THE LICENSING ISSUE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19141, 6 October 1925, Page 11

THE LICENSING ISSUE.

questions for next poll. local restoration vote. SIXTH NATIONAL REFERENDUM. The sixth poll on the issue of national prohibition will be taken on the day of the general election. Polls will also be taken in the 13 no-license districts on the issue of local restoration. Except for the latter the local option has been abolished. ■J he first Act of Parliament providing for popular referenda on the licensing question was passed on October 2, 1893, a fortnight after the franchise was granted to women. The law has been modified from time to time, but the most numerous and radical alterations were made in the Bill passed by Parliament on December 10, 1918. This legislation provided for the special poll on the national issue only, which was taken in April, 1919, for the addition to the ballot paper of the State purchase proposal, and for the decision of the issue by absolute majority. Eleven referenda have been taken in •New Zealand, on all but the first occasion on the day of the triennial election of members of the House of Representatives. At the first sis—lß93 to 1908—the electors, voting by districts only, were asked to decide upon the issues of continuance, reduction of licenses, and nolicense. In 1911 and 1914 district polls were taken on the two issues only of continuance and no-license, the reduction proposal having been eliminated. On these occasions, also, the electors voted by special ballot papers on the question of national prohibition. At the special poll in 1919 only the national issue was submitted, while at the subsequent general elections polls were again taken on the national and local restoration proposals. The No-License Movement. Voting on the basis of the three-fifths majority, 12 districts carried no-license the required majority having been recorded in one district in 1893; in two in 1902; in three in 1905; and in six in 1908. The districts in which co-license has been enforced upon the vote of the electors are as follow, the table showing the year in which no-license was carried and the votes for and against:—

The district of Roskill, created by the revision of electoral boundaries following the census of 1916, is a no-license area, as more than half its population is contained in the area formerly within the boundaries of Eden. This is the first "dry" district created by the revision of electoral boundaries, On the other hand, the Bruce district has disappeared by enlargement of neighbouring electorates. At the 1908 poll 38 districts showed an actual majority in favour of no-license: the number dropped to 25 in 1911, and to only eight in 1914. On the other hand, none of the " dry" districts has ever shown the three-fifths majority necessary to restore licenses. The following table shows the aggregate voting at the eight local option polls:

The majority for no-license thus increased from 15,884 in 1905 to 43,331 in 1908. There was, however, a majority for continuance of 2369 at the poll of 191.1 and of 52,073 in 1914. The Restoration Vote. Of the valid votes recorded in the 12 no-license districts in 1911, there were 43.83 per cent, in favour of restoration. The proportion increased in 1914 to 46.97 per cent., while in 1919 the restoration vote in the 12 districts declined to 45.19 per cent., and including Roskill, to 43.58 cent. Again in 1922, there was a further decline in the restoration vote to 43.39 per cent. At the last two polls, Ohinerauri and Ashburton have recorded actual majorities for restoration. At the forthcoming poll, electors in the no-license districts will again vote on the question of restoration of licenses, in terms of the 1910 Act, which requires a majority of three-fifths of the valid votes to carry restoration. If restoration should be carried in a nolicense district the number of publicans' licenses to be granted "shall not exceed one for every complete 500 electors of the district at the date of the general election at which the poll was taken, and shall not be less (if a sufficient, number of such Licenses are duly applied for) than one for every complete 1000 electors of the district." The National Issue. The first national prohibition poll was taken in 1911 and the second in 1914, a majority of three-fifths being required to carry prohibition, and under the Act of 1910 such a vote would have become effective 4,!,- years after the poll. The poll of April, 1919. was taken on the proposal of immediate prohibition, to be effective as from the following June 30, with compensation of £4,500,000 to the licensed trade, the decision being by a bare majority. Provision was made in the 1918 Act for further polls biennially on the three issues of continuance. State purchase and control, and prohibition, the decision to lie bv a bare majority. As the law now stands, the carrying of prohibition would be effective as from June 30 next after the poll, whilo State purchase and control wonld come into force on a date proclaimed, not more than one year after the official declaration of the result of the poll. No compensation would be payable if prohibition were carried: the Act authorises the borrowing of sums not exceeding £10.000.000 for the purchase of the interests involved, should the State control proposal be carried. Results of Previous Polls. The following table shows the results of the five national polls:

The vote against prohibition in December. 1919, comprised: Continuance, 241.251 (44 37 per cent.) ; State purchase, 32,261 (5.93 per cent.), In_ 1922 it was: Continuance, 282.669 ( 45.65 per cent.); State purchase, 35,727 (5.77 per cent.). The effect of the various polls may be illustrated by calculating the numbers of votes that must have been reversed to turn the majority against prohibition into a bare excess in favour of the proposal. At the first poll in 1911. had 19.420 of those who voted for continuance marked their ballot papers the other way, the necessary majority would have been secured. Thus the supporters of continuance had rather more than 9 per cent, of their total vote to spare. There was a marked reaction in 1914. On a similar calculation, 55,579. or 21 per cent, of those who voted continuance must have reversed their votes fr.r prohibition to have been carried. With the decision to accept a bare majority vote, the margin against prohibition was greatly reduced. In April, 1919, the reversal of 5282: votes, or 2 per cent, of the vote against prohibition, and in December, 1919, the reversal of 3262 votes, or little more than 1 per cent., would have carried prohibition. At the last poll, with an adverse majority of 17,605, the number of votes that most have been altered would have been 8803, or 2j per cent*

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