N.S W’S. DRINK BILL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13521, 1 November 1911, Page 5

N.S W’S. DRINK BILL.

EXPLANATION OF INCREASE. What Local Option Has Done. Presa Association .—Tele graph.—Copyright. Received November 1. 8.5 a.m. SYDNEY, November 1. Archdeacon Boyce’s annual estimate of the drink bill in New South Wales for 1910 is .£5,724,984, or .£3 10s 6d per head, against £3 6s 9d in 1909. Archdeacon Boyce attributes the increase in the drink bill to the wonderfully prosperous year and the continued enlargement of the spending power of the people. Last year beuefttted only to a small extent from the reduction of licenses by the local option poll. The majority voted out hotels which are still :open, but many private immoral bars and bogus clubs were closed, and bars shut .on election days. Sunday closing is fairly complete, and convictions for drunkenness on Sunday decreased from 1350 to 326. Local option has already done much to keep down the drink bill. A remarkable feature is the growth in the consumption of colonial beer as the workers’ beverage, 1',067,000 gallons ‘more being drunk than in the previous year, while the consumption of spirits increased by 128,407 gallons.