TRADE ORGANISATION.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 708, 1 October 1903, Page 22

TRADE ORGANISATION.

The determination of the members of the Licensed Victualling trade in the Auckland Province to strengthen' their position has not come too soon. As will be seen from the brief report of Friday’s meeting, printed elsewhere in. this issue, it has been decided to reorganise the old L.V. Association under the name of the Auckland Provincial Licensed Victuallers’ Union of Employers, and to register the Association under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, It was/further resolved to affiliate with the Auckland Provincial Employers’ Union. Readers of these columns cannot have failed to note the increased interest that has been manifested of late in the affairs of the Trade in the Old Country. The Trade there has been subjected to the most acute persecution by that active party of alleged temperance reformers who rely upon Acts of Parliament to make men sober, and in their zeal trample upon the rights and liberties of the whole population. There is %>nly one effective way to meet organised attack, and that is by means of orgar/ised defence, and the new spirit that has awakened in Britain /is already showing what good work can be done in this direction. Heretofore the licensing question has - been dealt with in this Colony in a temper of comparative fairness,/but day by day the influence of the more intolerant sections of the Teetotal Party is more and more felt. The war cry of this division is "no quarter,” and there is no use in disguising the fact that it is growing in strength. To oppose it there must be a closer and more intelligent union of the members of the Trade which is in danger. The real arbiters of the question are the members of the .great middle-class, who may be designated '‘moderates.” Tke;e are nor acutely affected one way or the other, and they are often content to let the decision in cases affecting the national freedom of action go by default. To these the appeal for justice and fair treatment must be made, and if this is done wisely and well, the result here will approximate to that which has been obtained in Great Britain, where already a strong reaction has set in against the insensate demands of prohibition. The new Union has started under excellent auspices, with a good membership and most efficient officers, and we have no doubt that it will soon make its influence felt in the right direction. There is plenty of work for it, some in directions other than those we have indicated, and it may be confidently assumed that it’ wifi prove itself capable.