LIQUOR TRADES DEFENCE UNION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 783, 9 March 1905, Page 25

LIQUOR TRADES DEFENCE UNION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

A meeting in connection with the above union was held at the Unley Inn, Unley, Adelaide, on Friday evening, January 27. The secretary attended for the purpose of explaining the objects of the union. Hr G. Clayton occupied the chair, and there was a large attendance. The chairman said so much misrepresentation was in-

dulged in as to the cause of all the crime, sickness, and poverty that it had been found necessary for the business men connected with the liquor industry to unite for the purpose of placing- facts fairly before the electors. Mr L'eedei- (secretary of the union) spoke of the necessity for the formation of the union. He explained its objects, which were primarily to protect the interests of all businesses and workmen •connected in any way with the liquor trades. lHe outlined the results of the passing of the Licensed Victuallers* Amendment Acts of 1891 and 1896, detailed the planks of the trade platform, and pointed out the great strides which had been made as regards membership. He contended that there was no more harm in a man taking a glass of beer or wine than in his imbijbing al cup of tea. It was the abuse of alcohol, and not the use, that was to be deprecated. The disabilities under which the trade was conducted were referred to. Plans for a proposed house had to be first approved. It was built and furnished at great expense, and conducted under official supervision. Repairs had to be made where ordered by the official appointed for that purpose. The hotel-keeper was restricted as to his hours of trading, and a highly-respect-able brewer, with many years’ experience, had assured a representative meeting of the trade recently that he had received •only 5 per cent, interest on his outlay. The necessity of the licensed house as a public convenience was explained; also, the importance of the liquor industry to a large number of businesses and workmen. Although there was much talk of the drink evil in the State of South Australia in proportion to the population, it was in ito way comparable with what it was only a-quarter of a century ago. Ten per cent, of the population of Great (Britain were estimated to be abstainers, \ leaving 90 per cent, who consumed alcohol. Accepting these figures as approximately correct for these States, ho_w outrageous it was for so small a minority to attempt, by coercive measures, to curtail the proper liberty of the majority. The arrests for insobriety went as high as 69 per 1000 in prohibition towiis in America, as against something under 12 per 1000 in Victoria, and 6 per 1000 in England (and Wales. The exact figures •were: —Stlate of Maine, Portland, 42: Pan-

gor, 46; Bath, 31; Rockland, 35; Gardner, 69; State of New Hampshire, Manchester, 36; Concord, 28; Portsmouth, 36. T)hese figures proved that the remedies prescribed by the abstainers for the evil of insobriety were totally ineffective. Interesting figures were given relating to some of the brewing businesses in older countries. At the Castle-street establishment of Messrs Watney, Coomb and Reid (one of their four breweries) the output was twenty-four thousand barrels per week. Guinness’ St. James’ Gate Brewery employed twelve brewers, the premises occupied forty-five acres of land, employed three thousand workmen, with an office staff of four hundred, and paid in excise duty £2OOO per day, or nearly three-quarters of a million pounds per annum. The Busch Brewery, St. Louis, occupied one hundred and- twenty-five acres. The brew-house capacity was eight thousand five hundred barrels per day, there were five thousand employees, and the sales for 1903 totalled 1,201,762 barrels of beer. It was pointed out that a curtailment, even if effective, of the consumption of alcohol would mean that the revenue derived by the Government from that source would have to be made up by taxation in some other direction. The union desired to enlist the support of those who were neither biassed against the trade on the one hand, nor pecuniarily interested in its favour on the other. All present pledged themselves to support the principles of the union, and a committee was formed to work in conjunction with the general committee.