THE LICENCING BOARD.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3837, 16 April 1881, Page 2

THE LICENCING BOARD.

(To the Editor of the Evening Stab.)

Sie, —The farce ot the Government appointing members of the Licensing Board has been repeated, and Messrs Bagnall and Wilkinson are the two gentlemen who are in receipt of the questionable honour—questionable only because of the manner in which the appointments are made. It would seem to be only reasonable and just that the personelle of a board, the decisions of which affect so locally, should be determined by the public, who are so nearly interested, but what do we find instead ? Why, that the constitution of the Board is really in the hands of one man,"who, himself sitting as Chairman, has actually the power of getting the Board into such a state that his ideas will reign paramount and unchallenged. Surely such injustice should not be allowed. Let us hope that the time is not far distant when bodies whose decisions affect such large questions will be elected by those whom they affect, and who have some knowledge | of the men into whose hands they give power. Apart from thiis, and without questioning Mr Wilkinson's personal qualifications for the position he has been called on to occupy, I would remark that the evident intention of the Act is that no one who is interested in public houses should have a seat at the Board, and would suggest with all deference that-the proprietor of a paper who canvasses <for hotel advertisements can hardly be said to be disinterested any more than a wine and spirit merchant would be. Trusting soon to see a radical change in the mode of constituting Licensing Boards and kindred institutions. —I am, <fec,

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.} Sib, —Having seen and read correspondence of " J. Horn " and " Seeker ifter Truth," in your valuable journal, on the " Immortality of the Soul," I beg *b.e

favor of space in your columns for a few remarks. It is not my intention to con. demn or yet contradict either one or the other. To my mind "Seeker after Truth " has the best of the argument from Scripture, but I cannot endorsa the whole of what he says. I will merely quote a portion of Scripture, and leave the reader to draw his own conclusions. I cannot help but think that " Seeker after Truth " has overlooked the Scripture I now quote :—" I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, That thou keep this commandment without' spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he-shall shew, who is the blessed and onlyPotentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach, ~ unto, whom no man- hath seen, nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen."—lst Epistle to Timothy —6th chapter, and 13th, 14th, 15fch, 16th verses.—-I am &c, Sttbscbibeb.