Say for cider, perry, &c. (10,000,000 gallons)...... 80,323,613 676,387 Total expenditure on strong drink in 1861.. 81,000,000 INDIRECT COST. 1. Legal Charges.-Estimate on proportion of cost of crime, pauperism, &c., caused by drink... 8,000,000 2. Other Losses.-Estimate for loss of wages, waste of capital, losses by theft, accident, &c. 20,000,000 £109,000,000 Taking into account only the £81,000,000, of whose direct expenditure there can be no reasonable doubt, what a colossal and calamitous waste of money is expressed by these liquors. Eighty millions would build fifty-three St. Paul's at £1,500,000 each, or 160 "Great Easterns" at half a million per ship. It is £12,000,000 in excess of the merchant revenues in 1860. It is equal to one-half of the value of all our exports in the same year. It is five times the amount of all the railway receipts of the kingdom. It is six times the annual value of all the rateable property in London. It is nearly nine times the amount of all the deposits in savings' banks in 1860. It is eighty times the total of the annual incomes of all the charitable and religious institutions which have their head-quarters in the British metropolis. In the presence of such facts, what do the common sense and Christianity of Great Britain say? What should they say? What should they do? The answer cannot be far to seek, may the only wise and satisfactory answer not be long deferred! *At 15s. per gallon, on account of reduction of duty. N The Consumption of Intoxicating Liquors in England, Scotland, and Ireland,separately and collectively, in the years 1859-60-61. By the REV. D. BURNS, London. O calculation can be made, having any pretence to accuracy, concerning the relative consumption of intoxicating liquors early in the present century in the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The cause of this resides in the great extent to which illicit distillation and smuggling were carried on at that period, particularly in the sister kingdoms. We have the highest official authority for the statement that this disturbing element of calculation no longer exists, and an approximate estimate (none can be more than approximate) of the strong liquors consumed in each country is, therefore, of possible attainment. This we now attempt to give, and it is only necessary to explain in few words the process pursued in arriving at the results presented. British spirits in each The figures concerning the consumption of kingdom are derived from Government returns. consumption of colonial and foreign spirits, except for 1861, the distribution of which is assigned on the ratio of 1860. The relative consumption of wine is apportioned according to population; no better basis of calculation is afforded, though probably Scotland and Ireland will thereby be awarded more than their actual allowance. The consumption of beer and ale is computed on the comparative amount of malt used in each country for brewing. It is not pretended that each country consumes all and only its own amount and sorts of brewing, but possibly no serious error will arise by considering that each one receives from the other two as good or bad as it gives them. The entire estimate has respect to each of the years 1859, 1860, and 1861. The tables are divided into two sections. The first section of twelve tables shows the total amount of each kind of strong drink consumed in each country in each year, the average consumption per head of the population of each country in each year according to the census of 1861, and the average consumption of alcohol per head by each population. The second section gives the same particulars in regard to the average consumption of the three years. |