TEMPERANCE COLUMN

Evening Star, Issue 20137, 30 March 1929, Page 19

TEMPERANCE COLUMN

(Published by Arrangement with the United Temperance Reform Council.) MODERATES. The contrast between the lessened death late of teetotalers and the excessive mortality of moderate drinkers, as set forth by the mathematical calculations and experiences of insurance offices, is something which ought to startle moderate drinkers During the years 192-’! and 1924 onefilth of the .men who went to prison and one-half of the women went for drunkenness.—Right Hon. Sir ttillinm Joynson Dicks, Homo Secretary. I shall vote for it because .1 believe Ilia future is with democracy, and only to the extent that it delivers itself from strong drink can it redeem itself from political, social, and economic bondage.—Bight Don. Arthur Henderson, Labour 31. P. DRU.XKEXX LbS J.V ENG LAM). According to a Blue Book issued recently containing particulars of licensing and statistics as to the operation and administration ol the laws relating to the sale of intoxicating liquor in England and 3) ales for 1924. it appears that on .January 1 of this year there were SU-957 premises licensed for consumption on or olf the promises, and 22,Did premises licensed for sale for consumption off the premises. It is estimated that during 1924 the number ot registered clubs increased further by upwards of Hid. Over the whole period since 1004 clubs had increased by 5,100, as compared witli a decrease in no-liccnses of 15,942. The total number of convictions tor drunkenness in England and AValciMn 1924 was 79.082, as’compared with 77.094 for 1924—an increase of 1,988, or 2.G por cent. A BRITISH PRONOUXC'E3IEXT. “ U D impossible tor the State to make gain out of the liquor traliie— The profits will never balance the losses/’—Sir George M urray, iormcr chairman of the Board o) Inland Revenue. BR IT ISI I E KEI H EXC V A XI) TE3IPEHAXCE RE FOR 31.

Tliiwas tiie theme of an address <ri\-(m! by Mr Angus Matson, Xeiv-custle-on-Tyue, at the luncheon oi the Glasgow branch of (ho Gommorcial Temperance League on November Kb .Mr Watson said Glasgow appeared to have a drink bill amounting to £7,910,000 a year, this being based on the assumption that the consumption ot stimulants in the city could he compared with the national standard and with an estimated population of 1 .IdUjOHU. Comparing that expenditure with some ot the figures in the city’s finances, he said that, quite apart from a loan debt of over L'I.'VJdO.OOO on the non-rating departments, there was at May .‘it last a loan debt of over £21,000,000 debitable to the rating departments, such as housing improvements, etc. Jl it were possible to apply these eight millions spent on drink to debt redemption, the whole of that lingo debt, representing at d per cent, interest an annual charge of over £d ,000.1)00 on the rates, could be, extinguished in three Years.

'.the city had budgeted to spend in 1928-20 over £2,000,000 on poor rates, nearly £1 .dOO.OOO on education, and nearly £-1,01)0,DUO on other corporation sendees, yet the whole ol these services, estimated to amount to nearly £7.000,000, was less than the amount spent last year on so-eallcd stimulants. On housing and townplanning the city had budgeted to spend £'lßo,ooo at a rate assessment of Id in the £ for 1928-29. Their housing needs were, like those in other large cities, very pressing, and so were their rates; yet they found a sum equivalent to an assessment of over Its to spend on drink alone in 1927-28. Kourpenee in the t on housing and Its in the £ on drink! Wonderful progress had been made during the. last decade in the direction of temperance reform, the national drink bill having (hopped from ££id,000.000 during the peak year of 1920 to a sum approximating £298.1)00.000 in 19-27. with a drop ol £2.'>00,000 last year. Hut the present situation con id only he viewed with great concern. as we were still spending approximately 1 ( t per cent, ol our total national income on drink. Tfio shillings in every pound Unit was earned i i tins country was ear-marked for the drink trade, which meant that, as compared with the United States—the largest creditor nation in the world and onr must formidable business com-petitor—-we were suffering from a handicap oi at least 10 per cent. WASTEFU L EXTRAVAGAXCE. The Right Hon. Philip Snowden .says:—“lf one-tenth of the money spent on drink were spent on the increased consumption oi' cotton goods, the present capacity of Lancashire would lie hardly sufiicient to meet the increased demand. Since the war we had spent £(ji 10,000,01 HI on erecting one million houses; and in the same period we had spent £2,-Vt1,000.000 on drink. For the I firmer expenditure we had the houses to show. The latter expenditure was waste.’’