LIQUOR CONTROL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14049, 20 July 1916, Page 4

LIQUOR CONTROL.

ANTI^HGt}fING > ' AND'FjARLY : CLOSING.' " MINISTERIAL CANDOUR. STRAIGHT-OUT OPPONENT TO CURTAILED HOURS. - JUSTICE' AND COMPENSATION. >( , Prbm Our Parliamentary Reporter.) .-.,, *' ■' . ■ WELLINGTON,, this day.. When Mr Herdman came to that /part of the War Regulations Bill dealing the question- "df." controlling the liquor ,traffic,' he left ho doubt that he was " definitely opposed to ' anytliing in the shape of curtailment of hotel houses. "Sfince the' outbreak of war," declared the Minister, "ah flection has. -been held. . At" '.lJfiat'' general "election the question whether licenses should* continue or go out of' existence Syas^ referred to . the t people, and the people expressed their opinion in tlie matter in a very definite «' fasliion. ' ; ' 'l [ want, it to be understood . and* 1 remembered that the election 'iwas taken after the outftreak of Kwar : ;'\ w|ien soldiers were in camp, arid v.ih©.n swe 1 wer6' commencing to send, men away frohi New' Zealand/ Vel-y well, that - being the case since' the outbreak; oe war, . and' since that declaration by the people, , in , dtyidu'al^' i '. l ][i.ave acquired rights aiid I prb^iei'ty, 'aiid 'Iftav'e inves£ed. money in institutions under the belief .thai they 1 would' be "entitled, to carry ..on tjieir busi- ■' ness' foi :^ "a peiTod' of iliree .yearjs -without , mol'dstatidiii and be aUowed to make a living.'" 1 yay,^ Sir Spjakeiv^ it 'would ( be''a'grbs^ ac^ of ? in justice oii tlie, r pa.ri. of^ tliis Pai-liamfenV if 'ttiey Svere to cur- , tait the. ,ri|his W .'these 1 individuals, and , take^aw'ay.tlWr'in'opei'ty. "If you cur-! tail 'the r hours diiiiiig wliicli licensed holders are ahle; .io?' keep opeii. their licensed premises, I say you will 'deprive them of their property, and the only way, therefore, ol" doing it with justice is to give liim compensation." (Hear, hear.) '^ ' '' ' . "■ '■'•■.. The Minister went on to say that in England, he believed, wheri. certain steps wero taken to curtail the hours of licensed prenvsos compensation had been paid. /Mr Isitt: Xo ; tliey gave' them "the right to apply foi- / compensation. Mr Herdman :" We"llV that being so, if you are going to in any way t^it'h thrf people who .. have acquired lights, invested nioiiey, and incurred liabilities, the only way of doing it is to say straight out .-that they shall he paid compensation, and ,the only way, of say*PJs J**. '"" t°. x e ty»fo pf cOmpeiisation t6.be.paid. I h&vo' i bar'efiilly considered this matter, . watched 'it'Syitli ca-reg dis-cussed-ii- with the' 'supeririteudent; of pdlfoe; and coriie't>s the conclusion that the best way to control the situation in a city like Wellington in time cl! war is to leave the hotels open until 10. o'clock, and stick to 'thfs'BilL We have found difficultv in dealing with sly-grog cases. This will enablc'us to deal more' strictly with these people; ''The' Bill' enabled the Government, continued the Minister, to issue... regulations empowering ' the police to enter sly-grog shops without warrant. The police wanted power to prevent women going into hotels to $efc drink. .The police informed him that the practice existed of women gping ;, io hotels to fetch liquor for "sof.diers under the influence- of . drink." These men-, instead of going to hotels to drink under public conditions, went to"sly-grog shops. If the ]-k>W9,v he mentioned was given the police could cope with,. the difficulty' He would not admit there had been any great difficultv "in ormiiection with soldiers. It had been a, matter of .surprise and astonishment' that with 60C0 or 7000 soldiers from all pirts of the country congregated in WeLingion district there had been so little drunkenness'. It was very greatly to the . soldiers' credit. (Hear, hear.) PROTECT THE , SOLDIERS. / The Minister remarked that some people used th® argument, "You must protect the soldier." "Am Ito undeikand that when a man puts on a. uniform he requires the special protection df the State? Does this section of the community which" ' fleshes to c'ose hotels, thus interfering with the rights of proPei'ty, gc on saying that when a soldier puts ?"' a u, .'' form . I,e i-s not to be trusted? There is evidence in hiy' possession that young men who put on the uniform laced the temptations" which came their way and comported themselves iii a wav not onlv creditable to New' Zealand, but to the British race." v - "• • Mr Herdman informed the House that the super ntendent of pa" ice, since February, had I>3,eii« consistently visiting hotels to observe at first hand the conditions due to the creation of a ,lai-ge army. He reported that the police wea'e. able) to deal with the position in. a satisfactory manner. The small proportion of ' soldiers arrested was evidence of their selfrestraint. Oanirary to expectation, ' the police official found a very small propor- / tion of. soldiers in ' hoto's when ' large numbei-s had been' on leave. 'Ohly on one or two occasions he saw many under the influence of liquor. Picture theatres attracted the majority of the men. When the 11th Reiiiforcements departure was unexpectedly delayed, the whole "draft got an leave. Only a 'few returned in liquor. None were deserters. j Vitm 1 !? - v ' cv ' 3 se^ en thousand soldiers in' Wellington that' night and no ai'rests for dnuikenness were made. Tlie" posi-' tion, reported tlie 'superintendent of police, could be dea't with by enlarged powers- relating to sly-grog shops and; preventing ''wonien" getting liquor" ih! hotels '" "'" '- ,»'•:'.'■•' ;•;•■*••■■■' ANTI-SHOUTING CLAUSE. "It is proposed in the Bill," continued; Mr Herdtpan— ''and I'm not enthusiastic about it'; I belifeve it is a concession to, the^p'rohibitibii pafty--to' prohibit treating.jf, the Bill passed in the present form. I proposs in committee to move a new clause,! giving the police the" power which thev should al\va^s 'have of calling up^n. a licensee to iippekr at any time belore the Licensing Commitieie to show cause. why his- licenso 1 "should not be ; cancelled for misconduct."' ' Mi* Hoinsby': Does aniti-shouting apply over the Dominion? The Minister: Yes; ' He added that by taking' power s to call on licensees to' appe^ the Licensing Cdihmittee at ahy'tpmeYlt would be possible to pro-i perly sdl^lpline hieh who perpetually broke ' This ' Would protect' decent licensees. •''•;" ! Mr Isitt : Why noi endorse the license?. The Minister : What the honu, gentle- , man Avints'is' to close the hotel,' hut I. prefei* to' tliirn out the offender aiid put, a decent man Ih. "' ; " ] STATE 'CONTROL ADVOCATED. Mi- Wi;L r oi;d, pointed out thai the Bill ' did not contain any clause proposing to ? close hotels'at 60' cock, and' uritil they had some, concrete suggestion it seemed ' idle to discuss during the'. second reading' a Blatter which would probably not be introduced' till the committee stage was ! reached. He himself was a State-con-trol man. He believed wholerheartedly in State control, and "_' he suggested that the Ministry should introduce! a ojause in 'the' Bill, giving power for; the State to- acquire compulsorily, on. payment of fair ' compensation, existing, interests in the sale of intoxicating liquor, and thereafter to carry on the trade for the' 'convenience of the public, aiuftiiat no individual- should haye any interest in tho sale,' Or derive ahy/profit from tlie sale. The member continued : "No man should be allowed to make a profit. out ol? alcohol and be paid by results." New Zealand, he believed, afforded a splendid opportunity of testing the success of '.such, a scheme. As to the hours of hotels, he did net think any hotel should be' open earlier than nine in the morning, arid he thought twelve hours were long enough for a hotel to be open, in one day. He would therefore steer to try and get the hours fixed from nine to nine, or as near that as possible. As to the plea that legislation was needed, for soldiers, they were. not a drunken lot — (Hear, hear)— nor did he be'ieve' the people* of New Zealand were a drunken lot, and he Jb&lieved that the New Zealand Tommy would 'well stand as an example of sobriety; (Hear, hear.) In his mind, the only possible solution df the drink question was. State* control, and he hoped to see it effected. NATIONAL EFFICIENCY. Mr Poole expressed the opinion that the scheme of State control could be dismissed as being beyond the range of

' practical' v pl6litic& 'aVtne 'p^esMi'tfftie.' The justification .for tlie' new amendment was,' he? c6\iteTided; national efficiencyan sustaining'i.ihe.'-' unimpaired energy of the British people. Public scrutiny had revealed a number of fla.ws'. : Many efforts were' being made in Great.Britain to ehj , de&vor' to bring; about'rest'rictiVe results. The trouble' was 'oyefc ' 'capitalisation of the liquor iii'dustry. .The /licensee had t^o carry the : burden. He;.had to keep ' the pace going -and- sell liquor sufficient? to '"save himself - from loss. A repres lehtative of the'liquor interest before the' committee had 'declared thai the loss .to, licensees through closing bars at 6 o'clock ' would he £1,200,000. The fight rested: between vested interest and patriotism. It was an appeal for'inational '^efficiency, ' thai the civil population '-^should pass' through discipline during 'the crisis. The' proposal was not aimed at the soldier. QUESTION OFiECONOMIC : j . sACRiFiCB. ; , . «.' Mr Hornsby declared that the question was not of protecting the soldier, but how far the nation was prepared to go; in economic sacrifice. Dr. Thacker asked should our soldiers not be. given the same privileges as the; men who made the name of lAnzac glorious. There were men who would be ruined through the anti-shouting clause. They certainly ought to receive compen-i sation. Tho debate was adjourned at midnight. "