222

CHAPTER XII,

Consumption of Drink.

We now proceed to consider the possibility of making the work-
er’s earnings more effective by diverting his expenditure into more pro-
fitable channels. Here it is necessary to guard against too easy an assump-
tion that the worker’s money can be better spent by some other
person. But there are two items of expenditure in connection with
which unprejudiced observers would agree that protection is requir-
ed.” By far the more important of these is the expenditure involved in
the liquidation of and payment of interest on debt, and this raises questions
of importance and difficulty which must be reserved for another chapter.
The other item is the expenditure on drink. The consumption of drink,
and particularly of spirituous liquors, may be said to be a feature of the
majority of industrial areas and has created considerable havos in some
of them. It is not possible to give accurate figures of expenditure under
this head, because the worker who drinks is in many cases naturally
reluctant to give information regarding his consumption or even to admit
that he is not a total abstainer. For this reason the results yielded by
family budget enquiries are certainly under-estimates, even though nearly
all show a substantial amount. Various influences have recently been at
work to reduce consumption. The drinking of intoxicating liquor is
repugnant alike to the religious beliefs and the social opinions of many per-
sons in India, and there is a large section of public opinion in favour of the
prohibition of its manufacture and sale. On the opposite side there are
the arguments based on the impossibility, especially in India, of prevent-
ing wholesale illicit manufacture, and on both the rightness and
the wisdom of coercing people to abstain. In this report we are
dealing with only a small section of the population, and it is no part of our
function to attempt to indicate a national policy on the subject. But
there can be no doubt that a reduction in the consumption of liquor would
increase the welfare and efficiency of the industrial workers.

IN

Restrictions on Sale.
It is possible, and in our opinion desirable, that efforts should be
made in all industrial centres to reduce the number of drink shops and to
restrict the hours during which liquor may be sold. We suggest thatin
all large cities and industrial areas a general policy should be adopted of
restricting the facilities for the sale of liquor. The areas selected should
be sufficiently wide to ensure the policy of restriction being effective. The
number of drink shops should be reduced and the hours of opening should
be limited to certain hours which should in no case include any part of the
forenoon. Outside the stated hours, the sale of liquor should be pro-
hibited. We note with interest that in some areas of the United
Provinces spirituous liquor may be supplied only in sealed bottles, a
rule which, according to the memorandum furnished to us by the local
Government, has resulted in reduced consumption. We recommend
that the possibility of a wide extension of the svstem be examined,