Drink Bills.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 245, 21 April 1896, Page 3

Drink Bills.

Queensland is probably the most drunken country in the world. If there is one more drunken we have not been able to find it. On the other hand, we are happy to say, New Zealand is the most sober nation on the globe, and has been so for several years. New Zealand is also now more sober than in the past. Yet she spends £15 per average family per year in alcoholic drinks, and her bill for such articles for the year 1894 was £2,---081,740. Queensland is a long way ahead of other countries in her drink bill, as will be seen from the statistics for 1894 : —

We have said that New Zealand is more sober than it used to be, but we may go further, the world is more sober than it used to be. This is a fact that must please all true social reformers, since it gives hope for the future. No one doubts the great change that has taken place in mankind, and especially in the habits of people of British origin. The world would scout a Byron now, it is said, as a Byron once did say, that man must get drunk because he is a reasonable being - Man, being reasonable, roust get drunk. The truth w that man, being more reasonable than he was in Byrpn's time, has decided that it is a mark of reason to keep sober, and hence the decrease of the liquor bills of the nations. — Napier Herald.

Queensland ... £4 12 6 per bead United Kingdom . £& 12 3 „ „ New South Wales... £3 5 8,, „ Victoria ... 18 4 0 , „ New Zealand ... £2 17 2 „ „