The Christchurch Star. PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. MONDAY, JUNE 11, 1934. LICENSING ANOMALIES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20328, 11 June 1934, Page 6

The Christchurch Star. PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. MONDAY, JUNE 11, 1934. LICENSING ANOMALIES.

' | MIE IS'ETTI.E of licensing legislation ought to be grasped firmly if it is to be dealt with in the coming session. The grave anomalies that make the state of the law a reproach to the intelligence of the people, especially in cases like the Ashburton electorate, have grown, like barnacles, over a long period of neglect, indifference and fear on the part of spineless politicians. Indeed, the politicians would still be fighting shy of reform if they were not conscious that ■public opinion iiad broadened appreciably in regard to the sale and consumption of liquor. This change of public opinion is attributable, largely, to the stricter conduct of hotels, but it is also traceable to a more moderate, though not necessarily tolerant, opinion in an age that has a more widespread contempt for drunkenness and intemperance than ever. Emphasis is very properly laid, in a forecast of legislation, on the importance of encouraging tourist traffic through a higher standard of hotel accommodation, and this might be achieved in many ways. Prohibition is not, at the moment, a serious threat to the trade, but the short periodicity of the licensing poll has Created an uncertainty of tenure that has tended to take too much out of the hotel profits and to put too little back for the benefit of the public. An extension of the time between polls will not, at this time of day, necessarily mitigate the evil unless there is accompanying it a very strict supervision by licensing committees, and a ruthless extinction of licenses for grave or persistent offences against the law. This, in turn, would call for greater flexibility in the distribution of licenses, and could be deult with when the present anomalous distribution is rectified. Actually the whole system ought to be put on a new footing, and little as Royal Commissions usually do for the public, this subject might well have expert opinion focused upon it in advance.

A CAVALRY COMPLEX.

TT IS NOT EASY to say vvliat -*• weight of unexpressed public opinion may be represented by tlie British Fascist membership of 250,000, but one may be certain that Sir Oswald Mosley, with bis escorts of Black Shirts, and open motor trucks carrying men in uniform, is making the most of every organised adherent. He himself is a picturesque figure; rich, handsome, a good speaker, ex-Minister of the Crown, son-in-law of a former Viceroy of India, and a war-time cavalry officer. And his danger to Britain lies in his cavalry methods in political situations. In the zigzag course which has brought him to Fascism he has champed at the bit in every position of responsibility. Impatient of his Conservative colleagues in the House, he crossed the floor to Labour. It was said that Mr MacDonald would have liked to put him in the Cabinet. But repudiating party methods, lie left Labour to found the New Party. In the 1931 elections, however, its members were forced out of Parliament and Mosley then turned to Fascism, declaring in the course of a Manchester address: “ You talk of liberty. . . . We are not content with the liberty of a few old men to mumble and blather in Parliamentary debate.” Although he directs his appeal to the masses, his audiences have always consisted of a large proportion of tlie fashionable population, and the fact that there were 150 Conservative M.P.’s at his Olympia meeting suggests tiiat a serious attempt is being made to get the strength of the man. It is doubtful whether, as the “ News-Chronicle ” —always a strong opponent—says, the movement lias been extinguished “ in a single night,” for its death depends rather on tlie return of prosperity fo Britain. An economic reverse, a threat of war or anything that would increase the Communist vote would place Mosley in a strategic position, of which lie would take every advantage.