LICENSES AGAIN.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 November 1925, Page 4

LICENSES AGAIN.

RESTORATION CARRIED IN (till X EM FI! I.

AI'CKI,A\I), November 11. The restoration or licenses to sell liquor in Ohineninri electoral district has l;oon carried liy a margin of IS votes mor the throc-htths majority roil ui rod. This result was readied at the official count, including absentee votes, which was coneliidcil at I’aoroa to-day. Details of the voting arc as follow:—Restorat ion ... 1112 Xo-f.ioeiise ••• 2titi2 Majority for Restoration IS To earrv Restoration tiO per cent of votes was required, and actually Restoration received tit).7 per cent. There were 194 informal votes. The Ait of 1910 provides that the decision of tho electors shall take effect three months alter the date of the General Kleetion. Licenses will therefore he restored in Ohineninri on Kohriiarv dth next. With re,qard to the munher of hotels, the Act provides that if Restoration should be curried in a no-license district, tho ii it in I >e)' of publicans’ licenses to lie ora n tod "shall not exceed one for every complete .V.iO electors of the district at the dale of the General Kleetion at which the poll was taken, and shall not tie less if a sufficient number of such licenses are duly applied for, than one tor ever'- complete 1000 electors of tho district.” There are 7721 electors in the Ohinetnuri di-trici. so that the Nuicbor of licenses ora need may ho anything from seven to fifteen, lueensose will continue in Ohiuemuri unless Xational Proh i hit ion is carried. No provison is made for no-license polls in the amending Act of IPIS. although jio lls for Restoration are to eontiiine in existing no-licensing areas.

17 YEARS' DRY. Xo-lieense was carried in tilth by a Uiroe-lifths majority, or actually on a tll.X per cent, vote for no-lieon.se. Ohineninri lias therefore been dry for 17 years. This is the iirst occasion on which a no-lieenso district has reverted to license, hi Ohinemuri in 1908 there were 1 I hotels, of which four were in Wnilii. When no liieuse was carried it was really due to resentment on the part ol the miners in Waihi who alleged that the publicans had broken faith in regard to the price of beer. In the victory for restoration, the argument that no license was detrimentally affecting business in l’aeroa. had considerable sway, hi Waihi. home-brewing was said to he common, and thus there arose a demand for a reversion to the regulation of the traffic under license.