LICENSE AND NO LICENSE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXI, Issue 13343, 23 January 1904, Page 6

LICENSE AND NO LICENSE.

The correspondent who writes to ns this' morning on tho question of prohibition inAshburton seems to have fallen into' the same error as Mr Eriedlander and his fellow-councillors did in assuming that we were responsible for the 'opinions expressed b}- Mr Howard in regard to the effect of the abolition of licenses. We have already explained that pur purpose in sending a reporter to Ashburton was to ascertain the views of the residents themselves upon tho closing of the publichouses. Wo differed from the conclusions formed by several of the gentlemen who were consulted, and we certainly differed from the description of tho former condition of the town supplied by Mr Howard; hut we should have defeated our own object if wo had proceeded to expunge every sentence with which we disagreed. We wished to leave the residents to tell their own story in their own way. Probably, if our reporter had been aware that Mr Howard was a recent arrival in the town, he would not have sought his opinion; but he could not be expected to know the personal history of every resident in tho place. He performed his task with perfect impartiality and with singular ability, and his summary of tho evidence has not been challenged by any of the witnesses in a single particular. Our correspondent complains that bur representative did not make inquiries concerning the ruin and confiscation suffered by the hotelkeepers and the loss of employment suffered by their servants in consequence of tho voting of “no license,” hut the truth is that the hotelkeepers and their employees, speaking generally, have suffered very little and arc readily adapting themselves to the new .conditions. * W© quite agree with our correspondent, however, that is is very hard upon the publicans that they should be required to bear the whole direct cost of the change. Our prohibitionist friends will not hear of compensation in any form whatever, but we are quite satisfied, ourselves, that the quickest and cheapest way of solving the liquor problem would bo for the State to take over the whole trade and, submit it to a local poll every year. It is the proprietary interest that is standing in the way of reform, and until it is finally extinguished we shall make very little real and enduring progress.