BRITISH LICENSING BILL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 286, 27 November 1908, Page 2

BRITISH LICENSING BILL

PRESS VIEWS. London, November 25. The Daily Mail and the Standard suggest that -Sir. Asquith, the Premier, will be secretly glad when th? Licensing Bill is dead.

The Daily Mail and_ ii " Daily News •loudly protest agams,t the Unionist peers' fu-tioii, and revive .Mr. LloydGeorge's threats that, if the Hill were killetl, the Governnreiu uuthl gain its purpose by raising the l cen-c fees until the licenses ceased to have any value to their owners.

The Times urges Mr. Asquith to witadraw the coniiscatory proposals and to pursue moderation, as in the case of the Education Hill, and to adopt minor regulative and administrative provision. The Lords would-then willingly join in their efforts, thus quickening the operation of Mr Balfour's Act. The Westminster Gazette says the Government must advance on its alternative line of action—the taxation ot licenses, which will automatically reduce the number of public-houses and secure the nation's rights in the liquor monopoly. The Pall Mall Gazette declares: "The Lords stand as the champions of public Opinion against this detested measure which the nominal representatives of the United Kingdom are trying to force upon the community." Mr. Sydney Buxton, Postmaster-Gen-feral, speaking at Ilford, said that whatever might happen to Government measures the House of Lords was not going to dictate to the Government when it should dissolve Parliament.