LIQUOR AND REVENUE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15502, 12 November 1914, Page 9

LIQUOR AND REVENUE.

ADDRESS BY MB H. D. BEDFORD. IN WESLEY HALL .■■Last night the Wesley Hal], was filled to its utmost capacity, when, an addresswas delivered by Mr H. D.. Pedivrd, t •"'' m ■ • Dunedin, on the Liquor 1 raffle v. Labour and tho Liquoi> ~ V- I ! CTGnu «- The Rev. R J. i j? ' presided and suitably introduced the speaker. Mr Bedford, who was accorded a very hearty welcome, said at the outset that •about three months ago .a deputation from the liquor trade waited on the i rime Minister and set forth certain . l easons why tho demands of the proiii bitionists for a. reduction of the majoritv required for carrying their reform should not bo acceded to. Ihey laid special emphasis on the industrial and commercial disturbance® which they said . come from the carrying of prohibition tli:-. large amount of men who wouid be put cut of employment and I/110 enormous sum. of nioii6y. which would be lost in revenue. Again about a week ago the Trade issued a manifesto throughout the Press of the Dominion, which recapitulated these arguments against carrying prohibition. Since _ this was published ho had in Dunedin and Wellington issued a- chah lenge, to meet any one the Trade wished to select, oh any platform, or before any audience, for the purpose of debating the question of the effect of «the abolition of drink on labour fiid on revenue. So far there was no response. He therefore had come to the conclusion that the Trade made their assertions but were totally unable to substantiate them. He contended that the abolition of the liquor trade would promote the material prosperity of the country, would increase the amount of employment given, would increase the amount of money circulated in wages straight away and would lessen the burden of taxation on the taxpayers of the country. The speaker went on to show how the co-operation of the energies of man with nature created wealth. Wealth was not piles of golden sovereigns or bank notes, but.the product of the energies of mail assisted by nature. Anv- • thing therefore which interfered with the energies of man, reduced the production of wealth. Proceeding he stated' thkt according to the Year Book of 1913, there were 7000 first offenders for drunkenness last year in New Zealand, or rn average of 21,000 for three years. Fcfr every conviction for drunkenness in a community it was safe -to say there were ten persons who jilrank. to .excess. It would be ; a' low computation to say that there were at least 60,000 excessive drinkers, and men of intemperate habits in the country. In Asliburton before no-license was carried, there were 27 persons prohibited and since prohibition w«s carried those had been traced: It was found-that 17 of the 27 had been . transformed ; into sober, industrious citizens, "the others had left for "wet" areas. Transform your 60,000 men .from a condition of intemperance to one of sobriety, said the speaker, and what an impetus there would be to the material . prosperity of ; the country. (Applause.) As emphasising t3ie great importance placed on sobriety, ana the "rec oghlsed ' feet of drink on men, the speaker quoted s tlie testimonv of Sir Frederick Treves, the Knit's physician, and l - also Lord Kitchener, than whom two higher authorities . could not be found. Regarding the question of circulating money in Mr Bedford stated that from a return of Board of Trade in England it was shown that the liquor trade \ras the lowest in this respect; For £IOO spent on beer, £7 103 was returned in j wages. In New Zealand according to the 1913 year book, for £IOO spent on beer less than £l4 was returned to the worker in wages. Yet the Trade eaid abolition of the liquor traffic would lessen the circulation of money in', wages and take away employment. About five million pounds were spent on liquor in New Zealand last year, or on an- .average £ls per head per annum of those who'use l'quor. The speaker went very fully into the question of how money at present spent on liquoiv would be .guided into other channels under no-license, and showed the proportionate amount of money spent m wages in a number,; of trades conii ; j>ared witli the wages paid in the , liquor trade. For example he said that;: in the furniture! trade, for eveily £4V spent, £1 16s went in wages, wtril© the | same, spent in beer gave] lis in wages. I Passing on to deal w.th the; question ' ; of revenue, Mr Bedford said that-the"!-'Trade went, to Wellington to beseech the Government not to allow the sale.!, of liquor to he stopped, pleading that ! if they- did do so the country would lose an awful sum in revenue— ; a million.'a year. One would think, said the speaker, tlhat the publicans' contributed this million a year to thie coff jrs of tlie State, but the truth was that; they did not contribute one psnny of it, that they did not • coEtec'b from the 1 'oon&iim.ere of liquor; it was the people. who paid,, not the publicans r Tne Trade are very generous. They said in j effect: Let 5 millions a year ha spent ! on alcoholic liquoi in Nsw Zealand, and We will collect' one million, of revenue for the' State—not- from oui: own pockets, but from the pockets of' other people. If the State wanted a revenue collector, whom they were prepared to offer such liberal terms to, let them .advertise the job and they wouSd get plenty of applicants without the pub- ' licans. Tlie Trade said that thoy paid this miUicn a year in duty on alcoholic ' laqiior. -But; they extracted a 50■'■. per cent, profit out of their customers, to enable them to pay it: And they were given a monopoly such ,as no other ooncesrn in, New Zealand was given. If the State "wanted a revenue collector to Pa<y them a mil.'on a. year, he would undertake' the job on much better teims for the; people tCian the Trade offered. He would undertake to pay a mill.on a year to the State, pay out every penny _ that the trade paid in ! wages, and give an article that would not -create drunkenness if ho were g yen five millions a year with which to. do it, . as , the publicans were, this being the' amount spent on drink annually. If tlhe Trade' were out of existence, three t meg as much money would be paid out in wages out of this 5 million pounds aiS was now paid; thus Labour would see what an immense benefit No-License would be to-them.', Passing to .another lino of -'argil- V ment-, Mr Bedford said that 75 per j cent, of the.crime in New ZsaTand was > due to intemperance—a record which ' no otllier business could show : and it ' was but right that the Trade should bear the b'll of costs for the crime it created, and the cost ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds. One out of every three cases of lunacy was also due to intemperance (go that one third of the cost'of maintaining our lunatic ayslums should -aiiso be paid', by the Trade, to, say nothing of the cost of charitable aid, wlr'ch it shoulcl also bear.. If a man did dama.ge to Irs neighbour lie. had to pay tho, bill of costs and the "-Trade ought to be treated in .precisely.; the same vway, as it could well afford to do out of its 50 nor 1 cent. net profit. What otfier business made .50 per- cent, net profit ? Very few made anything over 10 per cent. And; when a'dupo of .the Trade had come to the end of his tether so far* as cash was conocrned the mtblican cool- 5 1 ly turned him out "and said : I wrsh my ' hands of tliat fellow. The publican - made his 50 per cent, profit and the people shouldered the burden of the B

damage ho created. The Trade should be made to pay a million a year to repair the damage which it created- He had been talking an the comrnarcial aspect of the question that night, because of the plea which'the Trade made about_ the loss of revenue. They could take it as established beyond question that there would be no loss of revenui because if the drink traffic were stoppec there would be an immediate trarisfei of the money spent tn it, from unpro ductive to reproductive channels. Fai too much had been made of this revenu< question not only in the present day but also in days gone by. In an, elo quent concluding appeal Mr Bedford re ferred to the way the mine owners o England urged oho loss of revenue argu ment when Shaftesbury a lrnndra years s.go carried to a successful issui his noble work by which women, yokei together in' gangs and stripped to tin waist, were compelled to work under ground in coal mines; and to the gram achievement of Plirr.soll who dedicate! his life to the work of making ship owners load their vessels for sea in ,• manner which would not endanger th lieves of the seamen who manned them In both these .cases the owners urge* the loss of revenue, but the reform came in spite of them. Now the liquo sellers were urging the same argument but they were (loomed to lose; the no license cause was gaining momentum al the time, and because of the misery i would prevent, the increase in wages i would bring about, the additional em ployment it would give, and because o the improved commercial prosperity i would promote, the people were goinj to dem?.nd and have it. (Applause.) Questions were invited but only on< was asked. In reply to Mr Pierce, tin lecturer said that there would be in hardship while the change in the econ omic conditions was taking nlace he onuso the expenditure would be trans ferred without any waiting interval ant three men would be emnloymen where nnly one was emolnved before On the "motion of the Rev. T. St ; n son a he.i.rfcv vote ofthr.nks was passcc to Mr Berlfnrd for his address, wbi'-' the mnver described as hlsrhlv interest inf. frtflvVss. and consi«t'»Ntlv lo<nlncl Tlip remind n d all th< for seeimr to it nevsonally thai their names were on the roll.