LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1960, 17 January 1914, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE MAJORITY QUESTION.

Sir, —I. have been interested in tno statements contained in the correspondence'published by you nbovo tho signatures of "Moderate" and "Ono Vote, Ono Value," and especially with respect to tho moaning of tho qualifying clause in the Scotch. Act quoted by both correspondents. -. If tho wording of this clause lias been correctly quoted, tlieio can bo only ono meaning, and that a plain one, attached to it. To earry No-License in any district So per cent, or more- of tho votes polled must be east in its favour, but to make tho poll valid, this 55 pf?r cent, must represent at least I 35 per cent, of the total number of [ voters on ;tho' roll. This means that to validate a poll at which No-Liccnso is to be carried 64 per cent, of the electors must vote, seeing' that tho 55 per eont, who earry No-License must bo equal to tho 35 per cent..of the total number of electors. If, therefore, we take as tho number of, voters that quoted by both 1 your correspondents, viz., 5500, this in tho easo of the. Scottish Act must represent a voting j strength of 8594 on the roll. If 55 per coat, of these votes are recorded fer No-License, or 3025, and the remainder, or 2475, against it, No-License is carried, seeing that tho 3025 r&prosent 3=l per cent, of the roll strength 0f.8594. Thusa majority of otiQ of tho votes will in this instance carry No-License, which is exactly the majority required .in New j Zealand tmder tho proposed law, when I a liko _ Tmmber of votes are recorded. There is, therefore, no difference as to the majority required when tho actual votes polled aro taken into considers* tiou in both eases. ( The difference is hero, that.in New Zealand, the 5300 voters may represent any proportion of the voting strength. This appears to . mako it easier to earry No-License in New Zealand as compared with Scot, land, seeing that it is quite possible for a poll to be'taken, nn/l only 50 per cent, or less of tho voters on tho roll to yote. Yet if 55 per cent, of those voting favour No-License it will bo car- ■ ried; wh-ercas wider the' Scotch Act at least 64 per-rent, must vote in order to allow the'No-Licenso Jrsug to obtain its 35 per cent, of the roll, number and 53 per cent, of the votes polled. Whiletherefore I cannot agree with "Moderate" in all his arcunients, he appears to bo correct in his main contention that tho proposed change in New. 55ea-! land will lunke it easier to carry National Prohibition than it is to carry No-License in any of the. Scottish districts under the Scotch Act.—l am. etc, lux. .; THE LESSON OF NEW SOUTH WALES. Sir,—The complete results of the NoLiceuso polling in New Sonth TVjaks have not yet come to hand, and aocord- : ing to your cablegrams 6ome results ! nave been suspended <m account of certain irregularities. However, the results of all but.four electorates—Granville, Hurstville, Hartley, and Gloucester—have been, announced, and tho figures when analysed enable tho reader to answer tho question: Has No-Licenso advanced in New South Wales? It may bo remembered that an eminent Now Zealand No-Licenso advocate returned from a visit to New South Wales last September,. and gave out this which was telegraphed all over th© Dominion: "I have been campaigning for six months in New South Wales and other, States in'the interests of NoLicenso. I spent most of the time in New South Wales. This is 'their local' option .year. They will bo 'having a poll m November. . . . Thie is their trurd poll $n local option and I think tlioro is more hope now for'No-Lioen'sV. than at any time in tho past." The wish was parent to this thought, for tho figures now available show that this and other No-Licenso advocates have made little- impression .upon tho level-headed electors of the mother State. .With your loavo I would like to institute a comparison between the No-License and the licensing or contmuanco voting of the years 1907 nnd 1913. In tho first year (1907) tho local option vote wos token 75,000 voted for reduction, and in 1913 the reduction vote fell to "44,000, and tho percentago of the reduction yoto to the whole fell l from < 16.3 in 1907 to 6.G in 1913. ."Re■duction" as an issue in New South Wales is being rapidly obliterated. ■ Let us now consider and contrast tlio continuance and No-License figures. Votes Percentage -. .: polled. of votes , ' . ' 1907. polled. Continuance ... 209,474 451 . •No-Licease 178,8821 38.5 ' ' ■' 1913. ' Continuance ... 382,087 50 7 No-License 246,345 36.5 _ Thus, while the continuance vote increased by over 11 per cent:, the NoLicense vote decreased by exactly 2 ■per cent, in proportion to tho whole. But it will bo observed that tho Nohcense voto increased in numbers by 67,463, and tho continuance voto by I/L',613, or approximately'the voto for No-Lioense increased by ono vote while continuance increased by three. NoLieonfi.o cannot claim to have made any real progress in New South Wales, and tho predictions of the' prohibition advocato in September Inst have been altogether falsified by tho actual results. And tho worst of it from* a, New Zealand viewpoint is that tho public writers in Now South Wales point- tho finger <if scorn at this country, and , affirm that hero in this.Dominion, where wo carry Prohibition' and No-License to the. verge of insanity or fanaticism, and where 12 areas are already "dry," we aro consuming more liquor per head of the population and creating tolative|v more intoxication thaa in the mother State where No-Liceuso and Prohibition is a diminishing quantity. What is the explanation? Can it bo that the intemperateness of the No-Li-censo advocates incites ordinarily teinperato men and women to over-indulg-ence? Whaiovw the reason tiro facts j stand, and the. sorry part of' it is that the contempt this country is earning for itself abroad on account of its Prohibition tendencies seems, to sano per» sons, to be deserred.—t am,'etc., I ■'' ' TEMPERANCE. '; -f, SANK CHARGES, '. Sir,—l should bo glad if the' banks could sco their way to, confine tlio present vexatious exchange upon cheques, say within provincial boundaries; that is, each province to bo freo of <sxcliango within itself. I liavo asked this for somo tjine, and should like tlio point conceded. »If tho banks will remember, they very kindly suspended tho exchange entirely some years ago, at my request, for a time, but again reimposcd' it. As to a State bank, I think wo have gone ns far as it is safe te go in tlio Hank of New Zealand. But I would ask tlio worthy chairman (Mr. IT. Bemichamp) whether ho does not think £350,000 profit in ono year just a "leotlo" too much te squeeze out of his. Fair is fair. I don't mind the banks niakinf; a fair thing, but too much of a fair thing becomes monotonous. The , Rank.of Now Zealand directors should not. fovejet that the other hanks ii< the Dominion just dance to their fiddling. : Indeed, they may throw tlioir Ings a ' triflo higher' at times.—l urn, otc, COLEMAN PHILLIPS. AOartcrton, January 15, 1911.

'- : '; Messrs. A. L. Wilson and .Co., UL, % Brandoii Street, linvo received instnio. tions from Mr. H. IT. Hammond, Friend Street, Knrori, to sMI by auction his 10roomed house standing on four ncres of , land. Cnrtls to view can l?e obtained nt tljo'nunHonoer?. The. snle will be. held on 'XaesdaJTi J&uuary 20, cosamcneteitf nt jsaasu ■•.■;. . ■■■ ' ■