Our National Drink Bill. By William Hoyle. (James Hamilton, Glasgow.)—Mr.
Hoyle's contributions to the Press, under the name here given, are well known. There must be few readers of the newspapers whose attention they have not aroused. He has re- printed them in this volume, beginning with the " Drink Bill Letter for 1876," and he has included with them a number of miscellaneous papers, letters, &c., bearing upon the same subject. They make up together a very formidable indictment against the nation's sobriety, though we may, perhaps, draw what comfort we can from the reflec- tion that we are not worse than some other nations which could be mentioned. It is more satisfactory to reflect that there is a slight improvement in ourselves. Mr. Hoyle makes out that in 1876 we spent £147,238,759 in spirits, wine, and beer, and that in 1882 the amount had fallen to £126,251,359. The result looks a little better, when it is stated with reference to the population. In 1876, the cost per head was £4 9s.; in 1882, £3 12s. But, after all, this is no very great result, as Mr. Hoyle remarks, to have been achieved by the united efforts of abstinence and temperance societies of all kinds. An interesting table shows the proportion spent upon various neces- saries of life, as compared with that spent on drink. The average for ten years on the last has been £136,000,000. Bread and house- renting come next, with £70,000,000 each then come cloth and kindred articles, with £66,000,000 (this would probably occupy the second place if the expenditure in boots and shoes were added). The other items are, batter and cheese, £35,000,000; milk, £30,000,000; sugar, £25,000,000 ; and tea, coffee, and cocoa, £20,000,000. No account is taken, we see, of butcher's meat. We may compare the figures drawn from the expenditure of an average family of what is called the upper-middle class :—House-rent and rates, £100 ; clothing, £100; butcher's meat, £80; groceries and butter, £70; milk, £35; bread, £25 ; alcoholic drinks, £50.
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