Reply to Mr. Hurley,

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11730, 4 December 1905, Page 3

Reply to Mr. Hurley,

TO THE KDITOU.

Sir,— The -figures quoted by Mr Hnrloy in the course of his Opera House speech are certainly no argument against Nolicense. Very much the other way. The average expenditure for an ordinary hotel, of about £8 a week rental, was, h« said, as follows: — License fee >£45, insurance .£3O, gas .£96, repairs .£9O, employees' wages .£6OO, rates and taxes .£SO, stores ,£IBO, proprietor's family vkeep .£260, butchers .£192, bakers .£72, and ironmongers ,£6O, making a total of .£2196 as the total annual outgoing. Remember, No-license only stops the sale of liquor; it does not close the house. What have the butchers and the bakers and the ironmongers got to do with the bar? They supply the portion of the business devoted to legitimate accommodation, and that will go on just as usual under No-license. Wo can rule those items out of Mr Hurley's little account. Now, about the stores, ,£IBO. Are they for the bar? Not much. They arc for the house, for the table, etc., and they will be wanted just the same. Rule that item out also. And now about the insurance; is it the one room devoted to the sale of liquor or is it tlie whole house that is insured? You knew it's the house, and that item will have to go out too. Same thing applies to the item' for gas, the consumption of which will not be materially affected by Nolicense. People living in the houses will want light just as they want it now: And repairs, JJ9O a year. Is this all spent on patching up the bar? If so it looks bad, doesn't it; but, of course, as yo\ know, the item (a trifle large) is incurred for repairs to the whole building. Rent, rates, taxes, all these things will go on,and, in my humble" opinion, the wages bill will grow bigger -instead of less. Servants will be wanted in the house under No-license just as they are wanted now, and the only hands that will bo affected are the handful employed in the bars and the breweries. Practically, then, the only item which remains in Mr Hurley's little account is the license fee, .£'4s, and Nolicense would be cheap at the price. Don't be misled by Mr Hurley's misleading figures. Keep steadily in view the fact that No-license will not/ close the houses. It will only shut the bars, as bars. If the present proprietors are not satisfied to make a good living but of first-class boardinghouses, there are plenty of people who will willingly fill their places, and work, wages, and outgoing expenses will go on just the same. These are facts. Think them over. — I am, etc.,

FAIR FIGURES.