THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1884.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6956, 4 March 1884, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1884.

In our; yesterday's . impression, we informed our readers, that, it -was rumoured that, steps were; to be. taken i to upset the. late licensing? elections on i technical grounds; that if the action! were, successful it was contemplated to bring out five, men to be nominated for. i the whole of the city wards, ; taking: as i their ticket ten o'clock clo.«-;and nonSunday trading. When we mentioned i the report we could scarcely believe; that .the matter had gone further . .than talk, but'we now;learn that the attempt is serious, and™ that an effort will actually be made to nullify v the late, election. One report, however, has it that the licensed victuallers' candidates in the new, election will bo pledged to allow , the... .houses, to : keep■; open till, - eleven o'clock.. The point upon, which, an appeal; is to be. made to the Resident Magistrate is. an . exceedingly narrow one. The: .election of Licensing Coin-. ■ mittees is conducted under the Regulation of Local Elections Act.'The 7th clause ot that Act prescribes that every, election shall-be.held by the Returning Officer,- and that if he cannot fulfil the duties he shall appoint a '' substitute," who shall: be deemed to be the Returning Officer. The. 22nd clauseisays.that.: if there is more than one : polling booth; the Returning Officer. " shall iappoint a, deputy.for each-booth at'which he cannot be present."-, The Returning Offi-: cer conducting the late elections has evidently proceeded under this last clause, and . appointed a "deputy" for each polling-booth. The Licensing Act : Amendment Act of ISS2, however, states The local body having juris-;' diction: throughout ■ any licensing dis-; trict shall appoint the Returning Officer for such district in manner provided by the: Regulation of Local Elections Act; 1876, and sections. 6; to, 9; both inclusive,: of; .the ..Act' ..last named shall : apply in respect to every. Returning' Officer so appointed." To put it briefly, the man appointed to look after each polling-booth should 'have been termed in his appointment a: tute," and not a " deputy;!!, . This xs, ; wc believe, the main point on which the: licensed victuallers intend to attempt' to upset the voto of a few days ago, and to make it necessary to have another election in the city wards. We express no? opinion.-, on the' legal question which we have stated above for ■ the ■ consideration of our readers! We say, however, that we deeply regret the licensed victuallers should have seen fit to attempt to overturn the election, as we can see no good" which

. can arise either to them or to the public from having the elections al gone over again. To take a smal matter first. If the elections art ... found to be invalid, the cost o: having another trial of strength wil ' come out of the, funds of the city o: • Auckland. When the ratepayers con J sider that all the turmoil and expense o: an election have to be gone over again | for no purpose ■whatever, they will bf much annoyed and irritated. For ii must be observed that the licensee victuallers have no excuse in an] reasonable, way whatever. They wer( beaten, by overwhelming numbers ii v every ward of the city. It was n< scratch victory, obtained by any dodg< , or trick.' The temperance party boldlj 1 put forward their men and their ticket i They did'not shilly-shally in the least They stated their programme. Thej ; pledged their candidates to every plan! J in their platform. :They made ii } known that in the event of victor} they should demand the rights o: i conquerors. In view of all: this the general public voted for the temperancc ticket. It was not the votes of tee totallers which decided the election, Hundreds of ratepayers voted at last election > who had never cast a papei into the ballot-box on any similai occasion before. These men did not . vote without careful consideration. They were not rabid teetotallers. Hitherto, so far as the constituencies <encies have voted at all, they have 1 been on the other side. But the ratepayers were determined that: the : public-houses should be closed at tec ■ instead of twelve, and that l the prohibition : of; Sunday trading- should be made a fact, and not left a farce, as il has been. And the citizens- are determined that these rules shall have a trial. It is quite possible that if the : new rules were not to prove satis ; factory, if the newly elected com . mittees were to act unjustly -. and tyrannically, the -vote of a few days ■ : ago.would be reversed next year. . But there is no sign of failure yet, on the . . contrary; the stricter'regulation in the . matter of Sunday trading and the better conduct of houses forced upon hotelkeepers since the new Com- ; mittees;.were' elected, 'have.resulted;in . a.perceptible decrease of drunkenness and arrests. Can the licensed victuallers ■ .imagine - that: the :citizens oi ■ Auckland will, ;in these circumstancesj.. so stultify themselves as: tc reverse their former judgment, anc place, the .control of the trade in the hands of the .men they have just , taken ,it from ? No. The public have deter mined that the new system shall have a full and fair trial, and they will noi • allow themselves to be baulked be cause of a merely technical error, foi .which the temperance party were nol in any way responsible. It strikes.us too :that the action of the licensed victuallers .is impolitic from an i other point of . view. They propose non to discard all the candidates who had ai • ; the former election consented to be , ( nominated oh their ticket;:and to go ir for five men—the same five men—foi all the city wards. The former candi dates and all.-. their, friends, and those who respect them, cannot take this ! very kindly; They will feel slighted ■ and will be ready to vote on- this oc : casion for the temperance ticket. A .: large ; number of :-citizens, at last elec- , tion,- .entirely /unconnected' with, ithe • trade, voted for the licensed victuallers candidates. But. these men ■ are .nol ~- likely to rush to the poll again at the ■■ bidding of the publicans. They fee that they were beaten, and they • are manly enough not to desire to resort t< a quibble to escape the consequence; J. of defeat. They, are contevnt t< ; take . their beating, and to give j to the decision of the public £ fair trial. The ■■ licensed victualler: \ talk of; getting five unexceptional can . didates to stand in the event of the ■ election being .upset; We can scarcelj think that they would' be successfulric obteining jthe . consent ;of y five reputable public men,, who would consent tc be nominated in the circumstances, : when will has been expressed , with force and clearness; To put l -mself in: such- a position would be • jptxiz to- any . ipublic l , man.. There is '' another way to look at it. The tem- . perance people may take advantage of • the- .public: irritation to .'insist .upon obtaining some further spoils of war. They may say that, if they are to be compelled to fight, it will be for some- ; thing. They may insert another plank in the platform. They may prohibit i barmaids, or do something else which : would injuriously affect the business. ; In our opinion, however,' they would be ■ foolish if they did so. Their best : attitude at the present time is one of studious: moderation. It will be diffi- -. cult, ; however, to keep out of the next ; contest a feeling, of; anger: that was :not : visible in last election, and. for this the ; licensed victuallers will alone be .respon-: : sible.