BEER BOTTLES

White Ribbon, Volume 21, Issue 3, 1 April 1949, Page 7

BEER BOTTLES

Horrified indignation was felt up and down the land last Christmas (19-47), when statements were broadcast regarding the enormous numbers of beer bottles collected by boys and men after the Christmas and New Year celebrations in various places. The accounts given for this year’s collections are worse. The idea that there would be less drinking because of the new' legislation (remarkable idea, certainly) does not seem to have materialised. From Christchurch we have the following: ”... this season’s harvest is going to be a record one. Nearly thirty collectors are on the job and they are doing well. The beer bottle position is more buoyant than I have ever seen it.” The comment following is: “The inference is that more beer was drunk in private houses this Christmas and New Year than ever before.” The statement went on: “The man who watches the bottles coming in from all over Christchurch said that December was a record month for outgoing and incoming busir.gss. He thought the same remark applied to the whole of New r Zealand.” In the N.Z. “ Herald ” appears the following: “Empty beer bottles collected at Mount Matinganui by the end of the holiday period are expected to exceed the number gathered last year. The yield in 1948 was between 15,000 and 20.000. but the number this year will probably exceed 20,000. This will represent an expenditure of over £17,000 on beer” And from a leader in the Otago “ Daily Times ” we cull the following choice blossom to add to the bouquet: “If drinking in New Zealand is at the present time excessive and indiscriminate and undisciplined—and there is some evidence that it is—it W’ill not be discouraged and controlled by limiting the people’s opportunities of drinking, but by extending these opportunities, and making temperate drinking a respectable community itv dulgence.” Well, there has been an extending of opportunities, with what results the beer bottle figures give some indication. We await further indications of improvement with keen interest. EDITOR.