The Press. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1886.

Press, Volume XLIII, Issue 6371, 19 February 1886, Page 2

The Press. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1886.

The polling in the election of a Licensing Committee for the Northwest ward of. the city may be taken, we think, as a fair reflex of public opinion here on the question of the manner in which licenses should be dealt with. When the', legislature was induced several years ago to take the matter up and pass a new Licensing Act, the point which was made a great deal of was the placing of the power of controlling the trade in the hands of the people themselves. It was a distinct departure from the old state of things when it was decided to give to the people the power of electing the administrators of the law. There were some very strong reasons put forward at the time why this should not be done. Such a eystem, it was held, was not in agreement with English tradition and practice. It was admitting the principle of electing magistrates, and the experience of America was pointed to as a reason why it ehould not be agreed to. But the licensing question it was held, on the other side, was one which required exceptional treatment. The enormous evils which arise from drinking, and the injury which can be inflicted upon a people -through the instrumentality of badly - conducted public-houees, justified the experiment being made. For our own part, we are not sorry that the experiment has been made. It is of the highest importance to the country that the liquor traffic should be regulated in the interests of the community, and in placing the election of the Committeeß directly in the hands of those who are thus vitally interested, the Legislature took a wise course. The manner in which it has been done, however, is not, in our opinion, the beet: By making the election annual the various Licensing Committees are deprived of a great deal of their usefulness. If they axe only allowed to remain . one year in office, they have hardly time to make themselves acquainted with the state of things in their district before they are liable to be turned out again. There is no chance of any continuous policy being pursued with reference to the licensed houses. The acts of one set of Committeemen may be reversed next year by their successors. The warnings and advice which they may think it their duty to give to the holders of licenses may often be treated with impunity, because the new Committee may take quite a different view of the question. This is not as it should be. A Committee, if it is to do any real good, should be elected for a term of years. The local option vote is taken every third year. Why should not the Committees be chosen for three years also ? Such a system would in no way impair the control of the people. As the elections would take place less frequently, the people would be able to take a deeper interest in. them when they did come round. The vote recorded would be a real index of the state of public opinion at the time, and the Committees put in would have a definite policy to carry out. But we mast deal with the law as we find it. Annual elections

are the rale, and all that the public can do ie to minimise the effect of what is, in oar opinion, a bad system. They should take the utmost pains to select good men, and when they are .{bund to keep them in office for a term of two or three years. We were under the impression that this was the conclusion arrived at last year by all parties. But an attempt has been made now to depart from it. It was generally thought that the Committees elected a year ago were fairly representative of the popular wish, and notwithstanding the action of a section of the community, we believe that the old Committee has discharged , their duties to the satisfaction of the great majority of the people. Another point, which, in. our opinion, it is 1 desirable should be kept in view, is that there should be the same men returned for all the wards, within the city at least. It was a mistake to divide the town into wards at all, and the practical way of overcoming that mistake is to elect the same men for all the wards.

The existence of a Licensing Act on the statute book is a practical admission that the liquor traffic is one which requires to be regulated and strictly controlled. The difficulty of doing so is admittedly enormous, and no Committee, however vigilant, can hope to give satisfaction to "everyone. We have always thought that it was a thousand pities that the attempt made Home years ago to secure the services of an Inspector, under the direct control of the Committees, was not- suc?essf ul. A capable and independent officer, charged with* the duty of keeping a constant watch on the proceedings of the licensees of public-houses might effect very salutary reforms. We are suprieed that the temperance bodies have not dealt with this matter before. If they would devote some of their funds towards the paym°nt of such an officer, they would be promoting the cause of temperance in a practical and most useful form. In the present state of public opinion, the existence of licensed houses in some form is an admitted necessity. But a great deal might be done to minimise the evil effects of the sale of liquor. If some means could be devised for making it to the interest of the holder of a license to discourage, rather than encourage, the sale of drink, a great step in advance would be taken. Borne years ago we drew attention to the j Swedish system, with the recent history of which, however, we are not acquainted. The primary idea of the system, as explained in a report of the House of Lords Committee on Intemperance issued some years ago, was to convert the publican into an agent for the promotion of temperance. The municipalities being the owners of the public-houses, the keeper of a> municipal tavern under that system was bound over by his own personal interests to promote the sale of tea, coffee, &c, and to discourage as much as possible the sale of drink. There are financial reasons, we admit, which make it difficult to ' entertain such a scheme in this colony. I But something might be done in the way of making bars a less prominent feature in our hotels than they usnally dre. In other words, the aim of temperance reformers ought to be to convert the public-houses more into places for the convenience of the travelling public and the public generally than into places for the sale of drink alone. The policy of tbe Committee elected last year was, as far as we can learn, to improve the character of our hotels, and by electing the same men again the public may hope ,to see even greater reforms effected in the future.