Are New Zealanders Getting Sober?

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6898, 20 June 1892, Page 4

Are New Zealanders Getting Sober?

The publication in the New Zealand Gazette of the Customs returns for the last quarter of the financial year ended March 31, 1892, enables me to supply a statement of the amount expended on intoxicating liquors during the financial year just concluded. The information consists of the amount of the Customs revenue derived from the clearance of all intoxicating liquors intended for colonial consumption, together with the amount received during the year on account of colonial beer. The following table gives particulars of the various kinds of alcoholic liquors cleared for consumption, the quantity of beer on which excise was paid, and the computed total amount paid by the people in this colony who consumed the liquors. I have also, for the purposes of comparison, appended the totals for each year since 1881 : —

Comparing the drink bill of 1891 with that of 1890, it shows an increase of L 14.044. In 1890 the expenditure por head of the population amounted to L 3 '3s 7-kl ; last year, despite the increase in the total of the drink bill, the amount was only LH 2s 9d. This sum stands out in pleasing contrast when compared with the expenditure per head in the United Kingdom, Victoria, and New South Wales. The completed returns for 1891 show the folio ving results : — Victoria £5 14 5 New South Wales ... 4 12 3 United Kingdom ... 3 15 0 New Zealand 3 2 9 Thirteen years ago, in 1879, 1 published the first colonial drink bill, dealing on that occasion with the year 1878. The population of the colony in that year was 432,519, and the expenditure on intoxicating liquors amounted to L 2,586,095,, 586,095, which was equal to L 5 19s 6d per head. jSince then the population has increased to 675,775, and the amount of the drink bill haa decreased to L 2,124,164., 124, 164. Supposing the drink expenditure to have kept pace with the increase of population, the total for 1891 would have been L4,0,T7,861 ; or in other words, whilst the population has increased to the extent of 243,256, the drink bill has fallen £461,931 below the total of 1878. With regard to the causes that have led to the decrease opinions vary considerably. Non-abstainers and " the trade "generally attribute the falling off to the curtailed spending power of the people, and slyly remind us that When the devil got sick, The devil a monk would be ; When the dedl got well The devil a monk was he. On the other hand temperance people are confident that tlie suread of total abstinence principles throughout colony has a good deal to do with':'the changed habits of the colonists. Possibly the true solution of the decrease may be found to lie between the two extremes— that the two causes combined are responsible for the falling off. But whatever the cause may be, there is no gainsaying the fact that New Zealand still continues to waste two millions too much on intoxicating drink. And now, in conclusion, hear what the Lancet has to say, when commenting upon the British drink bill for 1890 :— " It is not our business to moralise on this expenditure. To us it means so much cirrhosis, Bright's disease, gout, rheumatism, insanity, etc. — disabling employment, taking the pleasure out of the life of families, ana bread out of the mouths of children."— C. M. Gray, in the Prohibitionist. .

Private letters from Melbourne estimate that " there are about 20,000 people out of work in that city, while a goodly number do not know where to lay their heads at night. Frequently some poor fellow is found dead from starvation in one of the parks. The polico have got orders not to interfere with any of the unemployed found sleeping out at nifjht. Before the winter is over there will be trouble, as hungry |MJOplfl will not starve and see plenty of food in the shops." It is of interest to note that in the majority of Australasian divorce cases the women are the petitioners,

L. Sanial, writing of the development of J capitalism in the United States, says that concentration h»s so far advanced that to-day 60,000 plutocrats actually own three-quarters of the total capital of the country, while the larger portion of the remaining quarter in distributed among less than 2,000,000 small merchants, manufacturers, and farmers, who are disap pearing at a growing annual rate by mer- J cantile failure and mortgage forfeiture. J In the meantime wealth is accumulating ( in the hands of our plutocrats at the rate j of three thousand million dollars a year. Twenty-6ve million wage-slaves of the highest skill are pouring into the lap ot those few men the treasures of the richest continent on earth. A small Scotch boy was summoned to , giro evidence against his father, who was accused of making disturbances in the street. Said the Bailie to him : ' Come, my wee raon, speak the truth, and let us know all ye ken about this affair.' • Weel, sir,' said the lad, * dye ken Inverness Street V * I do, laddie,' replied his worship. ' Weel, ye gang along it and turn into the square, and across tho B q Uare ' « Yea, yes,' said the bailie encouragingly. ' An', when ye gang across the square, ye turn to the right, and up into High Street, and keep on up High Street till ye come to a pump.' 4 Quite right, my lad ; proceed,' said his worship. 'I know the old pump well.' • Weel,' said the boy, with the most infantile simplicity, 'ye may ping and pump it, for yell no pump me.' It is not generally known (says an Australian exchange) that the invasion of Australia by foreign nations has been premeditated no fewer than four times within the last 35 years ; - (1) In 1856, when Russia sought to fit out naval expeditions in America to destroy Australian commerce and land at Melbourne ; (2) when France, in 1809, threatened war re the Orsini affair, and actually formulated a sch»me to land an army of 10,000 men on Australian shores ; (3) when Germany, before annexing a part of New Guinea, demanded a province of Northern Australia ; and (4) in 1885, when the Home Gorernment cabled to the Governors and Premiers of Australia that Russia contemplated the conquest of New Zealand.

(J allon s. At 4. Spirits ... 4.r2,f>65 40s 903,130 Wines ... 111, 569 40s 223, 13S English ale ... 237,307 6s 71,192 Colonial beer... 4,023,520 4s 924,704 Total ... 5,424,961 2,124,164 Year. Gallons. £ 1881 ... 5,800,857 ... 2,533,677 1882 ... 6,204,312 ... 2,658,091 1883 ... 5,678,860 ... 2,497,754 1884 ... 5,541,452 ... 2,394, 17G 1885 ... 5,475,762 ... 2,289,514 1886 ... 5,103,333 ... 2,130,356 1887 ... 5,017,194 ... 2,060,543 1888 4,924.327 ... 2,040,901 1889 .. 0,2n<»,549 ... 1,996,286 1890 ... 5,466,346 ... 2,110,12 C 1891 ... 5,424,961 ... 2,124,164