LIQOUR CONTROL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 66, 17 June 1942, Page 6

LIQOUR CONTROL

REDUCED IMPORTS MINISTER'S STATEMEXT A letter explaining rcccnt steps taken by the Government for the further control o the liqucr trade was received by the Auckland Presbytery last week from the Acting Minister of Customs (Mr Nordmover) . The Minister stated that the value of import licenses l'or spirits and. wines this year was one-half of what it Avas in 1938, but having re-t gard to the increase in price it Avas estimated that the actual quantity imported was only 33 per cent of the previous amount. The amount of sugar allotted to brewers was 50 per cent, of last year's quantity. Avhich must have a material effect on the amount of beer brcAved. The alcoholic content of beer had been reduced appreciably by means of a .steeply-graduat-ed scale. j "There are other proposals yet to I reach Una! legal form." concluded I the Minister, "winch will be Ihe sub-; jeet of regulation, and these. together Avitli the factors 1 mentioned, wi!i, 1 believe, aehi; ve a very Miserable increase in sobriety." The Moderator, the Rev. J. D. Smith, said that figures recently published, by the '"Vanguard" as n I result of im T estigations made by the j New Zealand Alliance produced a very different result I'rum the Minister's figures. The indications were that the local production of Avine had increased A'ery considerably.