"ABSOLUTE MAJORITY."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17347, 19 December 1919, Page 10

"ABSOLUTE MAJORITY."

METHOD OF CALCULATION. EFFECT OF . ABSENT ■ y VOTES. LATEST EETURNS ANALYSED. ■The manner in which the result of Wed. nesday's licensing "poll is ib«.determined is defined in section 59 of-the Licensing • Acfc,vi9lß.- : Abbreviated to the circum- ■ stances' which now" exist, the provisions applicable to the poll are as follow: — , "If the total number of votes favour of national prohibition without compensa...''amounts* to more than one-half of the valid votes " recorded, then such proposal, shall be deemed to be carried." Thus prohibition will be carried if the . vote in favour of it is greater than the votes ; for continuance and State purchase 1 combined. The difference between the two totals is the "actual majority" in favour of prohibition as against the total vote in favour of • the sale of alcoholic . liquors. Half this "actual majority" will be the number by which the prohibition vote is in'an' "absolute majority" and by which the anti-prohibition vote falls short of the absolute majority. The position as snown by the latest figures may be set torth as follows :— Prohibition ... ... ... 260.72S State Purchase ... 30,696 258,567 Actual majority for Prohibition • , 2,162 Prohibition vote ... ... ... 260 729 Half the total votes ', 259*649 Total for Prohibition exceeds required vote by ... ... 1080 The effect of the outstanding votes may be stated as follows Prohibition will be carried unless'the votes polled against it (among.the outstanding votes) are equal to 2163, one more than the present actual majority in favour of Prohibition, plus hali the balance of the outstanding votes. The Prohibition total would then be in an absolute minority by one vote. « A suggestion has been made that the addition* of votes to the published, totals does not operate equally on the excess above the absolute majority. This is fallacious. Every vote added to the Prohibition total will increase the excess above the required number by one-half vote, and every vote Added to the Continuance or State Purchase totals will reduce the excess in favour of Prohibition by onehalf vote. ... X PBOHIBITION IN AMERICA. MR. GUNSON'S REPORT. " GREATEST BLESSING YET." CANADIAN SYSTEM SLACKER. As the Mayor of , Auckland, Mr. J. H. Guoflon, who returned from America yesterday, . was possessed •of first-hand information, based -on personal knowledge, of the • working of prohibition in the United States, the subject of. its effects was naturally one of the first upon which he was interrogated on landing. ' * Mr. Qunson explained that the prohibition which was in force in the United States during his visit was governed by the war-time,measure on the subject. The amendment of the constitution of the republic which is to come into operation next month, as the result of its adoption by-the requisite majority of the individual States,' would ' effect permanent prohibition. Moreover, there was no question or prospect of revulsion of feeling. Any unbiassed person travelling through the 'country could not but be impressed with the fact that the industrial, social, and commercial sections of the population had accepted prohibition as a great reform. Even large numbers of those who had been opposed to its enactment were now firm supporters of the system. Throughout the country he 'ound the sentiment firmly established tt«- prohibition was now;.a permanent, measurethat there was to be no going back upon it. . " As to the personal impressions arising from my own . observations," said Mr. Gunson, "I would say that the adoption Of prohibition has, proved one of the greatest blessings that ever happened to the Americans _ as a country. In the quarters inhabited by the poorer people the children are better fed and clothed than they were when parents ..spent their means upon liquor. The money that formerly went to the, hotels ie now used in the maintenance and improvement of the homes. That, I may say, is the universal observation on the ' subject. In other words, the Americans are finding more advantageous methods of utilising their means than wasting it upon liquor that perished in the use. When questioned as to the effect of the corresponding measure in Canada, Mr. Gunson said the form of prohibition adopted in the Dominion is not the " bone-dry" plan of the United States. It is much slacker in its provisions, and the position in Canada is anything but satisfactory. The administration of the law also is exceedingly slack, and the medical men dole out liquor, under the powers conferred upon them by law, in a manner which made the operation of the law far less effective than in the " bonedry " United Spates. Consequently the experience of Canada could not be looked to as an example of the working of thorough-going prohibition. VIEWS ON THE POSITION. FEELING IN THE .TRADE. "POLL MAY GO EITHER WAY." ■ It is safe to say that those in the liquor business were among the most surprised at the first announcement of the result of the licensing poll. At the headquarters of the trade organisation, however, there was yesterday an atmosphere of philosophic calm, although calculators were busy with corrected returns as they came to hand. t Upward and downward movements of the barometer were frequent, and at the end of the day the general feeling was that the poll might go either way. Elsewhere, and in the street, people who were guided only by published totals reflected their feelings very plainly, and the glad and sorrowful faces suggested that most people believed that no corrections could alter the first result in favour of prohibition. The licensing poll was discussed by the National Prohibition Campaign Committee yesterday afternoon, but the chairman, the Hon. Geo. Fowlds. announced that _the' committee had decided to. make no statement. OHINEMURI LOCAL *OPTION. THE LATEST RETURNS. The latest returns for the restoration pell in the Ohinemuri electorate are: For Restoration, 2986; for No-License, 2512. No-License therefore continues, as the required three-fifths majority is 3299. 1