WELINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 10 January 1923, Page 2

WELINGTON TOPICS

THE LICENSING POLL. MR. MASSEY’S PROMISED REFORMS. SPECIAL TO GtlAithlAN. i, WELLINGTON. Jan 8. The official count of the voting at the liiensing poll last mouth is now practically complete and may he taken to confirm, in all essential purticulnr,s the preliminary figures. Roughly 2D9,(XK) votes were cast for Prohibit ion 280.000 for Continuance and 30,001) for tate Control, and as Proliihition failid h, 18..">01 to obtain an actual majority of the votes ladled, the status quo. Continuance, exceptt in the no-license districts, is maintained. It now remains for the Prime Minister to rede: m the promise he made in Parliament last session to the elicit that if Proliihition were not carried on this occasion, he would introduce proposals for the hotter rogulatioii of the liquor traffic. 'llm nature of the n tin in,- Mr Massey had ill luiild at the time were i, imli, ulod and it is doubtful if even yet he is ready with any definite' proposals. hot it wa s generally thought (hiring the election campaign that the Trade was not regarding his altitude with favour. What the '1 re.de wants is greater .security of tenure and tins it could obtain only by all extension ol tin- period between the polls, a si"p the Prime Minister so far has shown no disposition to facilitate. THE FINANCIAL PROBLEM ■

The official worker- in the Prohibition cause profe.-s to he ill no way ui~-i-oil raged hv the result of tin leeeui poll. They claim ilia! then defeatwhich they refuse to accept as a setback—was due to the presence oi tin State Control issue on the ballot-paper and to the unfounded fear that the extinction of the liquor iratlic would entail Ur: imposition ol two and a hall millions a year extra taxation. No doubt their contention in a large measure is correct. It is not an unreasonable assumption that one-third ol the electors who voted State Control would havo voted Proliihition had tliey been required to make a choice between the other two issues, and this proportion would have been sufficient, with a good margin to spare, to close the licensed houses. The lear ol additional taxation probably helped Continuance < veil more than did the intrusion of the third issue ami the consequent three-corner contest. Mr Massey, as .Minister of Finance, it is only fair to remember, was quite justilied in saying during last session that if Prohibition worn carried it would he necessary to call Parliament together to enn-,-idiT the limim-ial position created by the vote.

HOW CONTINUANCE WAS SAY ED. But. it would not have followed as a matter of course, as the friends of Continuance would have had the electors believe that the carrying of Prohibition would have had the electorbelieve that the carrying of Prohibition would have involved the country in two millions and a hall of additional taxation. Mr W. I) .Hunt, the ,-liairHHin ol tin EHiciem y Board and one ol lhe mo i rapahly hii-nm-s in Dm Dominion issued a pamphlet during the campaign which purported to show that the amount of revenue lost byway <‘f duty and excise would be lai more, than covi red by the saving, of wasteful expenditure, the reduction of crime, and the increase of national etlieieik-y. This contention had been put forward before, hut never with "renter clearness and cogency than Mr Hunt employed. His opponents, however. without dealing with his figures and argument.- in any detail iterated and n iterated their assertion that revenue to the amount of between, two and three millions would he hist to the State by the carrying of Proliihition. and in the absence of any actual facts to refute th, ir statements they swayed over i () their side many a. doubting elector. And thus Continuance, whether for good or ill, was saved. LESS DRASTIC MEASCRE. Of course when the Prime Miui-ter promised vo intervene in the event ol a majority of the electors failing to vote Prohibition he expected to return from the constituencies in a much stronger position than the mie he now occupies With a majority ot twelve or fifteen at his hack lie might have done much to strengthen the licensing law and in improve its administration. But holding oflice only by the grace "t the Opposition or of some oi its mymbiirs. he well may hesitate to aUacthe problem. Still there i- mm h > might vciiLure ilium without pen! u> his pnnv and with much profit to t c couiHiv. He might legislate to oncourago the consumption of light '» >' and wine and to discurage the use ol ardent spirits; do away with tied houses - lie might make the ow ill 1 an not merely tin licensee rc-po„: .L c lor breaches of the law, and h m.glii. - fairness to all fimrerned. remove St.iU Control from the ballot-paper, or i the threo issues remain, nia.'.o then -object to the principle ot preleieißia voting. Tlie passage of tl.ese refoii , would fully redeem Ins proms, without- interfering" with any ot 1 u ' pi"o mitives of the electors.