TEMPERANCE. PETITIONS TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5205, 17 June 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

TEMPERANCE. PETITIONS TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Two petitions are now in course of signature in Auckland for presentation to the General Assembly, bearing on tho temperance question. The first is as follows : — To the members of the House of Representatives of the colony of New Zealand, in Parliament assembled. The petition of the uudersigued respectfully showeth,— r That your petitioners look with regret and alarm on any attempt made to induce your honorable House to legalise the sale ot intoxicating liquors on the Sunday. That yonr petitioners believe that the Snuday will lose its character of rest and quiet, its religious and elevating iniiuence on the cnrninunity, and will become a source of immorality, in proportion as opportunities , are given for carrying on, on that day or on any part of it, the traffic in intoxicating liquors. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that no such opportunities will lie allowed by your honourable House ; but that if any change in the existing law be made, it will lie to make more effective the prohibition of the liquor traffic on tho Sunday. On Thursday evening sixteen clergymen belonging to the Church of England met to discuss the above, and agreed to recommend it to their several congregations on Sunday next. At each of the churches a copy of the petition ivill be fonnd, and an opportunity afforded to all who are inclined to sign it to s ubscribe their names. The following petition is one of a more general chaiacter. Its object evidently is to obtain a thorough working of the permissive principle. A large number have already signed it. The wording of it is as follows : — To the Members of the House of Representatives of the Colony of New Zealand, in Parliament assembled. Tho petition of tho undersigned respectfully sheweth, — That in consideration of the acknowledged evils of Intemperance, and the advanced state of public opinion on tho matter of Prohibition, no Licensing Act can ipeet tho necessities of the case without clauses to the following effect, viz. : — 1. That all Licensing Districts snail, as far as possible, bp bounded by the same boundaries as existing highway districts, boroughs, wards of boroughs, or other already defined areas of not too great dimensions. 2. That all licensing officers should be elected by the people. 3. That on the requisition of twenty householders in any district, it shall be imperative on the chief magistrate or other authority of the district to lake the votes by ballot of all the adult residents in tho district, m the usual electoral manner, as to whether any license shall or shall not be granted. ! 4. That in case of two-thirds of the actual votds'givcu being against the granting of any license, no license shall be granted for the said district; nor shall any district, under any circuinstauces, be re-tested within a less period than three years. 3. That no new licenses shall be granted unless tlic person applying for such shall, in addition to complying with all other requirements of the law, furnish to the Clerk of the Court a memorial in favour of such licence being granted, signed by at least a majority of: tho adult residents in the district in which the house for which a license is sought is situate; such memorial to be lodged one month prior to tho day appointed for the annual meeting of the licensing officers, and to be open for public inspection; and the genuineness of the signatures thereto to, be verified on oath in open court. (5. That applications for licenses shall be heard only at annual meetings of the licensing officers. Your petitioners therefore pray, that the law of .New Zealand may be altered in conformity with this petition, and that yonr honourable House may be pleased to pass an Act embodying the aforesaid clauses in such a manner as to give them full legal force and eifect. We have also learned that a petition is in course of signature to bo presented to the Licensing Commissioners of the Kaipara district, sitting at Helensville on Tuesday next, praying that, in consequence ot the numerous accidents which have taken place on the Northern Wairoa, no license be issued to any hotel on that river for the current year. The petition is being signed by clergymen anil others.