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Auckland Star, Volume IX, Issue 2601, 19 August 1878, Page 2

Now that the brewers and publicans have finally decided what course they mean to pursue with reference to the beer tax, it may not be amiss to review their actioncalmly and impartially. The facts of. the; case, denuded of .the "soft sawder"'which has adorned several of the Licensed Victualling speeches during'the past week,.': appear to be simply these: The '"Government after carefully. considering the pros!' and, cons, decide" to impose a moderate tax upon an article which-is largely consumed, but yet cannot be looked upon as a necessary of life. No sooner have they doneso than the .brewers.and.publicans; mer.ved to desperation by the:' seriousness of the crisis, unite bppqsiug factions^' arid raise ;an'outcry. /The. worst feature- ,of ; ;tlie meetings 'that -have; been held' > has been the persistent attempt on the Juaft 'of many speakers to 'iry : )ind-/|6l6ak;:the^eal'mp^ve^^r^iiri°g them to;action.,: i A stranger::uuversed in .tiiteiiiis: 'and'outs of the matter';might- really ;havo thought that the public weal and not. .private; interest -was ,at; •stake.', speaker after speaker i arose,, and in a voice with emotion contended' that it .was a shame to rob the poor 'man of his" beer; that home industries ought to be

I protected^an^nally, that ii.the.tojwere pence to cover the farthing duty. They would immediately lose he ; av,ly to do so, c-nsequently self-interest^ 11 pievent them. The threat of substiti^gaii inferior quality may also be safely dismissed. Assuming that it which, in some cases, would be difficult, i£e serere! competition between the d^iev -fiVms would certainly upset the scheme in ; such.a: matter brewers., could neve^Jcecp good faith with each other. # Ttof jncouragement to^wholesome drink theoiy ..is v also: a..singularly ;weak one. It, as the' ;; brewers- state, beer should be encouraged because it is the healthiest of alcoholic liquors, what aye >; want is the best article at the lowest price. Un this principle the duty on English and Colonial beera ought to. be precisely the.same. If the Colonial beer is as good as tho imported article, local industry would not be "injured, for the latter would necessarily always be dearer than the former. -But it, on the contrary, the liquor manufactured by our brewers is inferior to the .English ale, then let local industry die the death its incapability merits. It is better, the publicans to be consistent should contend, to have a healthy drink for the people than to play- into the hands of a tew rich manufacturers. Thisisthe "wholesome and free trade theory fairly stated, and we fancy, if it tells at. all, it is in favour of the tax rather than against it. Really it does ■neither one nor. the other in a question which turns entirely on fairness and expediency. The final action of tho tracte speaks volumes. A delegate is elected and sent to Wellington to endeavour to get this unjust tax reduced to a halfpenny. To achieve this end the sum of £100 is placed in his hands. One or two rebelled against the expenditure as extravagant, but the majority were of tho opinion that the delegate would have many little things to pay, and it was not the time to be niggardly. Champagne, good dinners, and constant "Bkouts", will, no doubt, do much to soften hard hearted Ministers and obstreperous members. We, nevertheless, believe that tho Ministry will stand firm, and that Mr Johnston's journey will prove a futile one. It i.s all very well to oppose new taxes—they are children with few friends and many enemies—but the great auestion of change in the incidence of public burdens must be fairly faced and fought out, and if that instinct of self-pre-servation—natural enough, no doubt —which animates the liquor trade and joint stock companies in their opposition to the share cast upon them is allowed to prevail, each class that feels a twinge from the altered equilibrium will, with equal and perhaps greater justice, employ every species of influence to thwart it. We are surprised that the owners of land have not joined in the chorus. The Government propose to bleed them to the tune of £100,000, against the £30,000 levied on beer drinkers, and it will take a good deal to convince peoplo that the cultivation of land is of less impoitance than the consumption of beer or the preservation of joint stock profits. The attempt to defeat the reasonable changes in the Budget appears to us wholly uncalled for; and in the interests of the great cause of a fair adjustment of national burdens ; in the interests of working men and their wives and families, whose necessaries of life these alterations are designed to cheapen ; we again enter our protest against an agitation which may endanger the confidence of the Government in developing their policy of financial reform.