THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. MONDAY, NOV. 23, 1908. LOCAL OPTION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 109, 23 November 1908, Page 4

THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. MONDAY, NOV. 23, 1908. LOCAL OPTION.

The great interest taken in the local option poll throughout the Dominion indicates clearly the prominent position which the ilquor question occupies in the pubilc mind. The matt-.r being entirely left to the people outside the realm of politics, it is the manifest duty of the electors of each separate district to arrive at a definite conclusion and vote accordingly. Unfortunately, the issue in the Taumarunui electorate is somewhat obscured from the fact that a large portion of the district is arbitrarily restricted, and the votes pT the greater number of the inhabitants in no way affect their position. Only in one remote corner of the electorate do licenses exist, and moderate thinking people have a disinclination to vote away licenses from a district with which they have no connection whatever. From the standpoint of no-license advocates the restriction exercised in the King Country may appear desirable, though it may reasonably be questioned whether the existing conditions do not operate against a thoroughly representative vote being cast throughout the electorate. As a matter of principle and altogether apart from the merits of license or no-license, the time has arrived when the position should be thorughly enquired into, and the question of demanding to be placed on the same footing as other portions of the Dominion should be carefully thought out. With such an issue there need be no heat or controversial matter imported. At present we are "existing under a set of conditions, as far as the liquor question is concerned, which were considered fit for the district more than twenty years ago. In the meantime our surroudings have undergone a transformation; the district has become Europeanised, and the dangers which were feared by the natives in bye-gone days have become non-exist-ent. Moi-eover the farce of thinking the district prohibited in reality, was exploded long years ago, and the damage done to the theory has not been repaired by subsequent happenings. While the King Country was dealing with the restriction in its own inimitable manner, a great change was being undergone by the outside world and the brinciple of local option was applied to the whole Dominion, excepting the King Country. Without splittng hairs over the question, it may be reasonably allowed that restriction was the best method to adopt at the time. It shouid be just as freely conceded that the time for special restriction has passed, and that our manifest right to be governed by the same laws and regulations as other parts of the Dominion should be granted withont cavil. There is no necessity to dwell on a point, which, as principle must be allowed by all to carry conviction on the face of it. The local option poll is becoming invested with the greatest possible interest, and it can safely be said there will never be a straight out issue at any such poll in the King Country until the present out-of-date restrictive measures are removed. It is broadly recognised that the really moderate vote holds the balance of power in a local optoin poll, and the vote of the really moderate man is never likely to be cast for nolicense in the King Country until the individual feels that his vote is just as good, one way and the other, as the vote of the man outside the restricted boundary, and that in all other respects he is on an equal footing with any other resident of the Dominion. It might appear strange to see prohibitionists advocating the removal of restrictions in the King Country, but they might do worse. In such case they could confidently rely upon the cooperation of the moderate party, whose convictions may not lead them to the conclusions arrived at by the prohibitionists, but who are just as desirous as the latter of promoting the welfare of the Dominion, and of making it the cleanest and most desirable place to live in that it is possible to obtain.