THE LOCAL OPTION POLLS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 40

THE LOCAL OPTION POLLS.

THE NO-LICENSE PETITION. The following are the terms of a petition to Parliament which was agreed upon at the convention last week under the auspices of the Oroua No-license League: — The petition of the undersigned electors in the electoral district of Oroua, in the Dominion of New Zealand, ehoweth: — 1. That in the electoral district of Oroua, as also in» 35 other electoral districts, the granting of licenses for the sale of liquor is lawfully continued notwithstanding that at the lest local option poll therein a minority only voted that the granting of such licenses should continue, and an absolute majority voted that no such licenses should be granted. 2. That your petitioners' pray you to consider the igrievous injustice inflicted upon the majority of the voters in this electorate hereby, and petition your honourable House to do what is necessary towards this anomaly immediately, especially in view of the approaching recurrence in this year of our Lord, IQW, of the triennial ] licensing polls. In support of this their petition that the law be amended to provide that every issue submitted at the licensing polls shall be determined by the majority of those who vote, your petitioners would submit: — 1. That the existing law is purely and harshly arbitrary, having not even the pretence of justification of being based on the oft belauded but unwarranted' plea that an exceptional majority is necessary for the due enforcement of no-license, inasmuch as it provides that where a no-license policy has been lawfully affirmed at the poll it shall be continued, notwithstanding that at the next following poll or polls only a minority of the voters, being over 40 per cent, of them, continues to support it. 2. That in Ashburton, where, mainly through the existence there of a chartered club, and the change of law in relation thereto between the two polls, there was at first a three-fifths majority in favour of no-license, and then an over 40 per cent, minority only, and the administration of the law has improved notwithstanding the minority vote only in favour of no-license, experience has abundantly shown that no exceptional majority is needed for the due enforcement of no-aicense. 3. That in their judgment -the sole effect of the present law is to give to the licensed liquor trade at the outset at the polls a. great and unjust advantage over the people, all of whom are sufferers directly or indirectly by its. existence. 4. It is recognised to be right that on absolute majority of those who vote in any electorate shall determine who shall he returned to Parliament to enact legislation affecting the most vital interests of the people, and that in Parliament such legislation shall be determined by the majority of those who vote thereon, and your petitioners cannot see that the question of granting licenses to sell liquor has any claim whatsoever to exceptional treatment as respects tne majority to determine it of the electors voting thereon.