THE Waihi Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1904.

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume IV, Issue 1033, 6 July 1904, Page 2

THE Waihi Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER

WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1904.

Uorosliall tlie Press tlio l'uu|i!,i's Mil inunlai Uimvcil bj influoimo ami imbribc.l by gain; Hore patriot Truth lior gi'-rnius i>roco|its ilrr.w I'lodfcd to RohVion Liberty, wd h%\i

1 ; ) t!i;i cables of Monday, ai)'i a.'jain in- lay, it appears that the Hoim Government lire not having it all tilth own way with tlio Licensing Jjill. In order to get the measure through expeditiously they are applying the closiii' s ''.fill thoir action is naturally uiooliiig wirh strong disapproval from ti'i Opposition, who assert that discussion id thereby reduced to a dumb show. Ail institution that is affected indirectly by the Bill is the Public llouso Trust, about which a few particulars may be apropos at the present time, Papers by the mail inform us that the annual report of the Trust is now in circulation, and we find that the operations and results of the concern are widely commented upon. The scope of the Trust is as follows (1) To convert, wherever possible, the public liouso from a drinking bar into a house of refreshment for the supply of wholesome food and non-alcoholic l/Yjiiors as well as of ale and spirits; (2) to provide such an organisation as will enable the licensing authorities to ensure that all now licenses with their huge monetary values shall be administered as a trust in the interests of the public, and not by private individuals for their pei'soiu'l gain, lhe Trust has been in operation about three years, and during that time forty-two trust companies have been formed throughout the United Kingdom, So rapid has been the spread of the movement that only four counties in England are without Trust public houses to-day. The total number of licensed houses under the Trust is 130, and numerous landowners havo promised to hand over to the Trust the control of licensed premises on their estates on expiry of existing leases. Tho surplus profits over and above working expenses and 5 per cent interest on the capital invested have been applied to public purposes, and as an illustration of the value of public-house properly tho case of the Fife Trust Pnblicliouse of Cowdenbeath is mentioned. This is ono house out of many in a burgh of 7000, and yet, conducted on Trust lines, where the trade in food and non-alcoholics is pushed in preference to the trade in intoxicants, there was a profit last year of over £I2OO, Of this profit nearly £-101) was available for expenditure on public objects, with influences counteractive to the publichovises, such as libraries, popular concerts, musical and literary societies, athletics, and so forth. Some instances of the benefit wrought by the removal of the personal motive of gain in the management of jniblichouses are given in the report. At tho Trentham Hotel, Staffordshire, which was, a dramshop before it was taken over by (he Trust, the non-alcoholic trade j was at first only a few pence a day;) now it often reaches £ll a day, Another inn in the North of England was formerly a publichouse of the lowest sort, frequented by roughs

and women of bad character; now it is a clean, respectable house, build, nig up a J'.iir refreshment ati-l nonalcoholie trade in addition to the bu: ; -looh in beer and spirits, Ot tin.' ?i.\ lui'isi's controlled by the Trust in England, 13 wero acquired in 1900, or when operations began, Taking these as the best guide, boing longest under Trust management, it is found that in every instance the trade in alcoholic liquors shows n marked decrease, ft is chimed in the third annual report that the Trust Publichouse Associating li.is accomplished all that it set out lo do; that it had vindicated its belief that the removal of the incentive to promote the sa!o of alcoholics for ]>ei;,i>na] gain would convert the pubiichoiisf from a public nuisance and a social danger to a public con. venience where the evils of intempmancii were reduced to a minimum.