LICENSING COMMITTEES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1883, 3 July 1888, Page 3

LICENSING COMMITTEES.

j (Wellington " PoBt.") Thit tte House ehould have been of>unted out m the eff.:t ti aeoure for women the rght to vote at licensing e'- ctionß, la comes hat of a r» fl ction on )ihe gallantry cf honourable members. . They might a» leaot have aeuiflted to make [ a hov e, bo hb to follow tho claims of the j fclr sex to be fairly di cussed, even If not ! prepared to concede them. Wd certainly ' would not like to ace universal suffrage, irrespective of sex, established In regard to licensing elections In f. c f , instead of having tho elective p-inc'ple txtended m any way it would bj infi .Holy preferable to see it abolished Nho^cther. It has certainiy not worked vr 11 m t»ny way. Tho Interests of temperance have not been advanced by tho licensing tribunals being made elective bodies, but m many instances gross Injustice hss been Icflioted on private iudlvidoalß. Iv m >re tban one locality licenses have been granted by eleoted committees whioh certainly would not have been granted by any Bench o Magistrates of responsible Ctmmisaiouers. The enormous powers of tbe Lioenaing Act have, In a great many places, devolved upon incompetent or unecrnpuloua persons, and altogether the present system of election must be pronounced a complete failure. If tbe franchise were extended so as to do away with the present qualifica'ion of paying rat if- , and were made universal, whioh would ha^e lo be the case to meet Mr Fulton's viewa, the result would, we believe, be moat disastrous, and the Licensing Commit teeß would be evan of a worse type than st preeent. It would be far better to repeal the clauses providing for elective oommlttees, and revert to the old practice of nominated Licensing Commissioners. Tbe triennial farce of voting as to whether licenses may be Increased or not, might also well be done away with. If, however, eleoted committees are to be retained, lt Is m every respect desirable tbat tbat tenure of offioe Bhould be extended. Assured of a three years' term a better class of men wou'd probably be found to ocoupy seats on committees, and I those honestly desirous of using their poaition to improve the class and character of licensed houses generally would have some chance of doing so. At present they have none. Any committee-man who now gave notice of his determination to insist on improvements, would atand a poor chance of re-election In a great many dlstrlots. It would be a great Improvement on the present system to have the oommlttees chosen for three years, and there would then be some obanoe of the law being strictly and uniformly enforced.