Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, MARCH 27th, 1919 LIQUOR OR NO LIQUOR.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 March 1919, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, MARCH 27th, 1919 LIQUOR OR NO LIQUOR.

In a fortnight’s time the Dominion will have the opportunity of answering the question whether there is to be license or no license in New Zealand as regards the manufacture, sale or importation of liquor for sale. This phase of the licensing question is now put on an entirely fresh basis. It is in essence a purely prohibition poll and eventuates without the aid of a simultaneous general election to stimulate public in- . terest. The question is a straight out issue as to whether the country will “go dry’’ with the addition of a proviso that if answering in the affirmative, the country must find four millions and a half compensation for tiie brewers, the licensed victuallers, and certain employees on an entirely new basis, and is further a poll, the result of which covers the whole Dominion, and not single electorates. The whole of the votes polled from end to end of the Dominion will he aggregated, and the figures revealed will be the answer to determine the issue as affecting the future of liquor in this country. Now that the date of the poll is approaching, there is an increased public interest in the event. Successive, polls on the general question and a knowledge of ex perienees of “dry” districts in different parts of tlie Dominion, have made the public very familiar with the issue at fctnke, and wliat it will mean in a personal way should prohibition he carried. What the public do not know, or may he inclined not to keep in memory for the moment, the press through its advertising columns lias been publishing of late various reminders on the question. The people must make up their minds very shortly what they are going to do with their vote. There are sharp divisions of opinion on the compensation question even in prohibition ranks, hut this provision of compensation at least savours of “the square deal’’ to those put out of business compulsorily should tin' answer bo in the affirmative. Others are going to vote against compensation because they fear the burden in extra taxation to pay the amount and make good the loss of revenue will he too great for the country to hear at a time when it has got to fulfil financial obligations arising out of flic war. This is rather a selfish view, because it does not take into account the compulsory loss put upon businesses already trading legitimately under license. Many will vote ngnint prohibition as proposed, because jt will in their

opinion tend more and more to isolate the country from other parts of the world, and place the Dominion outside

the track of the average globe trotter. Moderate public opinion will oppose tin' proposal for prohibition because Hie carrying of it- will strike at Hie liberty of the subject, ami liquor may

be but the first of the pleasures of life reasonably*’ used, standing in jeopardy. The land owner and general taxpayer is seeing in the issue now before the country, an iucreuesiug burden of taxation. The loss of revenue and the loss by the dislocation of trade, cannot be readily measured, but- the deficit will mo'ant up to millions, and the money must he made good. It is to these folk rather a plunge in the dark to take at this juncture, and tire taxpayer is conning over the outlook from a very personal, if selfish standpoint. There are other aspects of this farreaching question still to be referred to, but it will lie necessary to recur again to the matter before polling day.

The cable news had prepared the world for the principal military, naval and aerial terms affecting the peace conditions for Germany. Germany’s bellicose ambitions are clipped finally, and the proposed peace terms are but complimentary to the armistice terms’under which the arch-enemy went out of business as a great military Power. “Never again,” was what Air Lloyd George had said of Germany's ability to menace the world and put a great war upon unwilling people, and this resolve finds confirmation in the drastic terms to be imposed upon Germany. Her great military force melts away, and is in point of fact merely a policing force to maintain order within her own holders. The ambitious German Navy wliieh was looking for “The Day,” will see a day of a different character to that conjured up—it will be a day imposing eternal peace, and the duty of the remnant of the German Navy will to simply to police its own waters. So too, is the aerial force to be reduced to an insignificant service suitable solely for domestic use. The power to equip and arm forces or to supply munitions goes under the peace conditions. The Kiel Canal becomes a harbour and highway solely for the mercantile marine. Its defences will be reduced to simple commercial requirements. Heligoland is to be shorn of its guns and defences and the secrets of this wonderful island arsenal will be revealed now. The full catalogue of the conditions show how completely the offensive wings of Germany might have been clipped. The nation ceases to be a Great Power and so suffers the first degradation which reveals to the world the completeness of the defeat at the hands of the Allies.

The new situation in Hungary appears to be of a serious character evidently be-stirring the Allies more than other like events in Europe. The outbreak is ascribed to the protracted delay with I which the peace treaty is being patched | up. The details to eifect the reduction of Germany to an ineffective military power, which are now being completed, might surely have been adjusted in less time than the four months which has in. tervened since the armistice was signed. There is not much wonder that there is a growing chorus of criticism at the slowly moving work of the Peace Conference. The English papers are asserting that the revolution in Hungary proves the need for expediting peace. There are other obvious reasons even more paramount affecting the good will and internal economy of the Allied countries—but still the dallying goes on. ■Mr Hughes is still unhappy about the disposition of the Pacific Island, and he won’t he happy till he gets it But the Hungarian development is a more serious event than the railings of the Commonwealth Premier. The Bolshevik movement, appears to he taking a firm hold in Hungary as it did in Russia. Bolshevism is the negation of law and order and respects neither the person nor property. It- is a dangerous and insiduous element in world polities just now, and its ramifications are being found to he greater than they appeared hitherto on the surface. The situation calls for statesmanship which is as necessary at the peace conference as in the several countries associated at the conclave. If Hungarian affairs precipitates the matter at the Peace Conference the untoward development will not altogether have been in vain.