EXPENDITURE ON ALCOHOL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3697, 29 September 1927, Page 3

EXPENDITURE ON ALCOHOL.

DECREASE IN 1926. The annual statement compiled by "Mr. F. B. Adams, 8.A., L.L.M., the well-known Dunedin barrister, has just been issued, and shows that for the year January , Ist to December 31st, 1926, the estimated direct expenditure on drink in New Zealand was £8,425,051, a decrease of £150,000 over the previous year. Mr. Adams arrives at his conclusion by the following process:— ' ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE. Spirits. — 658,293 gallons at £4 £2,633,172 Added water 438,860 Wines. — 233,679 gallons at 40s 457,358 Beer, imported. — 59,211 gallons at 17/6 51*809 Beer, New Zealand. — 12,890,273, at 17/6 4,833,852 Total £8,425,051 LAST THREE YEARS. The figures for the last three years,'excluding amount for spirits (non-beverage), are as follows: — 1924 £8,310,339 1925 8,583,111 1926 8,425,051 Total £25,318,501 PER HEAD EXPENDITURE. Estimated mean population for 1926 (including Maoris) 1,413,700 Estimated expenditure per head of population (including Maoris) £5 19 2 Decrease per head from 1925 . (including Maoi'is) 4 10 Estimated expenditure per household of five persons £29 15 10 Mr. Adams comments that, after deducting Customs and Excise duties, the net drink bill (£6,541,713) is more than the amount spent by the State on the following service combined: —Education (including primary, secondary and technical schools, training colleges, and higher education), £3,814,434; pensions (including war, old-age, widows’, Maori War, Boer War, miners’, epidemic, blind, civil service, and sundry other pensions), £2,489,578; total £6,304,012.