TEMPERANCE COLUMN

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 8004, 8 September 1906, Page 1

TEMPERANCE COLUMN

This column is paid ton as an advse The Liquor Problem. Hon. John Burns, M.P. L.C.C., on Drink and Trade, Etc. The argument is often advanced that if drinking cphpo.l, the extent to which labour was displaced in theiiqnor trades would be the measure of increased unemployment in the Labour market. On the contrary, the transfer of money now spent on liquor, to the pur.'has-i of clothes, t'o"d, houses, furniture, and things would soon the men dipp'aoed from drink manufacture. As a mutter of ecoucruic fact, the liquor trao'e, per milli m of eipital investe l , gives employment to fewer m a n than any other trade, as the figues given bel ;w pro ye. percentages indicate the proportion of wages out of every .£IOO of value produced. Coal Mining ... ... ... 55.0 Shipbuilding ... ... 40.8 Tramways ... ... ... 31.4 Railways ... ... ... 31.0 Agriculture ... ... ... 27.0 Waterworks ... ... ... 25.7 Gasworks ... ... ... 25.0 Clothing ... ... ... 22.6 Brewing ... ... ... 7.5 A Government rrtarn issued when Sir M. Hicks-Beach was President of the Board of Trade, shows how comparatively little the brewing trade pays in wages, as compared with other trades. The foregoing clearly ilkstrates the supreme folly of buying intoxicants with the idea that their consumption helps trade, or puts a large proportion of money into the pockets of the wage-earners. The truth about liquor is, that its chief ingredient, water, is the cheapest raw material in manufacture. The heivens supply the raw material, and the finished article goes invariably to the hell of a dissolute poverty.

" The Trade " as Employer. The extent to which liquor does not employ the same proportion of men, per million of capital invested, as do other trades, i 3 illustrated by two concerns. Whereas a railway employs 38,000 men, who receive £3,250,000 in wages per annum, a well-known distillery employs 2,000 men, whose wage 3 amount to .£IOO,OOO. If the distillery employed the proportion of men equal to that employed on railways, 7,142 men, instead of 2,000, would be engaged, and £357,000, instead of £IOO,OOO, per annum as wages would be circulated. The amalgamation of liquor concerns has decreased the number of brewers from 15,744 in 1882 to 5,898 in 1902 ; breweries, distilleries, ownership of publichou:es, and the veiled ownership of drinking clubs increases yearly the disproportion of men employed to money invested. The riches of the brewer, 88 disclosed in wills, gifts and establishments, prove the personal profit to the owners of this demoralising trade. The wholesale trade is not conspicuous for its generosity to its workpeople, whilst the retail trade is, generally speaking, in the nutter of long hours to its male and female workers, and in wages per hour, possibly the worst of all trades, the unhealthiness of the employment aud liability to disease, make both brewing and public-house work an industry that Bhould be scheduled as a dangerous trade. The liquor trade is officially declared to be " The Deadliest and Most Dangerous of Occupations." Ratio of mortality par 10OD males. All Males ... ... ... ICOO Inn-keepers' (industrial districts) 2030 Inn-keepers' servants do ... 1948 Inn-keepers' servants (London) 1838 do do (United Kingdom) ... 165'.) IJBrewers ... ... ... 1427 Seamen ... ... ... 1352 All Malts 1000 All Occupied Maka ... ... [js3 Minors ... ... 925 Railway Engine Drivers and (-Juards ... . ... SIS Grocers ... ... ... bb4 Agricultural Labourers ... (132 Schoolmasters ... ... 604 Clergymen ... .. ... 533 Alcohol is no respecter of persons ; it is injurious alike to the public and to the publican. The rate of moitality thut assails all those engage! in the manufacture, distribution, and salt- of liquor i-i bad euouglj, but the invalidity, whilat on the way to death, would be appalliug if it could be gauged and tabulated. The illnes*, discomfort, physical and other disabilities suffered by those whose daily duty it i> to be the votaries or handmaids of Bacchus, is of itself enough to evoke hostility to it as a calling. But the greatest evil it inflicts, if less virulent in form, though covering a more numerous clasj, is over that portion of the working class who, whilst enjoying themselves at the shrine of Bacchus, are hourly and daily offering themselves up as a sacrifice to the Moloch of Drink.

Abstainers from Drink between the ages of 25 an 4 60, die forty per cent slower than those who are non-abstainers. That, however, is not all. Life is not measured by time, nor happiness by mere youth. The years of the abstainer are not only longer, but they are fuller, happier, and more efficient in every respect. The Sceptre Life Association, of London, has irsued a return of us last twenty years' moiUlity experience of assured lives—absUiueis and non-abstainers—based on the Institute of Actuaries' H.M. Mortality Table. It is as f Hows : Expected Actual Deaths. Deaths. Per Cent. Abstainers ... 1,440 702 55.00 Nor-abstainers 2,370 1,880 7'J.32 The abstainer lives longer, he has lesß illuesf, he is less dependent, he is more geif-r.<Hant, he his fewer vices, and his abstinence from crime is most remarkable. Only six per cent, of hcoloh criminals aie professed teetotallers, whilst there is a similar disproportion on the books of iorirmaries, workhouses, and charitable institutions. Drink and Physical Degeneration. As a trade unionist, Mr D. J. Shackleton, 41.P., said at Hirtninghaiu recently : "He found that it was a teetotaller who rose to the highest positions in trade unions, for the workers now recognised tint a man with a clear head was n quired to put their esse effectively before the employers." The Physical Deterioration Committee had reported that IG4I publicans died between thi ages of 25 and 65, as compared with sb*oKechabites, and these figures so impressed it tnat it recommended that they be published broadcast for the information of the people. It also recommended that instruction on the effects of alcohol should be given in public elementery schools. He hoped the Government would not rest till it had carried out the recommendations of the Physical Deterioration Committee.