Before the debate was adjourned on the last evening I was concluding on a somewhat provocative note in regard to the observance or lack of observance of legislation governing the sale of liquor down the years. I should like briefly to put the query this afternoon as to whether any Deputy can have any assurance whatsoever that the passing of the Bill in its present form will make any material change in that regard.
The Bill is providing for additional hours in which drink can be sold and purchased. Is it not reasonable to assume that additional drink will be sold and purchased if this Bill goes through in its present form? I do not think there is anything in the Bill or that any point made by any Deputy would justify the conclusion that if the time of closing public houses is extended by an hour in both winter and summer, that will result in less drink being consumed. It will result, in my opinion, in more drink being consumed.
I do not know whether the Government is hoping for some additional revenue because of the possibility of such additional consumption of drink, but whether the Government is hoping without voicing such hope in this connection one wonders whether additional expenditure by the ordinary citizen under this heading will not mean lowering the expenditure under other headings by the same citizen. The pockets of the average citizen are by no means limitless. If one is encouraged to spend more on liquor it normally means, taking the ordinary rules of arithmetic, that one spends less on something else.
