MONEY SPENT IN DRINK.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), 16 February 1883, Page 3

MONEY SPENT IN DRINK.

Iv a long letter to the Times on '' Remedies for the poverty, degradation, aud misery which exists," Mr William Hoy le institutes a comparison between three working-men whom he designates A, B, and C. Each earns 30s a week; A saves 10s of it, which he invests in building cottages, and at the end of 20 years is worth £97'), which he has added to the wealth of the country. B spends his 30s, being rather self-indulgent, and at the end of 20 years is where lie was at the beginning. C, out of his 30s a week spends 12s or 13s in drink and Is or Is Gd more iv tobacco : and in a vcrv short time comes upon the parish. And "in the case of 0, the money is not only spent unproductive!}-, but destructively, for food has to be destroyed to make the drink which he consumes."

What. Mr Hoyle asks, does 0 do for trader Literally nothing ; for, in the first place, one half of his income is squandered awuv'in a manner that even gives little or no immediate demand for labour, for out of every sovereign spent upon drink not mure than' Gd goes in wages for labour. B, the man of fashion, spent his money so as help current trade, but there was no reproductivencss in his expenditure. In the case of C's expenditure there is neither present help to trade nor future reproduetiveness; on the contrary, whilst the present is nil, the future is a piling up of burdens which tax the ratepayers and which take money out of their pockets which ought to go to trade. C is, therefore, a constant burden to the community. Comparing the case of 0 with that of A a threefold loss results. 1. The immediate loss to the labour market. 2. The loss arising from the loss of repruduotivencss. 3. The loss arising from the mischiefs aud burdens which result. In the light of these facts and reasonings (continues Mr Hoyle) "let it be borne in mind that during the last ten years the population of the United Kingdom have spent £1,361,000 upon drink, and when it is remembered that this expenditure represents about an equal sum of indirect loss in the burdens and mischief which result from drinking, or a total of direct and indirect cost aud loss of over £2,700,000, it. will show the terrible character of the burden which has been weighting down the nation's industries during the last ten years. No wonder, therefore, that there should be poverty, degradation, and misery. How could it be otherwise r"