Local Option and State Control.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 88, 26 June 1908, Page 5

Local Option and State Control.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —The public meeting held last week to consider the question of Local Option in the King Country had greater principles at stake than the mere question of License or.NoLicense. It certainly an emphatic demand for the right to exercise a Constitutional Statute that has been granted to the people of New Zealand, with the exception of the King Country, and in making the demand to exercise this privilege every resident in the King Country—indedependent of other considerations —. must back up to its greatest possible limit. The reason that lead up to the present existing circumstances as regards the prohibition in the King Country was very clearly explained to the meeting by Mr. John Ormsby, who was present at the time the restriction was placed on this district and personally urged the embargo being so placed. The policy then advocated by the Maori chiefs was to insure that the King Country remain in their hands, and, as a means to justify the end, the debarring of liquor , appealed to them as the bast means of checking the encroachment of the Pakeha, as well as securing for the Natives less temptation to obtain liquor. While recognising the greatassistance such a restriction as this rendered to the advocates of the " closed door " policy, there did not exist at that time, either in the minds of the Government or Maori, much thought for the future progress and advancement of this part of New Zealand. The protection to Native lands, which was guaranteed at the same time as the restriction was placed on liquor coming into the King Country, has been broken repeatedly, and this fact certainly helps to justify the demand that the remaining condition should be subject to "existing Acts of Parliament, and the option given to the people. This is not only fair but a Constitutional privilege that should be emphatically demanded. When this is acceeded to, and the question settled by the people, the great question, if the ballot decided in favour of a license, would be w T ho should control the same — private enterprise or the State. In our own district Ave have daily illustrations of the failure of prohibition under King Country conditions, and until such time as Colonial Option is an established fact, we shall have these illustrations. As a means of remedying the present conditions I would advocate a State hotel, which would certainly be of greater benefit to the general community than the present arrangement, which necessitates a man becoming a schemer. The control of the liquor traffic by the State is already such a well-debated question that it needs no endorsement from me. In conclusion, Sir, the principle at stake, that of claiming for the King Country the same advatages that every other district in New Zealand possesses, is one, I am sure, which will have the unanimous approval of all. —Yours, &c, Te Kuiti. J. H. T.