OVERHEARD IN THE TRAIN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 18066, 5 April 1919, Page 9

OVERHEARD IN THE TRAIN.

Dbok here, Joe, old man, what’s all this talk about Compensation to tho booze ‘ trade ’ Why should the blighters be compensated ? They’ve had enough of the country’s money, I reckon, aud a good whack of mine, too. It’s time we put ’em out and got State Control. Tho wowsers won’t like it, but that’s tho thing for tho country all light.” “Well, I don’t know, Bill! I used to think that, but I was yarning to Hamstrung tho other day, and I asked him what State Control would cost, and ho said lie wasn't sure, but he thohght about ten million pounds. I asked him wlmt in Halifax that was for, and he said some of it was for goodwill, and some for the properties. * Goodwill,’ says I, ‘ what’s the difference between that and compensation?’ He said he didn’t know, but he supposed you couldn’t buy a business without paying goodwill. Then I asks him whether there was any fixed amount to bo paid, and he said ‘ No,’ there was no fixed amount, but lie thought it would be about the same as the compensation the ‘ Trade ’ will get if prohibition is carried now. But I’m not so sure about it.” f “Neither am T, Joe! Hamstrung’s mixed up in the blanky thing somehow, ‘ Moderate ’ League or something. And I’ve got an idea that he’s being paid for boosting it. It’s no good to me. I’ll go you a. ‘ fiver ’ that if they get Stato Control the blighters ’ll get five or six millions instead of four and a half. You know blinkin’ well wliat them dern valuation courts are. _ Prioes are always bumped up when it’s the country’s money, and the ‘ Trade ’ don’t eare a continental how much they claim!” v “ By Jove, Bill, thore’s something in that.” “Yes, and nobody knows bow much wo’ll have to pay for the properties. There’s the pinoh. "What do wo want all the blooming breweries and ramshackle old pubs for, anyhow? We’ll have to pay eight or nine millions for them, and then we’ll have tho whole blanky lot on our hands. No gamble in boozo joints for me! Let ’em sell their own properties. I’ll tell you the game. Let’s put it out on the 10th, and try the country without any of it—without booze at all. If it fails we can have a shot at State Control then, without paying any more. You know what vdii’ve got to pay on the April 10 stunt. That’s fixed. But I’m hanged if you can tell the other way. That’s mine, anyhow—l’m for striking out the top line this time, and give it a show. It’s time tlffi thing was ‘fired’—more than time. Tt’s no good to anybody hut ‘ Bung ’ himself. The mob that worded the Valintine proclamation fake ought to bo pollaxed, anyway I” 1