LICENSING BILL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 28 August 1926, Page 10

LICENSING BILL.

N.Z. ALLIANCE COMMENTS

At a fully- representative meeting ot the New Zealand Alliance Standing Committee, held on August 25.,. -for the purpose, ot considering the Licensing Bl 1, the- following resolution was unanimously adopted:: — ; “That the" Standing Committee of the New- Zealand Alliance expresses' its. regret a-nd indignation that, for the first time in more than twenty years a Prime Minister of New Zealand should have introduced a Licensing Bil'i conceived almost entirely in the interests of the liquor traffic, and appeals to the friends of reform throughout the country to spare no legitimate effort to prevent the passage of this unjust, undemocratic' and reactionarw measure, in anything like its present form. “That the Alliance has never asked for favours at the hands of the- present Government or Parliament, or ol any other, but merely for. a fair deal. The Prime Minister’s; Bill withholds from the- people the fair deal, of which the traffic is afraid and further loads the scales in its favour. The persistent request of the Prohibition Party that the child propose.], which confuses the issue and hv an unjust method-of counting credits to continuance vote-s- which have, been past against it, should be eliminated from the ballot paper, i-s ignored by the Bi’,l. The Prime Minister turns a deaf ear to this obvious demr..nd of justice, of democracy and commonsense, but is geneious in his concessions to the vested interests which are hoping, with his help, to control the Legislature. “That the direct grant of the- Trade’s demand for the extension of: the inter-

val between the polls •would, of course, be impossible, in. a 'House where ft maVjr.ity of the members are in favour of maint-amiim the e'xistiug term, but am ingenious device js provided with th’o intent to secure thisjulvantage .for the Ti ade without a violation, of the. pledges given by members to their oonstitutents and under blip guise of democrftcy. Under the nrincipnl clause of the Bill a referendum is to lie taken on the question whether the' interval shall lie three years as at present, on extended to six years, and we '.shal,'. be told thftt this is neither unjust nor undemocratic. But the Prime Minister cannot say that he has authority from anybody bub the

Trade for the submission of a, proposal of wbieli neither he nor anybody eke said a. single word at the General Election .It is equally absurd to call a procedure dust under which the Trade stands! to »a.in everything and lose' nothing. '‘Heads the Trade wins and tails—-it doesn’t lose” is the kind of fair deal which it was natural to expect from the Trade itself but not- from anyone who occupies the position of trustee for th> ? whole State. “That the provisions for a. nationi*.! restoration noil and for special molls where licenses have been affected: by chances of boundaries between wet and d’ v districts are far too complicated to non-nit of immediate judgment. The Alliance has always l considered that after abolishing the liquor traffic the electors should have the chance ofl voting for its restoration, and. therefore, a noroves of the priuciole. But the aprHeation of a sound principle is vitiated bv a orocedUii’e which apparently would permit of an immense increase in the number of licenses in suburban and • other drv areas in licensed districts, j and would therefore violate tho protec--I‘hui which, under the clause orohibit- ; in.g an increase of .license's, they have j t:nw enjoved for more than 30 years. I The. cl ruse relating to special polls pnakes another provision for the ia-

crease of licenses and also applies the vicious principle of retrospective legislation to a. state o-f things which has existed for many years. “That the Alliance looks with, confidence to its friends in the House to honour the letter and the spirit of their declarations in favour of the deletion of the third issue from the ballot paper, the maintenance of the triennial poll, and the resistance to any extension, of i'reilities to a destructive traffic, and to reject all the reactionary proposals which, without- the faintest show of having consulted the people, the .Prime Minister has included in his sinister Bill.”