ELECTORAL ALTERATIONS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 86, 2 October 1911, Page 5

ELECTORAL ALTERATIONS

HOTEL LICENSES AFFECTED. A DEFECT!' IN THE .LAW. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. One result of the deliberations of the Representation Commissioners is that the Porirua nod Ptflmufaniti libels have ibeen put into the Wellington Snlmribs electorate, which is "dry," and therefore their position in connection, with the "»t licensing }>oU has been made considerably more difficult, than it woul.l otherwise have been. The matter wo* brought under the notice of Sir James Carroll yesterday (j„ the absence, through illness, of Sir Joseph Ward) 'by a deputation from the two districts arlecteu. The deputation was introduced ! J? "• Field, M.P., and Mr. T. M. \\ llford, M.P., who urged that it was not only concerned about the hotels, but it wanted to ask the Government to remedy a defect in the hnv which was perfectly monstrous in it* results, mat hotels could 'he closed not in' tho wwl of tho people but through tho movement of population, and the consequent action of the Representation Commissioners. Such a result wa» never contemplated by the law, and no-license members of the House witi whom lie nad conferred agreed that a gross injustice was caused, and that the result was likely to be prejudicial to the nolacense movement. Whait tho deputation wanted, said Mr. Field, was to get an amendment of the law passed this session with the object of removing l a groBS injustice. I,f it were not" done this session it would foe too late. . Hon. T. Duncan pointed out that if this sort of thing went on it would be possible to have prohibition carried out all over tho Dominion without a poll of the people beipg taken. Mr, J. E. Fitzgerald remarked that the deputation was the result of the indignation felt 'by the residents of tho district, and consisted of the oldest and most respected residents, who felt that they had been subjected to an injustice. Sir James Carroll said, in reply, that the deputation had made out a verystrong case for consideration. He was sorry the Prime Minister was not aide to be present. The whole question was not one of a political or commercial character; it was a question of whether the Tights granted .under existing laws dependent on the exercise of the will of the people should be taken away, not after an appeal to the will of the people, but by the accident of the readjustment of the electoral boundaries. It was so foreign and repugnant to every democratic principle on which we prided ourselves. He did not Ixilieve that when the Legislature framed the licensing law it was for a moment contemplated that traps should ibe laid in which any section of the people might fall. He thought it was a pure oversight and accident. It was not a question as to the merits of these hotels, or as to whether they were required; it was a question virtually as to whether any one section of the community should suffer without being given an opportunity for defence. If thc-aa hotels were not required there, it was for the people to say so, and yet, merely through an alteration of the electoral boundaries, that right was taken away from the people. Relief had been given in simitar cases, and that was strongly supportive of the claim made by the deputation. He was confident that the fair sense of those opposed to licensed houses would not allow them to pride themselves on any victories 'achieved through such an accident. He gave them credit for a sense of fair -play in matters of this kind, and believed that they would accord sympathy to the cases mentioned by the deputation. He would lay the matter before the Prime Minister, together with the urgent request that steps should 'be taken at the earliest opportunity to put matters right.