THE N.Z. DRINK BILL FOR 1914

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2504, 3 July 1915, Page 12

THE N.Z. DRINK BILL FOR 1914

SOME ERRORS - COIiHECTEU. .o' •' T "Simple Arithmetic" writes: —"Some errors have crept into Mr. A. S. Adams' computation, of the Now Zealand Drmk Bill for 1914 which shoult} be corrected. Of. spirits, Mr; Adams gives the .consumption to have been 557,116 gallons, which ho declares is aa increase of 10j347 gallons on that of tho previous year. The figure for 1913 is 869,124 (vide Now Zealand Year Boclr, 1914, p. 290), so that'thd inorease-(if Mr. Adains' figure for 1914 is correct) is 1/.992' Gallons. • . . Tho iiepfc error iu wines and imported beers are not so glaring; but they indicate the sanio carelessness—an unpardonable ofl-'enco in a barrister and statistician. ' ■ Tho imported beer was 299,21.6 gallons in 1913. Mr. Adams' gives the return for 1914 as 292,860—a decrease ac.iuailv of 6366. In. wines the quantity was' 147,137 gallons, and in. -1914. it amounted, according to Mr. Adamsj to 156,511/ which lie calls' an increase of 9465 gallons! .Any schoolboy could have dotectod this error. It is in New Zealand-made beers that Mr: Adains makes' the most flagrant mistake. In 1913 the quantity was 10,300,416 gallons.- (Ibid., p, 290). In 1914 Mr. Adams gives.it as 10,356,240 gallons. Then 1 he says, this shows, an increase of 355,040 gallons! Whereas -tho actual increase is only. 55,824 gallons. Thus the' - barrister-statistician is nearly 300,000gallons'-out in this comnutation alone. Tlion as to prices, Mr. A. S. Adarns' is'considerably out. Ho puts spirits tlpwri. at £2.per gallon, when ho must, know, if lio knows anything at all about buying whisky, that that figuro is from .20 to 30 per cent: too high. That the price of Mr. Adams's wiSfcs is ludicrous .it has only .to. be observed tlia't ;ho puts wines at tho sftmn figure as 'spirits! - Everybody - whd knows any- ' tiling at all alinlt the price of wino 'knows that, excluding, sparkling wines which are least liscd, the figure should bo 40 per cent, less than quoted by. Jlr. Adams. , .And' his. quotation' for Now Zealandr-mado beers is at least onc-tliird too high. ~ .AH that .apart. Mr., Adams's .coife elusion is that there has been an, incroa'so'in the quantity and value consumed equal to £105,704, spread over nn'.increase of population of 30,682. But when Mr.,- Adams : gives the total consumption/in his extravagant figures as- £3135. itl.Scl. for the year, 1914, tho increase of £108,704 spread over 30,682 persons' only gives £3 10s. 10.? d.—-an error in this. connection alone of three shillings pe.r head! Can any reliance at ail bo placed npon Mr. Adams'- calculations?, ' ' . '