THE LICENSING LAW.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1595, 12 November 1912, Page 5

THE LICENSING LAW.

PROPOSED CHANGES; t*Many suggestions were made in rc'fcponse to the question: 'In new of tho jtexisting situation, -what changes, if any, should now bo asked'for 1 in tho licensing: "' Jaw?' (says tlio report of the Temperance •'' Committee' to be presented to tho Presbyterian General Assembly). One minister suggested Stats control. But this certainly 13' not tho mind of tho Church. Nor-is it, wo beliove, the. mind of the people. Any move in this direction is, \ in -the judgment of tho committee, entirely undesirable, and should be strenuously, opposed. There is a practical consensus oi opinion throughout our Church that a substantial reduction should bo sought in the' three-filths majority at present required to carry local AoLicense and National Prohibition. Some of the returns pronounce in favour of the bare majority, lint the greater number riame 65 per cent. Your'committee > therefore recommends tho Assembly, to petition Parliament to reduoo tho majority necessary to carry local No-Liccnso , end, National Prohibition from 60 per cent, to 55 per cent, of the valid votes •recorded. It is felt also that in the event »f National Prohibition being carried, it '•would' bo an unjust thins 'to wait *°" r years for it to come into operation. Wo would therefore suggest as an equitable ' tompromise that the Assembly potitirn 'Parliament to reduce this time-limit to two years, and that the law be fo amended that National Prohibition shall come into operation two years from the date on which the poll is taken at which the necessary majority is obtained. As a further measure of much-needed reform, we would recommend the Assembly to petition Parliament-for the abolition of private bars. Wo are persuaded that many of the evils connected" with the liquor traffic as at present conducted are associated with private bars."