The Star. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1902. TWO ALTERNATIVES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7585, 19 December 1902, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1902. TWO ALTERNATIVES.

If the Liquor Trade ignores the lesson, taught by- the last local option poll ib will) ba very obtuse. Not only was the lesson itself pretty plain, but it has sine© been expounded! times without number and in a variety of ways. The. newspapers 'have emphasised it, the Pulpit and the Bench have moralised on it, and ,th,& prohibitionists have hammered it in amid! peans of triumph. The latest subscriber to this unanimous reiteration of an obvious facS is the Stipendiary Magistrate, at West-port. In an address which he delivered from the Bench yesterday he gave utterance to a number of plain truths, which tihe publicans on the West Coast of this island will do well to study, ..and which the Trade as ai whole would bo well advised to bake to hearc. The 'burden of his aid-! dress was cast on similar lines to the sermons which have been preached elsewhere. It amounted, briefly, to a warning to the Trade that its existence depended on its 1 future good behaviour. This must be> pretty clear by now^ even to the diensesu member of the Trade. As a 'body, the publicans must long ago have realised that they are confronted with two alternatives—reorganisation of then traffic or total extinc-* tion. For ourselves, we hope they have not only realised -Whe. necessity for reorganisation, but mean to carry it out. The other alternative would be so unpleasant, thafe if the couutry is to escape from it by the only exit which suggests itself to us, we trust- most; sincerely that t<ha>t e&ifc will not bs blocked^ It will not be blocked if tho Liquor Trade, takes a. common-sense view of tho situation. If the Trad© will make up its mind to correct the abuses which' have hitherto disfigured the sale of liquor in this colony a.nd set itself to- work to place the traffic on a thoroughly clean, and wholesome basis, ib may save its ex-i istenog£ If it obstinately ignores the. danger by which it is threatened, and persists in adhering: to the line which ifc has followed in the past, it is difficult- to see how .it can escape disaster. It will ha-re to face not only the hostility of the uncompromising prohibitionists, but also the opposition of a. large and growing section of moderate people., who will vote No-> license simply as a protest against its methods. On the other hand, if it wills J have the good sense to set its Ihous© in order, ifc will be able to count on the sop-> port of a Inrge moderate element, support which, there is reason to believe, was withheld from ijt at last month's poll.