THE PRINCIPLE OF COMPENSATION.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 682, 2 April 1903, Page 20

THE PRINCIPLE OF COMPENSATION.

A cable message, dated the 25th March, informs us that “Mr Chamberlain, in receiving a deputation on the subject of , the liquor traffic, hinted that the Government favoured compensation on account of suppressed licenses where

ilvre had been no misconduct on the part of the landlord ” The apparent caution displayed by Mr Chamberlain isdue, of course, to the circumstanc.-s that, as Secretary of State for the C olonies the licensing question does not come wifhii) the scope of his department. In England, as in New Zealand, it would appeal to be the custom to deputationise the first Minister of the Crown that comes along Mr Chamberlains answer is on all fouis with the reply, eay, Mr Duncan could make if he were approached on the subject of railway management. . .At the same time the prominent position occupied by Mr Chamberlain in the f‘a bi net gives a clear value to his utterances. No statesman excepting the Pri lie Minister speaks with greater authority, and it may be taken for •zi.-rmed that the British Government will at no distant date complete their iicent-ing legislation by pa-sing a measure recognising the morally indubitable claims of property-owners to compensation in cases where the value of such property i« depreciated by the operation of the ' law. That the matter should have been permitted to remain in abeyance is due we suppose to the species of administrative paralysis induced by the teetotal “ crusade.” It is so in this country. It seems to be taken for granted by many persons, who would be exceedingly shocked to have their honesty called in question, that those engaged in the licensed victualling trade are outside the provisions of the law regarding properly. We have pointed out more than once that this sentiment is a dangerous one. The indulgence of lax ideas in respect of one kind of property is bound to engender similar notions in other directions The Prohibitionists are teaching the democracy that minorities have no rights, and that a majority may overide liberties that have been so long enjoyed as to be virtually inherent in the race. English history is a record of the struggle for individual liberty, and the Teetotal Party are seeking to capsize the work of long centuries in one act. They have been partially sucessful in various lands, and they have scored a victory of. two here, but we have no serious misgivings about the final result. The admission of Mr Chamberlain will have the affect of making the moderate party in this colony ponder the subject more deeply than they have heretofore.