Wellington Independent TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1871.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3224, 13 June 1871, Page 2

Wellington Independent TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1871.

At last Mr Bruce, the Home Secretary, has introduced in the Imperial Parliament his long promised " Licensing Bill," intended to effect a general revolution in the public-house system of England and Wales. The measure fails to solvo the problem as a whole, and satisfies neither the publican nor the advocate of the Permissive Bill. Nevertheless, it is in some respects a great and a bold measure. It deals many a heavy blow at the liquor traffic, and may well be hailed by the temperance party as " a great step in tho right direction." While it fails to establish the permissive principle as a rule, it adopts that principle to a limited extent, recognising its justice and letting in the thin end of the wedge. On the other side it places the {[publican under such severe discipline as must make his life a burden to him, while it cuts off many of the sources of his profits; and it proposes, finally, at the end of ten years, to reduce the number of ■the trade by probably four-fifths. If the temperance party have still work to do before they can obtain the full practical adoption of tho permissive principle, they will doubtless continue the struggle with strength renewed by great concessions made to them by the Bill, and will have to contend with a foe weakened and hampered by its provisions. Their ultimate triumph is rendered by this Bill almost a matter of certainty. Those who live ten years, perhaps a much shorter period, will, we have no doubt, see the permissive law established in Great Britain aud Ireland. Tho Bill, wide as is its scope, and bold as are many of its features, exhi-

bits in almost every section the weaknesses of a compromise, and presents many of those illogical anticlimaxes which are sure to result from an attempt to sit between two stools. For instance, after admitting in his speech, in language which would do credit to the most advanced total abstainer, all the evils which flow from the existence of an enormous number of licensed houses; after declaring that nearly all the vice, crime, misery, and destitution of the country are attributable to them, he proposes by his Bill to stereotype their existence at their present number for ten years. The " Times" may well describe this as the weak point of the Bill, and we think it may be safely predicted that this provision will not pass. Mr Bruce is driven into tho ridiculous position in which he stands by his recognising that the publican has some sort of a vested right — exactly what, or how much, he cannot say — but one which cannot be compensated by any cash payment that the country can afford or is likely to make. To give, therefore, a sort of compensation, he proposes to convert the annual licenses of the existing publicans into ten years' licenses, which during that period will require no renewal and cannot be taken away, except on conviction, for three offences against the law. At the end of that term, however, a proportionate limit is to be fixed of so many public houses to so much population, which will sweep away, it is estimated, four fifths of those now existing. Look at this from a logical point of view. The magnitude of the evil admitted — the necessity of a remedy admitted — but to save the public purse, — the national crime profligacy and destitution must be kept up to their present standard for ten years ! At the end of those ten years, tho publican's vested right having been satisfied by the security given to him for that time, he is to be abolished to the extent of four-fifths, and the moral necessity, from that dale, to be admitted as inevitable ! We cannot think that the common sense of our countrymen will submit to such an insult. The " Times" thinks Mr Bruce would like to be forced b}' a little pressure to abandon this part of his bill.

Another provision of this bill, evidently tho result of an attempt to reconcile the irrcconcilcable, is this. When the ton years arc up, and the time for renewiug the reduced number of licences arrives, the Justice of the Peace is no longer to decide who is to have them. He is simply to declare how mauy are to be granted in the locality of his jurisdiction ; the proportion to population being fixed for him by the act ; and then the licences are to be put up by auction, and sold to the highest bidder ! The result will probably be that all the public houses in a district will pass into the hands of a single person, the great brewer or distiller of the neighborhood, who, by the new law, needjnot reside on the premises, nor carry on the business in person, but will put in a manager if he pleases. This will operate in two ways. It will probably place the liquor trade in more respectable hands ; but it will create local monopolies, and whatever advantages are at present derived from competition will be lost. It is a favorite argument now-a-days for the multiplication of "drunkeries," that one keeps the other in order. Under the new system that argument will lose its force. The temperance parly exclaim against the indecency of the Government putting up for sale to the highest bidder the right of demoralizing the people. Perhaps there is not much difference in that respect between the proposed system and the present. The Government is equally a partaker in the immorality.

A third inconsistency, and one of which the permissive party will not fail to avail themselves, is this. Though the law will, after the ten years (fix the number of publichouses in the district), the Justices may propose to grant a larger number. If they do, then the question of such excess is to be referred to the ratepayers, who are to have a pro* hibitory veto upon them. Naturally, they are already asking, if it is right that we should be consulted as to the excesSj why are wenot consulted as to what is an excess ? If we are to decide whether twenty shall be added to forty, why are we not to decide whether we shall have the forty at all ? The position is unassailable ; if they are to have the power of vetoing the excess on grounds of justice, they must necessarily be intrusted with the entire power of total exclusion, if they wish it. They may well congratulate themselves on the admission thus made by Mr Bruce, which will, we think, prove to be the pivot on which the victory of the permissive party will ultimately turn.

These are the leading features of the bill. The rest consists of extremely severe, and, for the most part, judicious provisions for the regulation of the public houses. It is admitted by Mr Bruce that the maintenance of the law cannot be entrusted to the police ; and they are to be relieved altogether from the duty. A body of inspectors is to be created for the special purpose, to be paid out of the excise license fees, which it is estimated will cover the cost. Provision is made for the detection of adulteration, which will, to a great extent, prevent tho horrible practices now in vogue. The concoctions of cocculus indicus, copperas, sugar of lead, henbane, opium, dux vomica, oil of vitriol, tobacco, and yew, which are recommended in the " Brewer's Guide," the " Wine Merchant's Assistant," and other manuals of " the trade," will scarcely be possible ; and a large number of drinking shops, toMcli ex ist only by adulteration, will probably disappear at once. They cannot be carried on at a profit, under the constant inspection of the microscope and the test tube, placed in hands that will wield them impartially.

The Permissive Bill party appear to have hailed the bill with acclamation. It gives them a new standing ground, from which they will, before loDg, ad-

vance to victory. The night after Mr Bruce brought in his bill, a very large meeting of the friends of the Permissive Bill was held at the Town Hall of Birmingham, and resolutions passed expressive of their determination to go on with their work, while they accept what is good in Mr Bruce's measure. We shall reprint the speech of Sir Wilfred Lawson on the occasion, and also those of Archdeacon Sandford and Mr Gould, tho United States Consul. The latter gentleman announces the fact of the State of Ohio (which has a population of over two million souls), having passed a law, and carried it into operation, which enables every husband, wife, child. &c, who may have suffered injury by the drinking habits of relatives, to sue the publican who sold the liquor. Already widows whoso husbands had drunk themselves to death, have recovered suras varying from 2000 to 5000 dollars against the " house of call" of the " dear deceased." The equity of such a law is so evident that it can hardly fail to recommend itself in other places besides Ohio. The better remedy, however, is no doubt to get rid of the source of the evil. In those parts of the United States where the Prohibitory principle is adopted, there are no publican's to be sued, and no destitute widows to sue them.

Some controversy has lately been going on between a writer in our co-

lumns ("Eechabite"), and our contemporary the " Advertiser." The latter took upon himself to deny the existence of the evils of the liquor trade. If he is of a candid spirit we think Mr Bruce's speech on introducing the bill, and thestringency of its provisions, will satisfy him that the evils of the public house system have not been, and cannot be, exaggerated. Thank God society is finding it out, and we congratulate our fellow countrymen on the admission of the iniquity by the Imperial Government, and the bold first step they have taken towards reforming it. As a first step, Mr Bruce's bill is a most satisfactory one; and it is only a question of time to see the total abolition of the abomination of our drinking system.