THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13714, 2 October 1908, Page 6

THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

To the Editor of the 'Timaru Herald." Sir, —Permit me through your papu, to give a brief retrospect of our licensing laws, and to suggest a reform which l vuiture to piedict- would settle this vexed question for all time. Under the provincial system of government tLat existed down to the year 1876, the ditteient provincial legislatures pasted manv and Aimed licensing laws. The first general Act that consolidated the provincial fegislation was the Licensing Act, 1881. Among other things it provided that, alcoholic liquors could be sold only by licensed person?. The colony was divided into licensing districts, and no new license could ba granted unless the ratepayers bv a Tote had determined that the number of licenses in the district could be incteased. The administrators of the law were committees for each licensing district, which had the power to. refuse any license on various grounds. There was a strong party in the colony against all licensing, and in some dioitiictst—owing to the apathy of the liqnor party—they succeeded in "electing committer who refused to grant them. In one district all licenses were refused, and the question aiose'as to the committee's power to act. The Court of Appeal set aside their action, holding that the majority of the committee being biassed, could not exercise a judicious discretion m determining what her the licenses for the lotels were' rtquired in the neighbourhood. In tonsequince of thi* decision a refortn of tho law was effected in 1895, when the Alcoholic Liquor Sale Control Act was passed. This statute has been several times amended, and the la-r now is as follows: Every electoral district in the Dominion save the four large cities (Auckland, Wellington. Christchurch and Dunedin) i* a. licensing district. The four cities, although each comprising three electoral districts, aie each only one licensing district. There are at prerent 68 licensing districts in the Dominion. At every parliamentary gin eral election .i local option poll i* taken to determine whether the licenses existing in any district nhall (1) continue, (2) bo reduced, or (3) that no licensts be granted. If three-fifths of the voters record their vote* for no-license in any district, thvn that issue is earned, but if not—then mattcix are in statu quo, and the same game is played over again at th* next general election. The kthargic btate of tlie- general politic* of the Dominion ,so bitterly complained of by the Press from one end of the country to the other, is largely due to the manner in which this one question overshadows all others. The reform, I would suggest, is as follows: First, that the Alcoholic .Liquors Sale Control Act In amended so as to includo the famous clause 9. Second, that every adult should be compelled to see for himself, or herself, that lie or she is enrolled. Tlprd. that every elector should be compelled to record hi.< or her vote. Fourth,! that Dominion option be substituted for local option. The true feeling of the electors of the Dominion on this prominent question would thus be ascertained. and whichever side troll, the verdict to stand good for ten years. This would give th • ecclesiastical advocate' of no-licctisc a much needed respite, and enable tlu-m to devote all their tint"? to their legitimate work for training th? young in morals, and *elf re«j>ect, and the inculcation of t mperani e principles in the rising generation.— I am, etc:

TEMPERANCE.