MANUFACTUKING AND THE HOME TRADE. 195 



Of 21 distilleries in Western Siberia 9 are in the Tobolsk government, 11. in that of 

 Tomsk and 1 in the territory of Semipalatinsk. Here as in Eastern Siberia the material 

 used for distilling are rye and wheat flour as well as potatoes whose introduction has 

 led to excellent results. On the whole a poud of raw material yields 41 • 44 degi-ees of 

 spirit. Assuming the population of Western Siberia and the Kirghiz steppes in accordance 

 with the above quoted data at approximately four and a half million souls, it results that the 

 consumption of spirit per head in this part of Siberia does not exceed 13 degrees per annum or 

 one-third vedro of vodka, 40° proof. It is evident that the population of Siberia cannot be 

 satisfied with such an insignificant quantity of spirit, and accordingly this defect is made good 

 by the importation of spirit from the eastern governments of European Russia. In Eastern Siberia 

 the consumption per head of spirit is approximately the same as in Western Siberia the deficiency 

 being here supplied by importation from Odessa by sea. Yet if due account be taken o 

 the isolation of many points of the Yakutsk and Littoral territories whither spirit penetrates 

 only in rare cases, it is impossible not to allow that the consumption of spirit here per head 

 must be distributed extremely unevenly, the greater part of the vodka being consumed by 

 the town population. 



The vodka industry in Siberia is very feebly developed and is almost confined to the 

 production of refined spirit, the manufacture of various vodkas or liquors occupying a second- 

 ary place. In the 22 vodka distilleries in 1891 for the whole of Siberia only 41,370 vedros 

 of various liquors were made. 



Beer and mead brewing are also but feebly developed in Siberia. In 189], 

 51 breweries in all were going, among which 19 also produced mead. These breweries were 

 distributed as follows: in Eastern Siberia, 13; in Western Siberia, 24; and in the Littoral 

 and Amour territories, 14. Tbe total brew in them was as follows: 



Irkutsk ..... 3 breweries 



Yeniseisk 6 » 



Transbaikal . • . 4 » 



Tobolsk 5 » 1 



Tomsk 12 » 



Semipalatinsk . . 2 » 



Akmolinsk . . . . G » ) 



26,600 vedros beer; 1040, mead. 

 27,000 » » 



8,500 » » 



] 200,000 vedros beer; 41,100, mead. 



Thus, the local production of drinks subject to excise cannot satisfy the existing de- 

 mand for them, and accordingly they, like spirit and vodkas, are imported from various parts 

 of the Empire by land or by way of Odessa and Vladivostock. 



The excise from various liquors amounted in 1891 to 10,841,960 roubles, of which 

 Eastern Siberia produced 4,654,206 roubles worth, and Western Siberia 4,302,668 roubles, 

 the Littoral and Amour territories 680,090 roubles, and the territories of Akmolinsk, Semi- 

 palatinsk, and Semirechensk, 1,204,996 roubles worth. 



Tobacco culture, although universally introduced wherever climatic conditions 

 permit, possesses no commercial importance, serving only for the satisfaction of the unexacting 



13* 



