The Drink Bill of the United Kingdom

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 21, 21 May 1903, Page 6

The Drink Bill of the United Kingdom

Accoiding to a well-known authority on the subject, the drink bill of the United Kingdom was, in the year 1902, £179,4 99,817, as against £181,738,245 in 1901. The average expense per head of the population was £I ."is OJd. divided up into £1 7s 10£ don spirits, £2 10s 4Jd on beer, 6s 7d on wine, and B£d on other liquors. Scotland takes the bad pre-eminence of spiritdrmking with £2 8s Gd per head expense, Ireland is next with £1 8s 2*d, and England last with £1 4s lljd. England makes up, however, with far pre-eminence in beer-drinking, her population spending £2 17s 3±d per head on beer. Ireland is second also in this, but by a long interval, the consumption of beer per head in the Green Isle being to the \a.\uc of £1 12s lOJd. Scotland is a small third with 17s 4d on beer per head. England is also fust in wine-drinking, though the expenditure all through is not heavy— 7s IJd against Scotland's 6s lid, and Ireland's .Ms l{d. There is one satisfaction in tho figures. Ireland spends on drink less per head than the other nations, but her £3 4s 2d is still too much. Tho amount spent by tho people of the three countries per hood of population is as follows — England, £4 9s 4d ■ Scotland. £'A Ms 13d , li eland, £3 4s 2d.