The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] A Guaranteed Circulation of Over 6000 Weekly. SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1902.

Waikato Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1344, 30 August 1902, Page 2

The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] A Guaranteed Circulation of Over 6000 Weekly. SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1902.

' The Tied Houses Bill 1«J02,' which has been introduced in the Legislative Council by Mr Rigg, is a most stringent confiscatory measure. After defining the terms brewer and spirit merchant, the Hill in the third section proposes to enact that ' It shall not be lawful for any brewer to be the owner of any licensed premises, and from and after the first day of January, 1904, all in struments of title purporting to vest any licensed premises in any brewer shall be deemed to be null and void, and the registration of every such instrument shall be cancelled. The fourth section enacts that it shall not be lawful for any brewer or spirit merchant to advance money, and no action shall lie in any Court for the recovery of money so lent. From and after the expiration of the term of any existing loans, or if no such term is fixed, then from and after the first day of January, 1901, all instruments purporting to secure the repayment of any money so advanced shall be deemed to be null and void, and the registration of every such instrument shall be cancelled.' The admission that tied houses are an evil does not justify the advocacy of such wholesome confis- i cation of property as is proposed by . the'Hill. The investment of money by brewers and spirit merchants has rendered possible the great improvements which have taken place within the past few years in the licensed houses throughout the colony. These, owing to want of capital, could not have been made by the lessees. We cannot for one moment believe that such a measure as Mr Rigg's has any chance of passing through Parliament. To suppose otherwise is to accept the hypothesis that the people of New Zealand are so far advanced on the down grade that they have nearly lost all sense of right and justice. The brewers who have invested their money in hotel property have done good to the country in that, as we pointed out above, they have improved the hotels. "Why should these men have their property confiscated 1 It appears to us that if it is unquestionably desirable that the brewers should be deprived of the hotels they have built, it is for the country to step in and compensate them. It would be better for the country to take over all the hotels and run them on the Gothenburg system, giving compensation to the owners. Payment could be made to the owners in the shape of terminable debentures, which could he made a first charge on the profits which would accrue from the business. That the country is not in a position to finance such a large scheme is no valid reason why it should confiscate the property of a section of its people.