The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-10-18
DRINKING mi AUSTRALIA.
Fer Capita Consumption of Intoxicants In
the English Colonies.

Fer Capita Consumption of Intoxicants in
the English Colonies.
For some time after / landed l had
the impression that, as beer is the ma
tional drink of England, whisky OF
Scotland, and wine of France, tea was
the national drink of Australia. Tea
made its appearance at the most un.
expected times-at lunch and dinner
as well as at breakfast. In the stories
which people told me about their
travels through the bush, the chilly"
in which they boiled their water for
tea had conspicuous place. And the
government returns show that the con-
sumption of tea per head in the Aus
tralian colonies is much larger than IN
England. But the number of persons
annually fined for drunkenness in the
colonies is much higher than in En-
gland. In England the proportion for
1884 is said to have been IL in every
thousand, and it had sunk in 1885 to
6.7 in the thousand. In Victoria
which claims to be the soberest of the
colonies. though the claim is contested
by New South Wales-the average
proportion of persons summarily con-
victed for this offense during the ten
years to 1856 was 81 in the thousand.
The arrests for drunkenness in 1885,
according to Mr.. Coghlan. were 81 in
the thousand in New South Wales an
against only 11.6 IN the thousand
in Victoria. But too much Importance
must not be attached to these figures.
1t is probable that the administra-
ton of the law differs in different
colonies as it differs in different En-
glish municipalities. In one town a
policeman will put drunken man into
cab or walk home with him, and in
another will take him straight to the
lookup. Where the temperance party
is strong they may insist that the law
shall be rigidly administered, and
there will be a large number of ar
rests; where they are weak the admin.
istration of the law may be more lax
and the arrests will be comparatively
few. Nor is the quantity of alcoholic
liquor consumed per head safe indi-
cation of the amount of drunkenness
in a community; liquors of the same
alcoholic strength differ greatly in
their intoxicating power. And the
Australian authorities do not seem to
have succeeded in finding satisfac-
tory common equivalent for the differ
ent kinds of alcoholic drinks. Mr..
Hayter calculates that, while in the
United Kingdom the average annual
consumption per head is equivalent to
37.11 gallons of beer, the average an
nual consumption in New South Wales
is equivalent to $500 gallons per head,
and in Victoria to only 1888 gallons.
Mr.. Coghlan reverses the positions of
the two rival colonies, and credits the
people OF Victoria with drinking on
the average what is equivalent to $50
gallons of alcohol (proo), while the
people of New South Wales drink only
1898 gallons. The two statisticans diff
fer even as to the average annual con-
sumption of beer, wine and spirits in
the two colonies. From what heard
/ came to the conclusion that larger
proportion of persons are total alb
stainers in Australia than in England;
that if people drink at all, moderate
drinking is rather more difficult in the
Australian climate than in ours; that
the laborers living in towns are in the
habit of drinking freely; that large
number of men living up country
usually drink tea, but that when they
come into the towns many of them
drink very heavily.-Contemporary Re-
view.