THE NEW LIQUOR BILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9305, 14 September 1893, Page 3

THE NEW LIQUOR BILL.

TO THE EDITOK. Sib,—Your satisfaction with regard to th« Government Liquor Bill is hardly likely to be shared by those who study it in its bearing on the advancement of social reform. You claim for it the credit of representing the opinions of the majority. Of what majority, pray? That it reflects the opinions of a majority in Parliament goes without saying ; but that it represents the opinions of the majority of the people of New Zealand is an assumption for which there exists not a particle of proof. It is a significant comment on such an assertion that the Bill has been vigorously condemned by the vote of numerous public meetings held in various parts of the colony, and that in no single instance has the voice of a representative gathering of the people been raised in its favour. It has had the curious fate of being protested against by the friends and foes of the liquor traffic alike, and this, too, of a measure that was introduced to please everybody ! That the advocates of social reform have little cause to be pleased with it may very easily be shown. You say that it confers the power of direct veto. Yes; but under conditions that make it to a large extent a mockery, a delusion, and a snare. There is, in appearance, a concession to popular rights ; b«t what do we find as a set-off on the other side? First of all, that the publicans already licensed are to be entrenched in their position for three years, thus enabling them to set up a claim for compensation in the event of their being afterwards dispossessed. Mr. ex-publican Seddon has been very kind indeed to the members of his old craft. He has secured to them an immunity from disturbance, and a contingent claim upon the public purse, simply unheard of in any other part of the world. Then by ; making each licensing district coterminous with an electoral district, the Bill renders it enormously difficult, if nob impossible, to bring under effective control the liquor traffic as it exists in any specified locality. It is only too likely indeed that as one result of this Bill, the inhabitants of a district that hitherto has kept out the drink curse will wake up some fine morning to find public-houses forced upon them by the votes of people living many miles away. Then this precious Bill, by requiring that at least onehalf of those whose names are on the electoral roll must vote to secure any result whatever puts a premium on indifference, and plays directly into the hands of those who desire that the liquor traffic should be undisturbed. Anything more openly at variance with professed Liberalism than a proviso like this it would be impossible to discover; the most fossilised Tory that ever walked would have blushed to mention such a proposal. Yet our delightfully Liberal Government that has given us the direct veto forsooth ! can thus shamelessly hark back upon its professed principles in the interests of publicans and brewers. Then still further to render nugatory the concession of the direct veto, the Bill requires that not only must one-half of the electors vote, but there must be a three-fifths majority to carry prohibition. Here again there is a distinct violation of all true liberal principles with a view to buttress the interests of the most awfully destructive traffic in existence. This imposition of a threefifths majority is utterly indefensible on any ground of reason or logic, and it simply means the creation of privilege for a class the least entitled to sympathy of any in the community. Sir Robert Stout was quite within the mark when he defined this as " a Bill to restrict the power of the people in relation to the liquor traffic." It is as much of an outrage upon Liberalism as it is a mockery of the hope that was raised that something effective was to be done in the way of grappling with the most terrible scourge of our race. All true social reformers must bestir themselves to secure some better result in connection with the coming election.— am, etc., War. Jas. Williams.