LICENSING POLL.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20316, 15 August 1931, Page 14

LICENSING POLL.

j , \ ALLIANCE AGREES T()| POSTPONEMENT. i I I I economy MEASURE. j I I ! I | NO OBJECTION LIKELY FROM j j TRADE. ! There is a possibility, perhaps a probability, that the General Election tliis year will not be accompanied by a Licensing Poll. At a meeting in Wellington yesterday, the New Zealand Alliance decided not to oppose a postponement of the poll on the ground of general economy; and the United Licensed Victuallers' Association of New Zealand, though it has yet made no j official statement, is not expected i to demand a poll under these circumstances. A Press Association message, received last night from Wellington, stated that at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the New Zealand Alliance, the following resolution was adopted:— i "That this meeting resolves that if the Government, considering it in the best interests of the country, proposes to postpone the licensing poll, no opposition will be offered to the proposal as regards the poll due this year, provided that the principle of a tri--1 ennial poll is left." Discussed Informally. According to information given to Tire Pi-.kss in Christehurch, a postponement of the 1931 licensing poll has been discussed informally for some months past by members of both the New Zealand Alliance and the licensing trade. The resolution passed by the Standing Committee of the Alliance is the first authoritative statement on the question; and, a reporter was told, it is to be taken as evidence of the Alliance's wish to avoid all unessential expense at the present time. As the resolution implies, the decision is an emergency one, and will not affect the triennial polls in the future. Likelihood of Agreement. The president of the Canterbury Licensed Victuallers' Association (Mr W. Nash) said that a suggestion for the , postponement of the poll was originally made by the organiser of the Wellington branch at the time of the Hawke's Bay earthquake, when it was proposed that the money should be saved to provide funds for tho refugees. It would not be officially discussed until the annual meeting of the National Council of United Licensed Victuallers, which is to be held at Wellington on September Ist. "If I may give a personal opinion, said Mr Nash, "1 think that there is every likelihood of the Council falling in with the Alliance's proposal." ■——— j