The Daily News FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20. THE LOCAL OPTION POLL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 280, 20 November 1908, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20. THE LOCAL OPTION POLL.

Subject to the recount and scrutiny of the ballot-papers, tlie net result of the local option poll appears to lie that re duction has been carried in six electorates and no-license ill eight electoral districts. Should this result be verified, it will mean that with the six no-liceuse districts at present existing, fourteen electorates in Xew Zealand will be"dry" alter 3Uth June next, and, assuming that the maximum number of hotels is e.iniiiuiled in the reduction areas, about 100 licenses houses will put up their shutters 011 that date. Some of the results achieved arc remarkable, and the progress of the experiment in tin; thickly-populated suburbs of Auckland and Wellington will be watched with interest, fit the Wellington district, 1: or instance, over twenty 'hotels around the city area will be closed, and the liquor appetites of Wellington's great suburbai; population wiil have to be slaked fron: the monopoly created in the city area. When the law is operating merely to transfer tbe aggregate losses of the unfortunates 011 to the aggregate profits of the licensee 011 the other side of tlie street, it shows Mult in common justice some amendment of the local option j law is necessary. We 'honestly belie\e that compensation 011 some ei|uitabh;| basis should be provided, not necessarily ; from the pockets of the taxpayer, lint | by -nine system whereto the Trade | it,ell' .should contribute largely. But' what is particitlarly needed is lhat 'til places such as Wellington and suburbs,] where tbe interests are common, tlie I licensing areas should be merged into 1 0110 licensing district. \\ ith the prin-1 ctple of t'lic referendum everyone must j agree. but it seems to us that there is room tor much improvement in the Act, in fairness to all parties. Xo-lieeuse can never get the fair trial to which, as a-i experiment, it is entitled until the -possibility of the creation of unfair and ridiculous anomalies nave been removed. I The local option results as a whole are j principally interesting in that the .North I Island will for the first time have the opportunity of watching tirsl-lia-.nl the opera 1 ion 'of no-license, which heretofore has been cunlined t n South Island. Although the So-Uccnse party , has made considerable headway, the 1 actual success achieved is remarkable I when the aggregate increase in their votes is considered. The total polling | all over tbe colony will probably show j a lower percentage than for some time past, fn the Wellington City districts alone nearly ten thousand voters failed to exercise their privileges. There e 1 11 be no question that there is no evidence j of the no-licejse movement receiving a check, and much, to our mind, will depend 011 the experience of those districts in tile Xortli Island which have ! now perforce to give it a trial under ji conditions that are-scarcely 011 all fours I I with the conditions existing in the "dry" I localities in the South.

LAHOI! AND THE 10LECTTOXS. I A most interesting feature of the el'vtions is the part that Labor has played. At Wellington East Mr. McLaren, ami at Gisborne, Mr. Barton, Labor candidates, have contrived to run into second place, but 'everywhere else Labor lias not figured to advantage. It may be remembered that months ago, when Labor was presuming to dictate terms to the Government and tile country, it was pointed out ill these columns that Labor leaders were making a huge mislake ill their estimate as to their relative power in the constituencies. Ihe result has shown that Labor has—at least for the time--ruined its cause utterly. In the newly-elected Parliament, Labor has even less power than it had in the last, and this entirely owing to Labor's own arrogance and blundering mismanagement. Significant, too, is the position shown in reference to sojcalb-d independent candidates. Of the eighteen Independents only two—Messrs. Fisher and T. K. Taylor-have been returned to Parliament. Once more a lesson has been given that those who, in the fit- ■ t'.ire, may be ambitious of representing t.lieir fellow men in Hie councils of the country mav do weTT to take to take to heart.' The people 'have really no time for rail-sifters; for men who, imbued with an immense vanity, busy themselves in pursuing fails and do not themselves comprehend what the result ot their efforts would be if they were attained; men who declare that they will not work with others but who expect others to consent to work with them.

MR ASQUITH'S CHEAT SPEECH, ll is gratifying to learn that a Liberal Prime Minister, iu his outline at the Cuildhall banquet of Croat liriuins foreign relation* ami external p01i0... has secured not alone the approval an i congratulaiio2is uf his own party* but of all parties. This, as « enntompora -y points out, is as it should lie. There oughl not to be iyonr lor two opinions when the Empire is face to face with a grave crises outside her own border*, and when speaking with her rival.-, al liie gate, llappiiy a lion-party policy in her foreign relations is iiecoinhig an accepted, article of political faith in Croat Untain, and signs are not wanting that in the near future—unless the I unforeseen and the undesirable happens I —it will be wholly so. To this most | gratifying result it is pleasant to know that the two great English parties have jointly contributed. Lord Lansdowno, if lie did not inaugurate the new order, gave, it practical 'expression, and Mr Edward Crey has adopted, continued, and strengthened the policy of his predecebsor. The Liberals have never been able to impress Europe or the oversea Dominions of the Empire with tit-.' sam" spirit of respect and trust that the foreigu policy of their rivals inspires. Of tlie justice of the scepticism we need not pause to inquire. Lt is sullieieilt to • note that it has always been more or less in 'evidence both before and after Byron's day, -who wished that England's victories on land and sea " were, not owing to the Tories.'' Mr Asquitn, however, would appear to have redeemed his party from the reproach under winch they have so long lain. His utterances on the Dili hist. are characterised by I The Times, which is mainly an anti-Co-1 vernnient journal, as a remarkable I speech, instinct with breadth, clearness, earnestness, and restraint ; while it is calculated to give him a new and higher ■ place in the estimation of his countrymen, and worthy for iU wisdom and courage to rank with those of some of his most illustrious predecessors. This is indeed high praise, but it seems to reileet accurately -the general opinion of all Jl'ow far Mr Asquith has advanced beyond the common view held of the Liberal foreign policy may be. gathered fi'um the comparison instituted bv The. Times between his own ell'ort and that of some of his illustrious predecessors. There have been several notably deliverances at Lord Mayoral banquets during the last two centuries. One of the most famous was that of William Pitt in ItWti, Three weeks before Au-terlitz had wrecked bis plans, Pitt made a speech at the Lord Mayor's dinner. Jt consisted of less th;tu twenty words, but they are not yet for-

«"1 K-Ilgiauu, 111' MW, IWK >;ivcil herself by her exertions, and will, ] " trust, save Europe by tier ex;iiii]>i". The great Minister never spoke in public again; u few weeks hitor Ire had passed uvvi' to tlm majority. Equally celebrated at tlie time were the words of Ijord lieacoiilield, sjwkcn at tiie (Juildliall thirty two years ago last Monday. Tluni, as now, Europe was lil|ed jviih unrest, and i'ussia was tile bete noirof the Homo Government. "if the struggle comes/' Lord Beaeonslield said, " there is no eounlry so prepared for "war as England.' In a righteous "cause England will commence a fight. " that will not did until right is done.' J!y one of those constantly-recurring coraeidenees it was in part with the ed'eets of that policy for which 1.0 ,| Jieaeoiilield so deliani V and sllcci--«i'lli! \ eontemh'd that .Mr A>.|mth h;id to iU-.\l in his own in Hi;- sam<• hi -i"vie if hall, and to a similar Tli'-j outcome of Lord Heacontit ] ( |\ clctl to was the Berlin Treaty, ju»| | i| i* the fragrant \ iol;i 1 ion of tin- terms of that Treaty Hint lias set Europe oa the tenivr-hooks of suspense, tu addition. there was the Window east ],y the ra>h intrusion t»f the (h.-rman ftinperor 1 into the sphere of foreign all'airs. Tlint 1 shadow, the World learns nitli ,i si;:h • of relief, has disappeared -tlmnks in * a measure in jhi> mid fivedum from imhi-niiy of l!i<. i>rim<- Minister's Treaties nuNl lr.> |o>,aily observed and justice mn i'atained. I (ironl Po'itaia v.ill. Imuvver. delerinin- |

cdly guard In'r own. The.!', in brief, are the principles Hint hull; largely in (lie policy of Hie Imperial (lovernmeui. and v. ill In* consislenlly ami lirmlupheld through good mid evil V."[jnii.