THE DRINK BILL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXV, Issue 13034, 30 March 1910, Page 4

THE DRINK BILL.

Cabled last night that Germany’s Drink Bill for ’ last year is ' estimated 'at ■£145,000,000 sterling, which is twice the combined cost of the army and navy,- and five times that of education. This la a huge waste, but proportionate with the population is not so large as the expenditure under the same head in the Old Country, where the total in 1908 reached £161,050,462, an average expenditure per head for eferv man, woman, and child of ■£3 12s 3|d. The population of the United Kingdom is about 44,000,000, as again vt Germany’s 64,000,009, so that it win be seen that Britain’s outlay on liquor is much greater than Germany’a. Whitaker's Almanack lor 1907 contained statistics concerning the world’s consumption of liquor, which showed Belgium—with .an average consumption of 49 gallons of vine, beer, and spirits per head—to be the ‘‘wettest” country in the world, the United Kingdom coming next with 31 gallons, then followed Fiance 29. Switzerland 28, Italy and Germany 27, Denmark 23, the United States 20, Sweden 13, Norway 3, and Snssia {where State control ■ obtains) 1.92 gallons. The expenditure oh Honor in Britain , per annum is about 1| the amount of the total national revenue, and equals tie rents of all the houses and farms in the United Kingdom. Well may the moralist picture what a different world it would be if the expenditure in drink were put into useful channels.