560 3,050 590 310 7!| 1904 .. 859,770 3,152,849 310 10J Total for last 20 years .. .. £47,813,810 For previous 15 . years .. .. 35,993.295 Total for 35 years, 1870 to 1904 (inclusive) £86,807,105 ,