THE LICENSING POLL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15788, 9 April 1919, Page 5

THE LICENSING POLL.

WELLINGTON NEWSPAPER OPINIONS. (From our Special Correspondent.) ■WELLINGTON, April S. Though newspaper opinion does not count for a great deal in the struggle that is now going on between the' Prohibitionists and the Moderates, Wellington is more fortunate than some other centres arc in Slaving the three views ot the licensing question presented by its three local newspapers. The Dominion which has allied iself all along with the apostles of efficiency rather than with the advocates of prohibition, leans judicially, if not ardently, towards voting liquor out; the New Zealand Times, the recognised organ of the _ Trade, stands unequivocally for continuance, and the Post, as is its wont in those later days, sits more or less serenely on the rail and weighs the pros and o.ms in ponderous period without reaching any very definite conclusion. TOWARDS PROHIBITION. The Dominion, after pointing out that '‘those who are fighting for the continuance of the liquor trade are in the main those who arc fighting for their own interests, whereas those who are seething to abolish this traffic are fighting for what they conceive to be the welfare of others and the general good of the nation,” launches its final shot in the campaign. “There are- few people today outside of the liquor traffic itself.” it savs, '‘who do not hold tire view that the trade as at present conducted is a source of much evil and that it should be thoroughly reformed or abolished.” Which it will be, reformation or abolition, depend?, it thinks, mainly upon the reconsidered votes of those who have lieon hoping against hope for improvements which have never taken place. AGAINST. x-o attitude of the New Zealand Times is indicated by the opening sentence of the leading article appearing in its issue of yesterday morning. ’‘The citizen is free,” it contends, “He can tliini as he likes and do as ho likes, provided he does not injure his neighbour. In the matter of drinking he has exercised this freedom for centuries. He has enjoyed it greatly. For three thousand yours and more that enjoyment has teen de-i riled with emphatic clearness in literature, sacred and lay. The praise of wine runs through the BiHo and the writintgts ot sages and p>oets in in every tongue with strong testimony to its strength, its helpfulness, its brightening effect. The evils of intemperance are equally emphasised. But throughout there is no advocacy of prohibition ly compulsion.” That disposes of the matter from this point of view! BETWIXT AND BETWEEN. The Post recognises the difficulty of taking an unbiased view of the great question. It sees lions in its path whichever way it turns, and inclines rather towards the wisdom of standing still. It thinks the referendum a good thing, a logical tiling, embodying a great principle; but it fears the popular voice may he different from the representative voice, and that the decision of the people may he reversed by the decision of parliament and the four and a half millions spent upon purchasing prohibition thrown away. Meanwhile its readers ar left very much to their own judgment in making a choice between the opposing views of Archbishop Redwood and Bishop Cleary, and in deciding whether Sir James Allen or the Hon. T. M. Wilford is the political leader to be followed.