TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3243, 22 November 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1881.

The temperance bodies represented by the Lodge of Good Templars in New Zealand have received a circular which commences with these -words :—" The ! time has come for the enemies of intemperance to press the battle to the gate." The principle upon which the manifesto is based is no other thin the right of communities to local government. The teetotallers after all ask for nothing more than is contained in the words, the government of the poople by the people. " The tact," says the circular " that during the last session of Parliament provision has been made for taking a popular vote in regard to the issue of new licenses, and making the Licensing Benches elective, is itself a strong testimony to the prevalence of temperanoe sentiment in the community." It is to be hoped that such is the cßse, but we are rather of opinion that the concessions made to the temperance Bodies in the provisions of the Act afford a proof of the tardy dawn of the belief that the teetotallers have demanded nothing more than what they had a right to expect would be granted; It is not to be expected, however, that the Good Templars will remain satisfied with those concessions, because, properly regarded, they are no concessions at all. It is merely a recognition of the principle vox populi vox dci. "If the people," the circular goes on to say, " have a right to a veto upon the issue of new licenses, they have a right to a veto upon old licenses." This is perfectly logical, and no fault can be found with it, but we cannot agree with the following sentiment :—" The public-house exists simply as a professed public convenience, and it is for the public, and the public alone, to say whether they will any longer tolerate what has become something very like a public pestilence." Any public-house is to a Good Templar a public pestilence, and so we may forgive the expression of !an opinion that is the outcome of prejudice or bigotry. There can be no doubt that the temperance question stands preeminent. It is a question, as the circular sets forth, whose political significance may be inferred from the fact that it concerns the direct expenditure in this colony of two and a-half millions sterling per annum ; and a question whose social significance may be inferred from the fact that it concerns the cause of threefourths of our crime, lunacy, and pauperism. In conclusion the temperance bodies are invited to take such action as shall secure an united vote on the following iesuea: —1. Questioning the various candidates on the eubject of local option, and offering support to those who will maintain and extend it. 2. Where possible nominating candidates who will adequately represent the temperance principle, and maintain its political platform.