THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1872.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 163, 17 April 1872, Page 2

THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1872.

The annual licensing meeting was held yesterday, and resulted as wc predicted in our issue of Wednesday, in the total defeat of the petition against granting new licenses. It is evident that at present the petitioners do not carry the weight of public opinion with them. The learned counsel, who was to have appeared in support of the petition, did not come to time, and the matter fell through, the Chairman of

the Bench expressing an opinion that the Bench could not entertain the petition unless a certain number of ratepayers signed it. The numbers, whose names were attached to the document, was 270, a very small number in proportion to the population here. A petition signed by four ministers of religion was also presented, and shared the same fate as that of the laity. That even so small a number signed against the granting of fresh licenses is, however, an indication that there is a feeling abroad that the existing number of licensed houses is enough for the wants of the district. It is a very difficult question to deal with; on the one hand public policy is against monopoly in any trade whatever, on the other hand the establishment of an unnecessary number of licensed houses tends to lessen the trade of each publican who may thereby be driven to deal in “ cheap and nasty ” h'quors, although the price to the customer is the same as the genuine article. Very few houses were objected to yesterday by the police, and those only for want of the requisite accommodation, except in one instance

in which the Inspector did give the hotel in question a very bad name. No license was absolute 1 / refused, but those against whom objections were raised were adjourned for one month. In a place like this where a considerable portion of the inhabitants have not setthd homes the existence of a larger number of hotels than would otherwise be required, need not be of necessity an evil. But certainly if indiscriminate licensing be carried too far it would be an evil, and the question is, t: Where is the line to be drawn ?” It should be in the discretion of the Licensing Bench if they think there are sufficient licensed houses already, to grant no more. Whether this limit has been reached or not is a matter upon which opinion varies. Our own opinion is that the majority of licensed houses here are very well conducted, and that a number of well-con-ductcd houses selling unadulterated liquors and having sufficient accommodation for lodgers and travellers are not unmixed evils by any manner of means. In some cases, however, we arc afraid that the liquors sold are not first-class articles, and that the accommodation in some of the houses is very insufficient. We think the very high duty imposed upon Australian wine is a great mistake. In Melbourne, Sydney, and other cities of Australia good and wholesome wine, the genuine produce of grapes grown in the country can be obtained for a very small price—something like twopence per glass retail, and their use is every day becoming more popular and tending

to discourage a taste for ardent spirits. It is universally acknowledged that in all Trine making countries the inhabitants are sober and temperate. It is all nonsense to expect to make a nation of water-drinkers out of an AngloSaxon population; bat we think a good deal might be done by the fostering of the introduction of light Colonial wine. The promotion of temperance is a good cause, and we believe it will be more likely to be generally attained by this means than by any wholesale attack on the licensed victuallers, winch is sure to defeat itself. The Permissive Pill is open to the gra’ c objection of its unduly interfering with the liberty of the subject, and we believe it will be found utterly unworkable. It has so far, at any rate, been a great failure. The people are not prepared for it, and it w ; ll be many years before they arc, if indeed they ever are to be. The population of the Thames is, we believe, one of the most orderly and well-conducted in the world, and that thc’.c is less ciime here than on any other diggings. We don’t think there would be less—probably far more—if eve’ - y public-house in the place were shut up. Illicit grog shops would spring up, as they did in Victoria, when licensed houses were not allowed on the goldfield, r.nd a far worse state of society wouhl arise therefrom than under the present system. That the Licensing Act is capable of amendment is very probable, but the undue restriction of the number of houses on the one hand, or the indiscriminate granting of licenses on the other, w : ll not be the best way to conduce to a satisfactory state of things. So long as the Government derives a large portion of its revenue from the sale of wines, beers, and spirits, it will be necessary to have licensing Acts, and the man that will draw such an Act as will satisfy both sides in this matter wPI indeed have “acli'cvcd a monument more lasting than brass.”