LICENSED HOUSES IN THE KING COUNTRY.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VIII, Issue 388, 30 December 1897, Page 15

LICENSED HOUSES IN THE KING COUNTRY.

We have frequently alluded to the great desirability of establishinglicensed houses dn the King Country, and we have also expressed the opinion that the residents in the said country were favorable to their 'establishment. The opinions in this particular have assumed a practical form, m the shape of two largely-signed petitions, which have recently been presented to Parliament, and have been considered by the Public Petitions Committee. The •signatures attached to these petitions were representative of the European population of the country, including the local J.P.’s, the business people, and the laboring population, and it was alleged in the petition that the native population jwere as anxious as the white people to have hotels established, as the only means jto effectually check the illicit sale of alcoholic liquors in the district alluded to. The petitioners entirely endorsed our previously-expressed opinion, viz., that tire largely increasing number of people travelling through the King Country, as well as those who visited the settlements for commercial purposes, were demanding, and were entitled to obtain, the comforts and conveniences which hotel accommodation alone can provide. We are informed that a strong expression of opinion was manifested by members forming a large majority of the committee which dealt with tne petition, and there is no doubt but that a strong report would have been made in favor of the prayer of the petitioners if it had been regular for the committee to make it. An officer from the Justice Department was examined by the committee, and stated that the whole of the King Country was prohibited by proclamation, but was not clear upon the question as to whether or not the proclamation was revocable. He, however, subsequently expressed the opinion that the clause in the Alcoholic Liquors Sale Controls Act, which cally practially provides for the establishment of new licenses only in places where the population has been suddenly increased by seven hundred persons, applied to the case. Accepting this view of the case—that is, that a question of law was involved, and also a question of policy —a motion in favor of a recommendation for compliance with the petioner’s request was withdrawn, and a resolution recommending the petitioners’ case to the favorable consideration of the Governinent was passed unanimously. Of course it will be impossible for the Government to take any steps in the direction of acceding to the prayer of the King Country during the present session, as it will be necessary to pass legislation to grant compliance—that is, if the official contention referred to is correct; and we can hardly see how the Government can refuse compliance, in the face of such petitions as those alluded to, backed up as the petittioners are by such a general consensus of public opinion. We may add that these petitions from the King Country did not form the first occasion this session in which the claims of that district in the matter of hotel accommodation came before the representatives in Parliament. Some eight weeks ago Mr Lawry, M.H.R. for Parnell, brought the matter prominently before the House in the form of a question which he placed on the order paper. This question virtually covered all that was contained in. the petitions, and in putting it to. the Minister of Justice Mr Lawry pointed out the nature of public feeling on this

subject, and obtained from the minister a reply to the effect that he was of the opinion that the establishment of licensed houses would regulate the liquor trade in the King Country, and minimise the illicit sale of alcoholic liquors there. In connection with this case we may add that during the present session the Hon. Mr Cadman admitted that when Native Minister he saw, when visiting the King Country, the necessity of establishing licensed houses there, and at the request of a large number of residents of both races he promised to use his influence with the Cabinet to obtain power for such a purpose. We think it safe to say that never before have the proposals for hotels in the indicated country assumed such a tangible form as that presented to the public on the present occasion, and we hope at the close of the next session of Parliament to be in a position to heartily congratulate our readers on the full realisation of the laudable and just desires of King Country residents, and also on the comfort and convenience supplied to the travelling public by the establishment of good hotels in their district.