The Oamaru Mail WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 1904.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVII, Issue 8490, 25 May 1904, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 1904.

Thb three thousand electors who met on Monday evening last in Christchurch to pictest against certain features of the present licensing law is yet another indication of the determination of the people of the colony to have an alteration made m ah Act which has been weighed in the balance and found lamentably wanting. Although the speakers at. the meeting were for the. most part men more or less identified with the no-license party, there were other elements which went to show that,the protest was not confined to that side alone. Among the apologies read at the meeting was one from 'Sir John Hall, who wrote,' referring to the proposed amendment of the l aw: —"This is so manifestly a just and reasonable demand that I cannot believe Parliament will refuse to assent to it.' And Sir John added: "Although a sincere advocate of temperance, I am not a Prohibitionist, but I think it would be unjust that your Association should have to bear the heavy cost of litigation rendered necessary by defects in the law which could easily have been remedied during the last session of Parliament, and were not.' Tin resolutions passed at the meeting in question were published by us yesterday, and the spirit of them will find general accept-" ance. The fact that they were adopted at a no-license meeting does not lessen their' value. Truth is truth wherever it is found, and the truth in regard to-the pre-" sent agitation is that all parties in the community are opposed to an undesirable law, and the fact that the no-license' party feel impelled to emphasise this must be placed to their credit rather than otherwise. There has, we think, never been a time in the colony's history when its people have been so unanimous, and Parliament will do well during the coming session to heed their voice so distinctly heard. Commenting upon Monday's meeting the Lyttelton Times says :—"Regarded soberly and without bias, the case for the amendment of the Regulation of the Local Elections Act is overwhelming. The licensing polls were instituted for the purpose of ascertaining the will of the people regarding the existence of licensed houses, and! the licensing Law is designed to sive effect to the expressed will of the people. -Under proper conditions the will of the people is ascertained, but the .cases of Newtown and Bruce prove that the law may fail hopelessly when the popular desire has to 'be carried out. The amendment is so necessary and could 1 be made so easily that the failure ei Parliament to pass an amending law is nothing short of a scandal." All the present agitation aims at is to obtain by the aid of the Jaw what that law promises but is sot able to fulfil. The outcome of the Newtown and Bruce licensing polls has been a disgrace to the country, and the sooner a remedy is applied the better for all concerned. It is, says the Auckland Star, 'an outrare upon the principles; of Democratic Liberalism that flaws, which have not been held sufficient to overthrow a political election, should be accepted as voiding a licensing noil. The lack of -provision for a second- poll constitutes an even more gJar- , ing injustice."