The Daily News. MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1900. LICENSING MATTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 100, 4 June 1900, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1900. LICENSING MATTERS.

The account of the proceedings at the annual meeting of the Licensing Bench at New Plymouth on Friday, and reported in our Saturday's issue, does not make very pleasant reading. It is to be regretted' that Mr. Stanford should have seen fit to make the remarks he did in reference to his having received a deputation of citizens on licensing matters, and as to what had then taken place—remarks which, by the way, do not contrast favourably with his reply to the deputation, Mr. Stanford's position is admittedly a difficult and delicate one, and for that reason we refrain as much as possible from criticising his actions and utterances; but this much we feel bound to say: that his statement to the licensees and their representatives, to the effect that he was doubtful whether he had acted wisely or done rightly in receiving the deputation, was not calculated to uphold the dignity of his position, and was at the same time practically a rebuke to those citizens who, well within their rights and in loyalty to their! public duty, had approached him on matters intimately connected with the public welfare. No doubt it would have been a hard matter to have said the same things before the formidable array of the Liquor Party present at the licensing meeting that he had said a few days previously to the citizens deputation, but the least Mr. Stanford could have done was to sit tight and. let his utterances stand, instead of reviewing them in a way that in some I particulars came dangerously near a retraction. Neither was it fair to those licensees who, a ll circumstances considered, make commendable efforts to keep within the bounds of the law to group and class them together with others of less honourable reputation, hy stating that he considered " the whole of the licensees in this district respectable, upright, fair-minded and law-abiding people." The appeal to the publicans to assist in the administration of the law was of a piece with the whole deliverance. Now, as regards Mr. Samuel. The public have a right to know how it is that a person so closely connected with the liquor traffic should be allowed in open Court to traverse the actions or utterances of the Chairman of the Bench and in the interests of ihe trade say what he should or should not do. It is only our wish to avoid the use of strong language that prevents our characterising such an affront to the dignity of the Bench, and to the citizens at large, in the terms that it deserves. Things have come to a pretty pass when the right of citizens to make representations to the licensing authorities us to evils that are rife through the way in which the traffic is carried on is questioned by the beneficiaries of the offending traffic. It is time some of these individuals were instructed more perfectly as to the re ation in which their interests stand to those of the public at large. We have yet to learu that this standing is other than that of mere sufferance at the hands of the citizens, and is, vested interests notwithstanding, dependent entirely upon public permission. Then, again, to hoar Mr. Samuel's hectoring allusion to the remarks made by Mr. Stanford re drunkenness amongst youths, one would think that no one had the right to see anything that Mr. Samuel conveniently closed his eyes to. This gentleman in the past used to exercise great authority in many quarters, and over persons who should have known better than to submit to or be influenced by him. " A king can neverforget that he has been a king " was once said by a historical personage, and! something of this sort seeins to apply in Mr. Samuel's case, judging by his persistent efforts to recover his vanished j

power. However, that day is past, and the baleful influence that once was paramount is so no longer. The citizens of New Plymouth will continue to exercise their rights on licensing and other matters, irrespective of what Mr. Samuel may dictate, and, in open defiance of his attempts to prevent them, will co-operate with the authorities in whose hands are placed the administration of the laws of the land.