The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 18, 1905. THE VICTORIAN DRINK BILL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12630, 18 October 1905, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 18, 1905. THE VICTORIAN DRINK BILL.

Last year's drink bill for Victoria, as computed by Mr J. D.-Mersqp,,amount-ed to £4,203,000. Of this no less than £ 1,591,938 was paid for imported spirits by the Victorian consumer. In view of the near approach of the New Zealand local option poll, it is both interesting and instructive* to look into the lessons afforded by the neighbouring colonies The past ten-years have been, in Victoria, very distinctly Jean years—as fa.r as trade has been concerned. " Poor ■and sober" is a Continental saying, which applies to all nations when there iis a comparative lull in.trade. The diagram of the drink bill for twenty years will show clearly how the vicissitudes of trade affected the people. During the " boom years," ending with 1892, there, was a very ~rapid r rise in the amount; 6xpe_nd4dx>n:liquor,, folloAved by an ©Ven^more sudden "collapse; of''the dirmk"biil '%_ -.jShe' finaftdally disaetiious year JLB93'.','.' ,Jt /ps \Mm, n'otioe^ble _ that during ; the; ye>r.;of. the ; Federal proclamation thete':wasUa.temporary ex^pansion of ..the; liqu.Qr;,traffic-. Yeb: no doubt: 'there 'thas>".been >i & <real ". decline tlirougnoutIthe'ißr,iti9h Empire' inr the p-erberitiige of' th&ayw&ge ' 'income that is expended- on diini:; .j4.p>axt from flue-; vtuations; of-trade it has tbeen. observed that, in the United Kingdom; there ,are. ' social^ causes a^twetfk ■vv'hiJoh are operating, to make peop^.jthore sobei' than they,; oncewe^e. . It: is no longer considered 'ladylike^amdng''t^ faw.; sex •to consume'1 alpbhblic liquor, and anjong, ootn^ercia.l, men" the' absurd usage which demanded. that .every bargain ;musjb : be clinched over a glass of.spirits has largely Mien into discredit. Very important, too, is the influence which lias been exerted by the medical profession, which is now practically unanimous against the old mistaken notion that alcohol gives any accession of strength to the drinker. It may sometimes enable a patient, at a very critical moment, to draw upon his future reserves of strength, and in this way it may have a place in medicine. But,every moderate drinker ought to be* well aware that, whenever 'he has taken enough to produce a feeling of the elation of added 'sti^eh'gth and vivacj|ty,! die is contain to pay a penalty, in some fotrm, later on. .The "Age*' also points out —and local elector? would do well fb note the points—that "with about half of the money TtftfwL spent on liquor the people of Victoria* could/pay''the : yearlyinterest and other charges on their national debt, which last year amounted to £2,159,050. A saving of 5Q per cent, on the drink bill would, therefore, suffice to make Victoria practically debt free—&r, rather, it would enable, the State not only to be free of debt, but also to acquire the ownership of all the works on which loan moneys have' been expended, and for which the Government is now realty, in one aspect,, only a kind of agent for the bondholders. If the time and health now wasted through drunkenness and other forms of excess were reckoned in the drink bill it would come to a'huge sum. Not long ago Mr John Burns, who is an enthusiastic liquor reformer in England as well as a Labour leader, pointed out that the full average cost of liquor to the British working man who drinks must amount to about £30 per annum. In Victoria the average expenditure, for each family of five persons, is £17 7s lid, of which at least £15 may be debited to the .bread winner. Seeing that a large proportion of fathers of families aire total abstainers, and a number hardly ever indulge in liquor, it is evident that the sum spent each year by those who are in the habit of refreshing themselves at the bar counter must be not far from the sum stated by Mi- Burns as giving the average ocst to the drinking British working man. Many people in Victoria are accustomed to look regretfully at the State education bill, which last year amounted to £657,565; but few take note of the fact that the actual

amount of oasli spent on liquor is. nearly four times as much. Besidesthis, it should be remembered that, money spent on education is reproductive outlay, while rite bulk of the £4,----205,072 spent on .alcoholic liquors, instead of adding to the productive capacities of the people, cause a very large deductkn. It is not surprising that, asMr Merson remarked in his comments on. his summairy, some of the English life insurance companies now offer specific advantages to abstainers. But he is hardly correct in saying that "in Victoria practically no distinction is yet made," and that "the teetotal insurer,. io>r the- present, is content to be paid. tho same bonus as the drinker," although the practice of drawing such adistinction has not yet spread to anything like the same extent in Victoria, as in the United Kingdom. The temperate life 'has more insurable valuethan the intemperate, and it should' command, by comparison, a reductionof the annual premium, an addition totiie 'bonus, or some similar advantage' in the terms offered by insuranceoffices."