THE ENGLISH LICENSING ACT.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 769, 1 December 1904, Page 26

THE ENGLISH LICENSING ACT.

FROM SEVERAL POINTS OF VIEW.

The subject of the new Licensing Act (says the London “ L.V. Gazette ”) ia still the principal topic of interest in all quarters where the questions of social improvement and the reform of moral conditions are under discussion, and the

value of the measure as an operative instrument is a matter of much conflicting opinion. I’or the moment we may leave the purely personal aspect of its bearing upon the Trade on one side, although a. passing reference may be admitted to the fact that the highly eulogistic manner inwhich it has been extolled by some trade organisations has not found an entirely unanimous echo of accordance. The several defects which the Act contains has always restrained us from greeting its advent with the warm approval it. has met with in some official circles, and these shortcomings are now engaging the serious attention of various anddiverse authorities.

During the past week Air Balfour’smeasure has been deliberated by the Central Board, the Law- Society, the Birmingham justices, the Bishop of Worcester, and the Bishop of Llandaff. Dr. Gore, while deploring the evil of drunkenness, was feign to admit that its effects were less hurtful to the nation, than the ravages of lust, and he further declared that the improvement that he anticipated as the results of reducing the number of public-houses was unimportant as compared with the benefits that would follow the successful solutionof the housing difficulty. But His Lordship further contended that the reductionin the number of public-gouses would do less for the cause of temperance than his alternative proposal for the reduction in the number of hours that those houses should remain open, and in the face of the facts which have come from Glasgow

and Edinburgh, where shorter hours are in force, he expressed his belief that the temperance question in the future would fasten itself upon earlier closing of pub-lic-houses or shorter hours, rather than upon the question of public control. We think, with all respect, that the Bishop of Worcester has delivered his views without having sufficiently informed himself upon the question, and we are convinced that in advocating serious attention to housing, coupled with better enforcement of the laws we actually had, His Lordship is getting far nearer to the root of the evil which it is hi;.’hope and ambition to correct.

The Bishop of Llandaff, speaking at the Diocesan Conference at Cardiff, defended himself against the hostile criticism with which his action in voting against the introduction of a time-limit clause into the Licensing Bill had been received by some members of the temperance reform party. The Bishoo had been accused, in consequence of lukewarmness or indifference, and in refuting these aspersions he boldly confessed that his attitude with regard to the Bill was inspired, not by party politics or a fanatical desire to impede progress, but simply by the conviction that it was a good measure, calculated to effect a steady substantial reduction in the number of public-houses. He realised, as 31 r Balfour and other Ministers pointed out at the time, that the working of a time measure clause would have been attended with serious difficulty—indeed, as the Premier demonstrated, it would have entirely chano-ed and nullified the intentions of the Bill—and rather than see the proposal wrecked and the cause of temperance reform set back for an indefinite period, he disregarded the outcries of the fanatics and turned his back on the illogical zealots who demanded the introduction of a time-limit clause.

Mr H. G. Sambridge, speaking at the meeting of the Birmingham justices on Wednesday, expressed a hope that magistrates would avail themselves in a satisfactory manner of the facilities which the Act gave them for providing a steady and proper elimination of licenses. We cordially echo the wish, if we feel some doubts as to the probability of rejoicing in its fulfilment. The Birmingham Licensing Committee is showing unusual activity in preparing for their licensing campaign, and has undertaken to visit and report upon 150 houses, and the fact that what is technically known as “ quarter sessions," before whom the question of renewals will have to be argued, consists of the justices who have the appointment of the reporting- committee, promises to afford exceptional opportunities for an unsatisfactory working of the reduction clauses of the Act. Mr Edward Johnson, the chairman of the Central Board, took a generally fa-

vourable view of the probable operation of the Act, but although he congratulated the Trade upon the fact that at last the authorities had distinctly recognised the property in a license and placed holders in a position they were never in before, the necessity for the Trade to maintain in its most effect manner its protective organisations was as urgent as eve’ - . The Act does not ensure licensed \’ictnailers that primrose way which we consider to be the simple right of all honest, lawabiding, and - self-respecting tradesmen, and Mr Thomas Cousins, J.P., who read a paper upon “ The Act and Intemperance ” before the annual meeting of the Law Society at Portsmouth, doubted whether it would prove very efficient in accomplishing temperance reform. In theory, the diminution of drunkenness follows the reduction of facilities for drinking; but. speaking from long experience as a clerk to licensing justices, he was somewhat sceptical upon the point. Tn concluding his summary of the sections and scope of the Act, he remarked that this important statute, however honestly intend<-d, bristled with practical difficult it s. offered a wide scope for litigation. and was. unfortunately, couched in obscure phraseology'.