§ This continued decline in the growth of revenue from alcohol in its various forms will give rise to various reflections, 1051 according as to whether for the moment we are most concerned with, the moral and social condition of the country or with the balance-sheet of the national accounts. Last year, in attempting to account for an even greater decline, I attributed some part of it to the character of the seasons, and some part of it to diminished spending power among the masses of the people. No doubt within the last twelve months their spending power has not increased; but from further experience I think we must look to more permanent causes for the full explanation of the remarkable decline that has taken place in recent years in the consumption of alcohol. It is of course impossible to discriminate positively and precisely between the relative importance of the diminished power of purchasing, and the diminished desire to consume in producing this result; but there are some signs which I think make it necessary that we should attribute to the latter factor no small share in the decline. It used to be considered that a good harvest was worth a considerable sum to the beer revenue; yet a good summer and plentiful crops last year produced no appreciable effect on the collection; and it is at least significant that the great revival of trade in the last six months in Lancashire, though not counterbalanced by increased depression elsewhere, has done nothing to check the decline. Taking calendar years for the purposes of comparison, because they are less liable than financial years to disturbance by changes or anticipated changes in the rate of duty, I find that the consumption per head both of spirits and of beer was less in 1904 than in any one of the last fifteen years, and that since 1900 the decline has been continuous. The consumption of spirits per head of the population in 1900 was 1.09 gallons, and by 1904 it had sunk to .95 of a gallon. The consumption of beer, which in 1900 was 31½gallons per head of the population, had decreased last year to 29 gallons.