ALCOHOLOGY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 79, 12 July 1910, Page 6

ALCOHOLOGY.

WHAT IT COSTS, I (Published 'by Arrangement). i We have just received from the Rev. | E. Walker, of Halcombe, the annual | drink bill for New Zealand. It shows I that the spirits, wines and beers eon-| sumed in 1909, reckoned at gallon rates, j cost £3,628,137, being an average expenditure per html, men; women and children, of £3 lis «y g d. This is a decrease of 4s od per head as compared with 1908, but must not be taken as what it really costs- the consumer, for the greater part is not sold at gallon rates but at much higher rates, in single drinks over the public house bars. Then again it must be remembered that the cost per head includes the total popu-, lation—drinkers and n«m-drinkers. If then we make a reasonable estimate we may put down the drinkers at about one-third of the population. Mr. Walker takes the Registrar-General's estimated population for the year as 1,021,214; of these about 300,000 would be under 15 years of age and may be reckoned as non-drinkers; the balance would be! about half'of each sex, and the women j do not a3 often use intoxicants as do the men; and then allow for the 'big army •f teetotallers and we bring the actual drinkers down to about what we state above. On this basis the average drinker spends between £lO and £ll a year. However, this is only a rough estimate, and allowing for that it is evident that the ' amount is large—larger in most cases than the drinker is willing to admit. The strange thing about it is that he is in very many cases very careful, almost' penurious, over other expenses, but when he stands at the bar he must (he thinks) be liberal. Take our aver- ' age farmer with, say, a £l-000 farm, and he groans and exclaims at an increase of a halfpenny in his rates while he dribbles that out many times over, on his visits to town and market, for alcoholic beverages. We have known men who really begrudged the money spent on school' books, for instance, but did not deny themselves their drink on that account. It would be an eye-opener if these men would keep a p«tty cash book, as many of them expect their wives to do. This, however, is only the dirett cost; there is the indirect cost in irfcat it costs to look after these drinkers and the houses that supply them; there is the impaired efficiency result-1 ing from it; there is the death, the lun- | acy, .the crime, the sickness and accidents that also result from the beverage ! use of alcohol. The total cos* is appal linvr when one tries to reckon it up; and for what? Just a passing—so-called-pleasurable sensation which the subject of it knows quite well may, and will, unless he is careful, end in shame and disgrace, or worse. If the man who spends fris shillings so willingly at the bar'would think of others who need the money he might do better. We remember a farmer some years age;, not a teetotaller, but a moderate of the moderates, who said that when he spent any money on drinks (it was not often ini consequence) he thought how much bet-j ter it would 'be to,buy something and! take home for the children' and see the pleasure it would give them. That was a very practical, unselfish- way of looking at it, and it was only his duty to do so.. WHERE DOES THE MGN'EY OOME FROM;?'

Why, from the hard work of the people. It takes about all our exports of butter, cheese and 1 frozen- meat to pay our drink bill. The busfiman works hard and lives hard in making up a cheque which in too many cases he brings to town and dissolves in strong drink. The money comes from' the earnings of the people though no cfoubt many of those who spend money on drink do very little work indeed—the gambling, speculating, sporting classes generally ao very little

work and at the same time do a large share of the drinking.

WHAT MIGHT BE DONE WITH IT? Ah, that is the question. One might dream of that and a very pleasant dream, too. What a lot of homes might bo brightened with furniture, music, pictures, books, etc., which are now but very poorly supplied. How many a struggling wife might have her work lightened with increased household facilities and conveniences. They say these things cost money. Yes; but not nearly so much as the drink costs, if for no other reason—and there are many other reasons—than that it is a wasteful expenditure, one could wish that men and women, too, would do a bit of household! book-keeping and see what pays and what does not pay, and then practice the business man's precept, "Run profits, cut losses." The first loss they would'cut would 1)0 the drink. These few thoughts are just thrown out with the hope that some more will learn to think and not to drink.