CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1919, Page 6

CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL.

INTERESTING FIGURESThe annual return allowing rates of i consumption of articles in common use, | m laid before Parliament, reveals reduced consumptions of spirits, wine, and beer last year. The decrease in the case of .spirits, due, presumably, to the increased retail price, is substantial The following figures show the total consumption and the rates per head for the last five years:— SPIRITS. Year. Gallons. Gals. p. Head. 1914 SBT,IIO. 2.53 11115 940,011 . 2.75 1.191G 779,698 2.34 1917 759,118 2.40 1918 578,177 1.86 WINE. Year. Gallons. Gals. p. Head. 1914 156,509 0.20 1915 103,244 0.21 1916 138,758 0.18 19)7 142.858 0.19 1918 126,122 0.17 IMPORTED BEER. Year. Gallons. Gals. p. Head. 1914 292,850 0.38 1915 260,050 0.34 1010 229,320 0.30 1917 80,030 0.11 1918 32,370 0.04 NEW ZEALAND BEER. Year. Gallons. Gals. p. Head. 1914 10,306,240 13.4 1915 10,605,714 13.7 1916 11.247,725 14.5 1917 11,335,845 14.9 1918 10,588,859 14.0 The consumption per head, in the cass of spirits, is calculated on the adult male population, which shrank from 349,591 in 1914 to 310,103 in 1918. The adult male and female population is used in the case of wine, imported beer, and New Zealand beer. It was 774,837, in 1914 and 757,824 in 1918. TOBACCO. The consumption per headSjtf tobacco calculated on the adult-main population, shows a continued percentage increase, though the actual quantity used is less than in 1914. The figures are as follows: Adult Tobacco Lbs. Year. Males Lbs. Head 1914 349,591 2.437,035 6.97 1915 341,800 2.430,15!) 7.11 1916 332.759 2,319,852 6.97 1917 310,203 2,304.556 7.48 j 1918 318,103 2,387,559 7.70 I TEA. The consumption of tea in 1918 wnp 9,403,207 lbs., equal to 8.18 lb*, per head of the total population, as against 7.63 lbs. in 1917, and G.S4 lbs. in 1910. The consumption of sugar amounted to 108,588,432 lbs. in 1918, or 94-2 lbs. per head, as against 121.2 lbs. per head in 1917. The duty collected on ad valorem goods in 1918 was at the rate of £1 S» per head of the population, as against £1 0s Id in 1917, and £1 12s V/ 4 i in 1916. The ad valorem duties collected in 1913 amounted to £1 7s «d per head, the highest recorded up to that time.