LICENSINC LEGISLATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 961, 31 October 1910, Page 4

LICENSINC LEGISLATION.

. Sir,—Are ' the Prohibitionists or the Liqubr,Traders— bp allowed to eternally. dominate';pver the'.moderates and'generalipplic' as: to. the.;class of, legislation that; shall be placed on the Statute-book ? ': .Are' the long-suf-fering and unconsidered, 'and also 'indifferent '-.'general public to bo always governed by Acts' (relating to the.drink traffic): which are framed; by a Govern.ment which is destitute ' of original ideas, ' and ■ are living on tho. convictions and .desires of noisy : section P Is it noti'time that the' 'general, public .were considered in 'the. making.,of our laws P. 'I-,pers6hally.'l6ah :to" iteith'er tho Prohibitionist or publican. I belong to the great' body of-geheral;. electors and I want to sco the newspapers l take up tho cudgels on our behalf. Tlie licensing legislation of recent years has been constructed': .mainly to endeavour to please the. .Prohibition party, arid -the liquor dealers. . The -middle .Class are noKconsidered at all. Tho good old gag, "to please: all parties," ' has been .applied -::, to , the ; recontly-introduced, Licensing;Bill by'the promoter of this measure, which, if .passed, tfould most thoroughly;dish tho; Prohibitionists, and th'ej general'! public i would; be '■the',sufferers. also.'., It's a great ;pity'; the. Prohibitionists arid Puritans: cannot realise . that:'they havo been made ,uso of, and humbugged by .-the i Ward. Administration. ' ; ' ; ,'■

"to please all parties'*, is. a phrase that is now worn thread-bare.'Tho last Gaming Act was boomed as .a. panacea for all 'ills that sport is heir to; It would please all. parties.. -Did it please the bookmakers? Rather 1 It also gave . great.-pleasure;..to ..iv. largo .number' of spielers,. gueSsers, , : :cptifidential trickster's, '• and ,the 'like,. Vi'Werb the Puritans . pleased; of >their' -;';h£hdiworlc' in'.'-'con-nection ■'■ with . their'. sussenting -to ' the pissing ;bf this 'infamous .'Act ?'; These presumably well-meaning but. .imprac--tical pebple should not'..now be' proud of their work. -Were, the punters pleased? "Well,, memories of Miramar ponies';..would .'.not;: .1/7 warrant, -bring smiles to the" face of the' poor punter. The 'general',publio/;.couldn't. be pleased because it is- well known that' the punter largely, bets with ■ money .'that ho owes to his ■ cfeditors;';However,'-:dealing with ; 'th'o Licensing Bill, I predict, that should 'it become law' it * would mean "the complete . defeat': of the Prohibitionists. Whatthey" have; already- accomplished wtmld ' bo. lost! They would..; have - a I heavy uphill; battle : to fight to regain |?tKeijr'/position..l : irreluse;.to.\bcliove ,that i-Nat^l^Prohil»ijbi#j!' ; on'-, the .'55 .per .ce'nt.' ma-jority, would bo -.'carried simultaneouslyin' this' '_bountry.\ On , some future OccasioU 'I will givo l reasons for so thinking.- 1 - ' As to the clause- providing for the .elimination' of' the.- Eeductibn; issue,- from the:, ballot-papbr, ..therein "lies.; the ' snake in the grass. 'I-.'warn Prohibitionists to bewaro in dealing with the reduction question. I hold- the-opinion'that a ■majority of the electors will not vote for the straight-out .abolition. of t the drink traffic. If ray view , is correot i it behoves the Prohibitionists to_: see that the reduction issue is retained. Then they may secure complete prohibition by degrees.. i I once heard Mr. Wright, M.P., speaking on the'subject. He said, in effect, 1 we do not anticipate 'carrying prohibition,, in. Wellington,: but wo hope to carry, recl'uction., jhat means that we will have about one-fourth'less hotels, in our-, midst... Nest election, with reduction carried, they would bo rcduced proportionally, and so on until they are all reformed out. of'existence. This w;as, prior' to last election. As to the results,' tho Prohibitionists ;brgught._about tho closing of hotels in Wellington South and Suburbs, and almost succeeded in carrying reduction in .the other' city. ' Electorates., The member for Wellington South is recognised as a levol-headed, 'brainy gentleman, and his policy of' securing prohibition by slow but sure means may well be followed by the Prohibition party. There' aro at present .. in Wellington forty-seven hotels. .'Should.reduction be carried liext election, ; the Licensing Committee ' could close eleven. Were this done, I submit that a great advance would bo miido towards wiping out the evils that now exist. ■ There aro at least eleven public houses in this city which are . a disgrace to-Welling-ton. I, personally, would, sooner see Prohibition prevail than that the present disgraceful condition :. of. l 'i;h.£Eairs should continue. I, in common with the Moderates, wish to'see-tho evils connected with the liquor traffic dealt wjtli, .but do not agree'with , tho extremists in thoir mode.'of endeavours to accomplish tlio-dcßired effect. Thpro is. room for. reform, and reduction will do it. There aro . muddle-headed, unthinking persons who will say that reduction means a system of inequality, and that ono publican whilst another loses. If all publicans and publichouses wore equal in merit, the positipn would bo difforont. Any sanelybalanced person knows they aro not. And that's tho point. With Prohibition, the; decent publican suffers for tho unprincipled and unfit publiciin. In tlie name of all that's fair, "wliy should a straight,. law-abiding man ,and his house be plaeod on tho same mark as aro tho riff-raff dens of tho back streets, tho very fact of their existence furnishing a strong incentivo to voters to vote . against hotels generally. It's all so [different with reduction. Tho honest

publican does not suffer for tlio wrongdoing of others, arid tlio others deserve 110 sympathy. The present-day Licensing Committees are mainly composed of straight, intelligent men, and can bo trusted to discriminate. With eleven shanties wiped out in Wellington, I hold that a very great advance would be made towards reform. There being less places to look after, tlio police could coucentrato their attention to tlio existing hotels. The existing licensees would Ilia inclined to 'improve tlio status of the trade, and having a larger interest at stake, : wbiikl conduct their houses respectably.-' . Wo have of late heard a deal of talk about quantity of grog consumed, aild there's room for a word about the qiiality of the liquors dispensed at somo of the hotels. Is there still an officer hblding the position of inspector whose duty.it is to take samples of the stuff served out to customers P Frequent surprise visits to some of the publichpuses are urgently required in the interests of .customers 'of thoso places. The ,law is i openly flouted in various ways,'-in somo of the so-called hotels 111 this town. A deplorable feature in connection with' tlio loosely-conducted hotels is tlio. hordes of thieves, wasters, and dissolute .women- who frequent these places. Auckland is'an object- lesson in this'respect, ' T ! w'aS:;'in a position in that'fcity which"enabled me' to say that women frequenters ; tq ; . hotels were very rare. Women of the low, class receive 119 encouragement from Auckland hotelkfcepersl To effect' tlio reforms required in connection'with- tlio licensing qrioition in this :."city, that the reduction of 'the. number of publichbttses ..would ;-bd, a -.step towards. it.— I am, etc., ' 1 ' ACUITY. Wellington, October -22, 1910. 1