Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, APRIL 13, 1908 BRITISH LICENSING BILL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11249, 13 April 1908, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, APRIL 13, 1908 BRITISH LICENSING BILL.

' The .principal item of the Asquith Government's policy m. the approaching session of the Imperial Parliament is the Licensing Act, the features- of "which were disclosed to the House of Commons on the last week of February, and on which Mr Asquith announced a few weeks ago the Government would be prepared to stand or fall. The measure on its introduction created no little amount of .sensation, because ..of the- sw'eepjng na. ture of the proposals and the great assault that it makes on. long-established vested interests. It is the first serious attempt that has been made for many years m England to grapple with the liquor problem. A brief outline of. the scope of the Bill was given, m our cable news, but considering the .amount of interest that is 'displayed locally m tejnperance. matters, doubtless fuller summary of the measure will be interesting. Shortly stated, the main features are: A time limit of 14 years, after which the monopoly, value of all licenses, will revert t o the State ; compulsory reduction of the number of public-houses', by one- third; the Sunday limit for travellers to be increased from three to sii^ mites ; local option for Wales and. Monftiouth ; local option for England m regard to thG grant of new 'licenses; ii o public-house outside London, to be ippenlfor^more than three hour&on Sunday j-a^l clubs to be open for inspection .at any time by a police officer of 'superior rank; arid to be registered annually ; local justice to have the power of- deciding- whether barmaids shall be. employed: The YJ?p-\ isete W a graduated scale -for' the immediate abolition of licenses, , and aims at destroying . 30,000 of them, ■ JeayMffVouly one publichouse for every 750 persons, instead of one for every 350 hs ' at, present! ' Reduction is'to bY effected ion '&. sGale/based on the ■ dejisity of, p<?puja tipii, \ but making allowance for exceptional conditions, asi m thei. City of London, ->vlrere there is a large day but small resident population. Licenses suppressed dii "thc v ground of redundancywillie compensated for. The money willibe raised, as;? ujider the Act of 1904, by a levy from, the "trade," and the fund will be vested m a central authority. ■ The amount payable lor . compensation will only be such sum as will purchase an immediate annuity for the unexpired years of the reduction period equal m amount to . the annual value of the license. "For the best part of 20 years, probably, and for four , years certainly! said Ml* Asquith, explaining his Bill, "every trader engaged iv this trajfic has been, ,or should have been, settijig his house m order. The .time'- limit , sho ttld be 'as -long as,, and ■ not longer ; thah, the time which will suffice for the dent trader who has. earned and is carrying b'n his business with due regard to its special ' character and 'its peculiar risks to make 'adequate provision against the disappearance at its close of part of bis pro-fits;!-which is 1 to bo attributed to the monopoly value .of his license. After much /consideration, we have come to the Lonoiusion that these . coriditipns will ) be satisfied, by; a t^rm of 14 years.- The oomjtnunity wijl then, at the expiration' of that'-term, .recover complete dominion over .licenses^ and unfettered freedom <m. dealing with tliem, arid m that unfettered freedom I include the; power of thie locality, through a popular vote, to deal either by way of prohibition or of' reduction: with' these licenses." A centrar authority is created to control 'the co'iriponsation fund. Licensing jurisdiction; is to be retained m the hands of the justices^ but m boroughs with a population of over 25,000 there will be set up an appeal authority i These authorities' will have the power of confirming new licenses and will have exclusive jurisdiction in 'appeals against refusals to renevy or transfer licenses. The people ; of a locality are to. have the power of saying that no new license shall be granted at' all. Clause 2 ,of the Bill confers 1 this pow^r on the parochial electors m every licensing district, -i Oh a. requisition, signed by not. less than one-tenth, a poll may be taken on a resolution prohibiting the grant of new licenses, and that resolution may be carried by a simple majority. It will remain m force' until revoked by rescinding resolution, and a further poll is not to ; be taken until the expiration of three years. ' While the prohibitory resoltitioii is hi force no new license, either on or. oil',; can be granted m the district. Thus for tlie first time a majority of electors m any district will have the power tosay that no new on or off licenses shall' be created. lii regard to the provision dealing with clubs, all, whether , of the rich, or less well-to-do, will be on the same footing. The Bill, said Mr As--quith, -will apply to all registered clubs, of .which there are at present 7150, even to Pall Mall and St. James Street. The Government admits that opinion m Eng-, land is not ripe for a, measure of universal and Sunday closing. Outside the metropolis no; public-bouse is m future to be open on Sunday for more than one hour m the middle of the day, or more 1 than two hours m the evening. Justices* are also to have the power of imposing, further restrictions on particular public-r houses, and may prohibit them from' opening at all on Sunday. ,In such cases; tlie license duty for the houses affected will be reduced by one-seventh. The' Bill, of course, met with a storm of criticising Mr Balfour was on his feet immediately Mr Asquith had resumed his. seat, and denounced the measure, his, points 'being three — (1) The House must' look; to .the' continuance of the present welcome growth of the social improvement, of the, people r rather than to Acts of Parliament for the remedying of the drink. - evils ; V (2) the Bill, .which closed public-houses, where people could drink openly, would foster the opening: of clubs, where people would drink m pri-vate-;;.and (3) the, time limit is unjust. "You/are going to say," remarked. Mr, Balfoiir, "tha,t at the end jof 14 years" a, whole .class -of ..property-, now m ■existencC'shall :cease to exist, 'and thatyduring^Hose 14 years the owners of tbat.prop'ef ty, (are '■■ to- spend, not. lorily a „;large anioijnt.of ; money settled rimder the^Act of 19Q4, "but, ,m \ addition, .they a); 6, to haYeTa.rsecpnd : ;insu^nce \for; themsej.ves, which/is'to/be 01^ such/a scale that' at tlje end 0f '.14 years' the' whole" ? pf their property^i's to' be determined, .That 'seems to'me'to be a. 'grotesque* prpposal.^^ou call' it > insurance : it is robbery." .-Anotheri: member 'predicted thjtt the <' Bill would, create. a y financial cataclysm o}i;.tlie S.tock'+Exchailge,' which would'affect pther tli^n v l3i*ewery.. fiiiancesT|- » prediction! that has not so', far been verified... The {total •amqiint*'- invested m British' breweries, it is, interesting:, to note, ,is £240,000,000. Of this not (far short of. 'is to. j.be -extinguished , at tthe T|eud of 14 yeara>-Mt.-i6 ■claimed tliat it is' impossible to defray this ; loss by establishing a sinkirig .fund. ■ An analysis : published m ; the Stajiist'last year showed that ,7B important/companies' had a 'capital 'of £9O|OQQ,--000,ion which'tlie average dividend 1 eain-' ed [was only. 5.9 per. cent:' .'.'The whple divicleud would be wiped' ( out by Mr^As^ quitli's Bill,, and all interest 'on debentures and preference shares would vanish. No doubt if- the measure is for-wa^.as-Mr Asiquith; says it\yill be^the fighting will range rpund the ; question' of the time limit. Tlie Unionists will* fight \ tpott and ' nail for an extension bey.oid 14.*^e^rs; which, it seems- to be generally contended, is' not long, enough' for brewers sand publicans to provide a sinking fund ' to , cover ■ a loss on the license extinguished. ' Liberal members and "■• temperance advocates appear to be well' sat: isfied with the 'measure,^though the latter" foresee danger m the State -monopoly of : th© traffic proposed to be ultimately set^ip. It* is certain 'that when the Bill comes before Parliament it will create the liveliest debated that have occurred within the historic walls of Westminster ■ f,oiT many' years.