TIME LIMIT.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 943, 2 April 1908, Page 21

TIME LIMIT.

AN IMPORTANT MANIFESTO. In view of the opening of Parliament, and the reference to Licensing Legislation which -it was known would find a prominent place in . the King’s Speech, the statement on the subject of time limit issued by Lord Burton, Mr Samuel Whitbi ead, and Mr Waters Butler recently came opportunely. The Government’s promised Bill may deal with many aspects of this wide question, but the most important point, so far as the Trade is concerned, is that relating to confiscation, which is only another word for time limit. Mr Asquith may talk about observing “an equitable regard” or even an “indulgent regard’ ’ for the interests concerned, but, as we have always contended, such phrases are delusive and misleading. There never has been, and there never will be. a Bill framed by which any individual or body of individuals can be robbed either equitably or indulgently. The words are nonsensical in the mouth of a Bishop, but from the lips of a responsible statesman they are calculated to create distrust. If time limit in any form —that is however elastic the lirpit is made —is a clause in the Government’s measure, the practical intention of the Bill is confiscatory and no official phraseology can make it anything else. Moreover. it would be impossible to provide against the loss involved by the establishment of a sinking fund, because the sum which would be required to enable licenseholders to pay the monopoly value for their houses twice over could not be saved out of their trading profits. Even if those profits were so large that such a- provision were practicable the injustice, if not the hardship, of confiscation would remain unaltered. Ever since it was first conceived that the present Liberal Government would come into power, . we have explained the ruinous effects of their Licensing Legislation upon the property of the Trade. It was the possibility of it. and subsequently the promise of it by the members of the Ministry, that compelled us, in these columns, to urge holders of licenses to make their Trade their politics, and exert every effort to give them practical effect. The Trade has been decried, laughed at, and denounced, for acting upon our advice, but we still contend that when self-preserva ion is the basis of a man’s political convictions he is in every way more moral and logical in his politics than those whose policy is one of lawless destruction and bigoted persecution. Spoliation has become the guiding principle of the “insignificant minority” who are the power behind the Liberal administration, and it is only in an endeavour to subvent their predatory intentions that the Trade has sunk its theoretical and aesthetic interest in politics, and applied its energies to the. defence of its commercial existence. Mr . Asquith gives off a lot of hot air about the legality of the licensed industry, its claim to protection, and of the Government’s in-

dulgent regard for its interest—but we know —because he has not the dishonesty to deny it —that the intention behind the Licensing Bill is to take possession of some hundred and fifty million ' pounds’ worth of property and resell it to its rightful owners, or to anybody w'hb bids for it. Heaven save the Trade, and. any other branch of legitimate commerce from such a visitation of political indulgence. The statement which bears the name of Lord Burton and Mr Whitbread—names

that were once so prominent and honoured in Liberalism—puts the matter of a time limit very clearly and succinctly. The present owners of licenses we are reminded, have in all cases not only. paid the full monopoly value for them, but have spent large sums oh the premises to meet the requirements of the licensing authorities. “Time limit therefore means that, having paid the full monopoly value for them, the owners are at the end of ai limited n,umb.er of years, to be .deprived of

this value by the State, and again to pay, for such of them as they may be fortunate enough to acquire, the full value of the monopoly which has been taken from them.” It may be urged that in recovering its permits to trade in excisable commodities, the State is acting entirely within its rights, and that it is not intended to deprive the license-holders of their premises or fixtures. But, it must be borne in mind, that by virtue of that permit, for which the State-fixed price has been paid, the owners of those premises have increased their value by 79 per cent, of their capital and of their livelihood without receiving a copper of compensation. And up to twelve months of the date of their extinction they will 'be con-

tributing to the Compensation Fund, and thus tempering to the unshorn lambs the winds which will ultimately buffet their own very much shorn bodies. The present owners acquired their premises for value, and in good faith. Until the time limit has expired, this fact will be officially recognised, and the Trade will be permitted to compensate those of its members who are dispossessed. But the survivors, who have exactly the same claim to be compensated (or protected, as Mr Asquith calls it) for dispossession, will get nothing. Nor will they be able to insure against such a catastrophe, because, as this circular makes clear, any attempt made during the currency of the period of grace to create a sinking

fund to meet this gigantic loss much be equivalent to such an additional tax as would make it impossible for properlyconducted houses to compete with clubs. Of course, the mere mention of the word clubs, and the remembrance of the Premier’s promise to regard as equal, for legislative purposes, the Carlton and the Cut-Purses Co-operative Club in the Rue de Soho, throws the limelight on the difficulties which the Ministry have before them in dealing with the subject, and the Trade will not be expected to sympathise with them in those troubles. It may be un-Christian to delight in the sight of strong opponents struggling with adversity, but it is only human to rejoice when the man who is after one with a drawn sword tumbles into a manhole. We have been assured by some that we are too militantly hostile to our persecutors; that we should give them credit for a modicum of humanity; that we should not inflame their anger by regarding them as stick-at-nothing antagonists. To this kind of argument we reply that we see the so-called Reformative Party after us with the drawn sword, and if we are invited to express the hope that they won’t stumble into the club mantrap, over which they will have to pass, we can only retort in the simple Saxon phrase, “ !” —London “L.V. Gazette.”

Christchurch prohibs. have decided to open a ten days’ campaign to raise by canvass to conduct their business at next local option poll. Messrs T. E. Taylor and H. D. Bedford, ex-M.P.’s, are actively engaged.

Alcohol was discovered in the thirteenth century.

Mr T. W. Young, a well-known wine and spirit merchant in Wellington, met with a painful accident the other day, when he had his right foot crushed by the wheel of a steam waggon, which had collided with a tram-car.

another that he subsequently died from his wounds. After holding the town in a state of terror for nearly an hour, the raiders disappeared without losing a man or disclosing their identity. It was reported a few months ago that in a few months the night raiders had. up to then destroyed ten million pounds’ worth of the property of those planters who had acquiesced in the imposition of the tax. Again the other day it was reported by cable that the Kentucky night raiders had destroyed a tobacco warehouse at Corrington, Virginia, valued at £lOO,OOO.

Speaking at Battersea the other day, Mr John Burns said that the Licensing Bill was a just, practical, and necessary measure, and a logical outcome of the Act of 1904. It treated the publican more equitably than before, and was equitable to the brewers. The Government intended to pass the Bill. This, however, remains to be seen. Indications point that the Government will have to come down a lot before the Bill has even a chance of passing. Political adversaries going as far as to say that instead of the Government passing the Bill, the Bill will pass the Government —out.

On the eve of his departure from Gisborne for Auckland, Sergeant Williams was presented by the local police staff with a set of pipes in recognition of the esteem in which he was held. Constable Davy made the presentation, and in a few words referred to the good feeling which had existed between them. Sergeant Williams left for Auckland on Saturday.

Of recent licensing legislation introduced in England, a good deal has been directed against the clubs. The mushroom growth of these institutions, particularly in London, has engaged the attention 'of not only the coldwater people, but also the licensed trade. The clubs in Ireland have also come in for some attention as evidenced by a cable the other day which read that in the House of Commons the Registration of Clubs (Ireland) Bill, introduced by Mr T. H. Sloan, Independent Member for Belfast South, was read a second time. The measure is more drastic than Mr Asquith’s Bill. It provides that no liquor shall be supplied for consumption off the premises; no visitor or honorary member residing within seven miles of club premises shall be served with drink during prohibited hours ; and the right of entry for inspection is given to the police. During the debate, Mr T. W. Russell, Liberal member for South Tyrone, indicated that the last-mentioned clause required amendment.

An Irishman had trouble with his eyes, and consulted a doctor. The doctor told him to take his choice — he must stop drinking or go blind. The Irishman turned the proposition over in his mind a while. “ Well, I’m sivinty-two years old now,” he said, “ and I belaive I’ve seen iverything worth seein’, so I’ll go on drinkin’.”