PAUPERISM AND DRINK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 135, 8 June 1881, Page 4

PAUPERISM AND DRINK.

From .a., recent number of the Alliance News we take the following : — In an nddress to tbe " Ratepayers of Toxtetb Park and others whom it may concern," Mr. Edward Jones, of 4, Amberlev- street, Liverpool, a member of the Toxttth Board ot Guardians says : — <( Tbe G- ardians of Toxte'h Park, in dealing with applications for relief from week to week, were struck by the large number of these cases which came from a particular district of the township, A return was therefore ordered of the exact number of applications for relief during a given period, from that portion of tbe township to tbe north of Park-street and ■west of Park lioad, as compared with the applications from tbe rest of the township, These returns revealed the ' startling fact' that tvvo4hirds of our pauf-dhin come ircm this district, compr sin« about one-eighth of tbe area, and only one-fourth of the population ; the exact numbers being, from the district marked A, with heavy dark tints on 'he map, Oil applications for relief; from district B sd-2 ; and from district 0 45, in the same period. The amount of money spent in liquor in diatriefc A moy be gathered from the fact that over one hundred public houses, or about half tbe total number of public-houses iv the township, are maintained and doing a more or less flourishing trade within or closely abutting upon this area. Estimating the average ' weekly takings' of each of these public houses at £20, and assuming that fully one-half- of the population here ore sober, industrious people, who spend little or nothing on drink, it may be taken for granted that from 103 to 20a per week from many families goes for liquor. How many struggling, sober, industrious families, paying poor rates, are coropslled to live on less than those receiving parish re ief ppend in liquor when they can get it ? The direct cost to the township of this area, in poor rates, is not less than £10,000 per annum, or. equal to 6d in tbe £ of the rate?, over and above a very liberal allowance for pauperism. To this may be added the charge for extra police in these parts, the large sums distributed in private charity, and the hundred other ways in which the thriftless and the dissolute manage to impose a heavy burden of taxation, voluntary and involuntary, upon their neighbours. The money cost is not the only, or the worst, part of the business Murders, stabbing, ■wounding, and other crimes of violence, are of frequent occurrence here. The slaughter of innocent babes, smothered l)y their drunken mothers, out-heroda Berod. The death rate within this area, if published separately,, would astonish the Health Committee and the Town Council of Liverpool, and would stand in striking contrast with the rate of mortality in the portions of , the township without public-houces, "which averages 10 in a 1000 in the rural district. Here, it would probably be not le£S than 40 per 1000. Vice and immorality from these parts crowd our Workhouse Hospital, which must soon be enlarged, at the cost of tbe ratepayers, and there is displayed a state of thing too revolting for description. Religious and educational agencies, of every Bort and kind, abound in this benighted neighbourhood. The Church of England, Roman Catholic 3, and Nonconformists of every name vie with each other in their efforts to get at the people, Scripture readers, town missionaries, Bible women, and district visitors almost tread on each other's toes in carrying religious instruction to every door that will open to them. Mission rooms, temperance halls, salvation armies, evangelistic services, medical missions, besides day, Sunday, and industrial schools, are in full operation. And yet we are told that the large majority of tbe population never darken a church door of any kind, and it is certain that the Devil's Own is the most numerous and popular sect in these regions. A contrast of the state of things is found in a portion oi the map marked C, and without any tinting. Here, over more than over half the area of the township, with a population of 50,000, or nearly half the toial population, no public houses are allowed. The applications for parish relief are few and far between, and these few from the streets nearest the dark area, though a large proportion of the inhabitants are of the artisan and labouring class. The Head Constable reports that his officers have very little to do in this district, which is two miles long and nearly the same distance wide in its longest measurement. That tbe people in the dark area do not wish public-houses in their midst is proved by the fact that they are rapidly migrating into the bright area, and that whenever memorials in favour of Sunday closing of public-houses, and other restrictions, are got up, the people in the dark area are most unanimous in signing them. A motion for memorialising the Government in favour of a measure for reducing the number of public-houses was supported by seven members of the Toxteth Board of Guardians, while eight voted againßt. Compensation is a question for statesmen, but it is as clear as figures can make it that it would make a good investment to buy up the c goodwill' of public-houses here and convert them to better uses. Perhaps there is no one cut-and-dried plan, no panacea which of iteelf alone will be sufficient to remove these evils. I have simply discharged a duty, which I felt incumbent upon me, in calling the attention of my fellow rate- payers to the existence of a great evil, and leave the matter in their hands to draw their own conclusions. The sale of intoxicating liquor in any shape ia strictly prohibited on the land in district marked C, by tbe terms of the leases granted by the Earl of Sefton and Mr John Roberts, M.P. [The map which accompanies the printed address shows the number of public-houses in three divisions, and is very instructive.]