The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1888. COMPENSATION TO PUBLICANS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1794, 20 March 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1888. COMPENSATION TO PUBLICANS.

The approach of the period for the taking of the triennial local option poll, brings naturally under consideration the many questions connected with the Licensing Law of the Colony. It is true that under the existing Act the option of the ratepayers is restricted to the question as to whether new licenses shall or shall not bo issued, or whether the number of existing licenses may or may not bo increased, but as the aim of the temperance, or rather total abstinence party, is to secure to the people the right of vetoing the renewal of existing licenses, it is quite worth their while to consider how it is possible to give effect to their wish. Our own opinion is that they would have succeeded long ago had they been temperate m their demands, but that their obstinate refusal to regard the licensees as having any rights at all has teen, and will be, if persisted, m fatal to their hopes. We are quite prepared to concede the extended local option desired, provided only that what we

regard as jußt provision bo made to secure that no one man, or no set of men shall be made to suffer unduly for the weal of the whole, and we reject altogether the contention that because a license is given only from year to year, therefore the licensee may bo deprived of his license at the will of the community without any compensation whatever. For most certainly no man m his senses would put up a costly building, and furnish it with all tho expensive | appliances necessary for carrying on a first-class hotel trade, but for the implied understanding that so long as he conforms with the requirements ot the law and the conditions of his license, its renewal from year to year may be regarded as a certainty, and if this be so, a change m the law enabling his sudden deprvation of license cannot, we think, m any fairness be asked for, unless at the same time provision be made for compensation for deprivation, We commend to the extremists on the teetotal side the following remarks on this head, made by the Chairman of the St. Kilda (Dunedin) Licensing Committee, at a meeting of that Committee held a few days ago:-— "I think it speaks well for the action of the committee that no such thing as drunkenness exists m the district, t dare say that is a good deal due to the fact that ' the Committee recognise that they ought to deal out the law fairly and according to tho spirit of the Licensing Act ; and so long as they do that, they don't interfere materially with the liberty of ratepayers. A good deal has been said by various chairmen of licensing committees who have set forth certain programmes, but I sometimes doubt the sincerity of some of these men. A sincere man is invariably a just man, and I think if they were sincere they could easily find a way whereby they could reduce the number of publicans without injuring any man or any man's property. If they were really sincere and just they would be led to adopt some plan whereby the publicans would be compensated if their licenses were taken away . My own idea is that those people who advocate the abolition of hotel licenses should insist on licensing fees being set aside for what I would call a compensation fund, and any publican deprived of his license would be entitled to compensation according to fair arbitration. This system seems to work very well m Victoria, and if some such 3yatem were adopted here I have no doubt that tH& licensing fees alone would buy out 50 per cent of the publicans m New Zealand, and m less than five years. I think that is a fair and honorablo way to do away with the drink traffic. To say that publicans have no vested rights is a thing 1 can hardly •gree to. As soon as a man is compelled to build a house of a certain description, that man has got a vested right ; and m order to prevent the sale of drink you must have the sympathies of the community with you, and you must do co by giving the publicans compensation."