A RICH MAN’S DRINK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16923, 11 April 1929, Page 7

A RICH MAN’S DRINK

THE DEMAND FOR WHISKY PROHIBITIVE DUTIES • (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Is whisky becoming a rich man’s drink? According io a statement made by Mr. E. Grahame-Johustone, director of the firm of John Walker and Sons, Ltd., who is visiting Wellington, there is a possibility of this result. Mr. Grahame-Johustone, commenting on the duty on whisky, said that people in New Zealand and Australia, where the duty was 36s and 35s per gallon respectively, had very little to complain about, for at Home the duty was as much as 72s per gallon. Whisky distillers were hoping against hope that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Winston Churchill, would announce reductions in the duty when he presented his Budget to the'House of Commons in the course of a few days. They were not very optimistic about- it, however, as a reduction in whisky duties was not what one might regard as a popular election cry. Probably the Chancellor would go in for something a little more spectacular in the way of political window-dressing. The high duties on whisky hacl had the effect of greatly reducing the quantity consumed, and the consumption of whisky at Home at present was only half what it was in 1913. In 1913 a bottle of whisky could bo procured for 3s 6d, but now it was 12s 6d a bottle. Whisky was really becoming a rich man’s drink very largely. Whisky was a British beverage, although his firm exported quantities to every country in the world except Russia. There was very little whisky consumed by people living on the Continent, although tourists demanded it. In Germany and Spain a certain amount of whisky was consumed by the so-called smart young men whose height of ambition was to follow English customs. Japan consumed a fair quantity of whisky, and he anticipated that before very long there would be a tremendous sale for whisky in China. At present the Chinese rather favored brandy, but they were swinging over to whisky.