The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1896. THE LESSONS OF THE POLLS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XVII, Issue 4061, 7 December 1896, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1896. THE LESSONS OF THE POLLS.

■ « Of the members returned— 7o Euro--1 pean, 4 Maori— 45 were m the last Bouse, 8 m a previous Parliament, and--17 who are members for the first time. The strength of parties is as follows : — • Ministerial supporters 37 j Opposition 27. Of the five Independents 4 may be depended upon to vote for the Ministry on any issue involving their — W.Haeß as ft Government, Thus confidence division a raaj v .. „ v * x^ # So far 69 have been accounted for, to which add the Speaker (neutral) -70. The position is not likbly to be altered by the Maori elections, as the four Native, members almost always divide equally on such questions. Altogether 20 members who sat m the last House, and again ofiered their services, were defeatedi It is noticeable that, for the first time, we think, every seat was contested, there having been not a single walk over. This is to be accounted for by the fact that the prohibitionists took advantage of the provision of the law which enables reduction to be carried by a sirap'e majority m cases were there was a contest. They therefore ran a candidate m one or two instances merely to secure this advantage, as without it, to carry re* duction, a three-fifths majority would have been necessary. Notwithstanding this, however, as will have been seen, they failed to carry either prohibition or reduction m any one instance. That is, so far as we can ascertain from the returns as at present published. The difficulty m arriving at the actual results consists m the absence of a statement of the actual number of voters who polled. As every voter had the right to vote if he' chose, and as strong forces of anti-prohibitionists voted for one proposal only, and of prohibitionists for two, until the fall returns are to hand ifc is impossible to sort out just how things actually stand m Regard to the number of people who gave expression to their opinions on the licensing question. One master fact, however, stands out prominently — that prohibi tion has been badly beaten, and that the colony is not ripe for a trial of it. How long the ripening process may take is a question no one can answer — it may be but a few years ; it may be a decade or more. The liquor trade can lengthen the period .or" shorten it, according as the business is conducted with due regard to the laws that now exist for regulating the trade. If breaches of the law become frequent or glaring, if after hours or Sunday trading become popi^cmftml noticeable, the

time will certainly be shortened ; hut ' if strict observance of the law be the rule, with a manifest desire m that direction, the time may be lengthened I out md finitely. The local option poll carries to both prohibitionist and moderate important lessons. It shows the former, as we have said, that the country is no- yet ripe for the drastic measure he seeks to impose upon 't, and that his work of reformation m the particular direction he desires reform to come is far from near completion. It shows 'him, however, that he is a powerful factor m the body politic, and that whoever seeks to take a hand m the legislation of this colony has the prohibitionist to contend with, and that that force must, most of all things, be reckoned with as a strong force to be either conciliated or subdued. In reckoning with it, the legislator would do well to take a retrospect of its history. Fifteen years ago, he could have well afforded to laugh at it as a mere cipher. To-day it has grown so strong that every election m the colony has more or less been influenced by it. Working with the energy and perseverance that the prohibitionist does to bring about m the popular mind a sense of the great moral wrong of excessive indulgence m alcoholic liquor, and noting the progress the cause has made within the last decade, and the marked change that has come over the colony m its regard of excess, no eye can be shut to the possible power m the future that prohibition must be. The lesson to the moderate is— just what we have said it is to the prohibitionist, only he will take, it as a note of warning. The polls have discovered to public view the strength of parties at present. It shows that to a large extent the prohibitionists have been miscalculating and greatly over-rating their own strength. They took the polls of three ! years ago as the basis of their calculations, ignoring the possible attitude of the thousands whose apathy kept them away from the polls. When the general election called those absentees to the booths, and m a sense compelled them to vote, it was seen that their attitude was largely hostile. But the polls have shown prohibition to be far more powerful than many believed, although far less so than the prohibitionists themselves calculated.