LIQUOR TRADE AND THE LAW

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2184, 24 June 1914, Page 8

LIQUOR TRADE AND THE LAW

Editor.). Sir,—The telegrams just now- being published -giving the demands of the liquor t-radors'inake interesting reading. The Trade- d'esires the retention of the sistS'pcr ; coiit. t 'inajqrity/ .llie late^iiein" 1 Mr; T. i* ■with liis geriVand voice,frequently show-' •etl; the iniquity of such an' arrangcniont, and ; I often wonder - how much longer an outraged public is going to suffer the liquor incubus to paralyse the '"raspectahlo jtrade and coriiniorco of ,tho Dominion.,/ Several times have the peoplo demanded its destruction and in tho last contest, by a majority of no fewer 'than fifty-four thousand votes. _In 'practice the present unjust handicap says two bar-loafers [are equal to threo sober, industrious citizens. This- _ lopsided arrangement was never submitted to. the people, but, came into '.being through Mr.'. Seddon, the then Premier, out of loyalty, to his old trade of publican cajoling Parliament into passing the sixty per cent, provision. Had any other Premier, been, then ,in power what a different aspect the Dominion would have presented to-day 1 The liquor traffic, long since dead as Caesar, and as a consequence unparalleled prosperity throughout. the length and breadth of the- laud/'

Tho - second modest demand of tha traffic*is 'that, after Prohibition is carried, seven years shall elapse before ittakes effect. This looks as if Prohibition is now really regarded as being withiiv the range of achievement. Once Mr. Seddon styled the Prohibitionists '"a misarable! minority of faddists and fanatics," but ,we have changed all that now/ and we' ; have. tho spectacle of the biggest and cruellest monopoly pleading for an extension of time in which .to adjust its finances. Such a pica, I contend, is pure humbug. The . brewers have .-had ample warning during the last ■twenty years in whidh to prepare for any,.change, and as to publicans they, with scarcely an exception, have deliberately., and of their, own...free .choice ajid- w.ell knowing the law, .'embarked oft .'the business of ' 'retailing iiq'uors. They have,land are to-day,.eagerly taking the' ; fisks aiid-cannot- fairly ask for time in the event cf a popular vote going against them. . Mr. Massoy's remark .the other day. that tho Trade must be : . considered was surely , a figure of speech signifying nothing. But, by others it is urged that some.years will bn necessary for the Government to 'adjust; it's finance?. A :: . correspondent iu your columns the other daiy / dealt with this'contention. Ho pointed out that .States of: over two, millions of people in 'America have passed from liquor 'to - iio' liquor within- six months,' and he very properly urged that . our financiers ought surely to be equal in ■Ability -'d'nd resotirco lvhere only ono million of. people is eoucerned. Twelve ; nidntliß' at the outside after the vote is carried should bo ample for all adjustments.

I have already said the liquor traffic is olio of our biggest monopolies. In support of this contention the Hon. Mr. 'Fisher has rendered splendid service by showing from official records what hugo profits the brewers amass with, a imiuimtmyjbf (expenditure. And from another comes splendid confirmation of my. contention. Not long since, ■ift: the local Press, several thousands .of: shares in a local brewery were of■fered for sale, and tenders publicly invited; - On inquiry at the office advertising.,the shares, and from various 'stiarGbrokers' who were haw-king them, applicants were eagerly told, among qther...inducements, that this brewery's last I iinlan<fe-sheet yielded, in dividends and bonuses a clear profit of twenty .percent,;!/} tljp shareholders. As three thousand'shares were under--offer the annual-profit for these would be no less tlian six-hundred pounds, or in five years the' Whole capital woiild- be returned in'pfofit without the investor having to do more than lift his pen to sign the dividend warrants.,. But some of ; own upwards of fprty thtpytofd shares so that their incomes would ho eight thousand per annum. Great is the.power of t heor! Other breweries in New Zealand arc doing even better than the one I refer to. - Pray, .Mr., Editor, how much time does a' lwehU!j!-j}r<xlucirig monopoly, such aV this' is, I 'felaily. require to adjust its finances? The question needs only to -bo asked''to. allow its absurdity.—l am, CtC '' ' REASON.