WHO DRINKS IT ALL?

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2018, 12 August 1880, Page 3

WHO DRINKS IT ALL?

TO THE KDITOB OF THB PBESB. Sib, —According to a return recently laid before the House of Representatives, it appears thas the number of barrels of beer made in the colony during the year ending December 31st, 1879, was 186,096. The quantity contained in a barrel is thirty-six gallons, consequently the total number of gallons is 6,609,456! Now, in order to arrive at an approximation of the sum spent by the consumer, it will be necessary, in the first place, to find out the price at which the barrel of beer is sold to the publican. Taking the different qualities of beer sold by the brewers, the average cost to the publican (previous to the imposition of the tax of sixpence per gallon) was a fraction under Is 6i per gallon. About equal quantities of this is retailed at sixpence and threepence per glass; the average retail price is therefore 41d per glass. Allowing two glasses to the pint (which I am informed is an ample allowance) the number contained in a gallon will be sixteen ; these sold at the average price of 4id per glass brings the publican in Qi per gallon—a very modest profit of 300 per cent.! And yet, by the way, the publicans have the conscience to expect the brewers to pay the new beer duty. Assuming, then, that the estimate of 4Jd per glass is a correct one, what sum does the 186,096 barrels cost the consumers ? 6,699,456 gallons, divided into sixteen glasses each, aud retailed at per glass, represents a no less sum than £2,009,836!

The immensity of this amount seems so startling that there is a possibility of its being regarded as an exaggeration. And in order that my estimate may be rather within than outside the mark, I propose to reduce the quantity of beer said to be retailed to onehalf (an exceedingly liberal concession), and charge the other half to those people who are in the habit of keeping a small barrel in the house. Reckoning one half the quantity at the retail price before stated, the amount stands at £1,004,918. Add to this, at the wholesale price of Is 6d per gallon, the other half of the quantity said to be consumed by the moderate drinking-small-barrel-men, and the sum of £251,229 is the result. The sum total is therefore £1,256,147. Over a million and a quarter pounds sterling spent in New Zealand in colonial beer in twelve months! Verily the Zealandian drink bill for 1879, including all the imported beer, wines and s pirits, oannot be one penny less than three millions of money! No wonder the colony groans beneath a burden that is grievous to be borne, when the amount spent in intoxicating liquors is equal to about £6 13s 4i for every man, woman, and child within its borders. With a view of showing what portion of the drink bill might be debited to this city, I have extended my calculations. I find that, taking the population of Christchurch and the suburbs as being in round numbers 24,000, and allowing the average for the colony to prevail, viz., £6 13j 4i per head, the sum of £160,000 is the amount spent last year in strong drink in this city. But deducting three-fifths of the 24,000 as being children, there remains 9600 adults. Allowing 10 per cent, of this number to be total abstainers, the total number of drinkers is reduced to 8640. Divide 8640 persons into the £160,000 spent on drink, and the average is a fraction over £lB 10s a-year, or 7a a • week eaoh. This amount, compared with the expenditure of the United Kingdom, is far from creditable to this colony. The national drink bill in Great Britain last year was slightly in excess of £128,000,000. The population of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales is put down at 33,000,000. Subjecting the population to the same ratio of reduction as regards children and adult abstainers, the sum expended by each individual is about £lO 15s 5d per annum, or 4j l£d per week. This comparison show s very clearly that however drunken the people in the old country may be, the inhabitants of New Zaaland are a long way ahead of them as regards the amount spent in intoxicating liquors. With your permission I will return to the subject on a.future occasion. Yours, &0., O. M. Gbat.