The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, APRIL 9, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4449, 9 April 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, APRIL 9, 1883.

One of the members for Dunedin, Mr W. W. Green, has in a bold and spirited manner endeavoured to grapple with the pauper question, and he produces very novel proposals for the prevention of pauperism in the colony. Mr Green had the advantage of the scheme laid down by the Colonial Treasurer, and the knowledge of bow public feeling ran in regard to it, to work up his subject on, so that he had an opportunity of eliminating what appeared to be obnoxious to the public, and of replacing it with more attractive matter. As far as we can learn by a telegraphic report of. his speech when introducing the subject, he bases his sys« tern on a triple foundation, and each of the branches of it requires very careful consideration, and demands sound reason* ing to enable one to declare for or against it. The first part of his scheme would upset the licensing laws of the colony. He proposes to remove drunkenness—a prolific source of poverty—but his method of doing it is scarcely -a. practicable one. It is sought to draw-.from "drink" some. contribution towards the relief of victims to* it—this. is. a capital idea if it could be carried out. The method of doing tit is to close the hotels, excepting one to every 1500 inhabitants; in country districts public-houses should be at least ten miles apart, except on separate roads leading to different localities, and it should be incumbent on local bodies to purchase dis'uged buildings or publichouses, for other uses, .at a fair value; not

making it compulsory on the owner to | sell. The Government, It was proposed, should advance.money at five per cent, to the .bodies to enable'them to so purchase, and the buildings could be let or sold as would be deemed expedient by the local authorities. Thus money advanced would be repaid, to the Government. Such bouses would be under the control of a person appointed, at a salary, by the bodies in charge, and he should have no Interest in the sale of liquor—in fact the hotels would be kept Open only for the convenience of people requiring them, and unprincipled persons would not have an opportunity—as they now have—of taking advantage o: inebriates, obtaining their money and turning them out when it is exhausted. Any sum over the expenses of conducting such houses, and charging a license fee against themof £50 per annum, should be devoted to a fund for the sup« port of the aged, widows, and orphans, and the support of the hospitals. Should any deficiency arise,'in thii fund Mr Green would'make it up from the estates of persons dying intestate. These are the salient points of the first branch of Mr Green's proposal. The picture drawn is one rather pleasant to look at, but it remains' a picture, for it cannot become a reality, as far as this generation is con- ! cerued. In the first place the interests in* volved, and the power in the hands of those engaged in liquor traffic are far too great to be disposed of as easily as the speaker appeared to think. Licensing laws, and everything appertaining thereto have been a source of endless trouble tolepislators for a number of years. Any attempt to deprive the public of the means to indulge—to the fullest extent if they so listin the flowing bowl, has been treated as a deprivation of liberty; an insinuation that such attempts are insults to the understanding of the people, and a hint that they don't know when they have had "as much aa is good for them." Besides, it is generally understood that one should not "rob a poor man of his beer," although the poor man will admit that if he were robbed of two«thirds of the quantity he consumes he would be a better man, and better off. No Ministry could succeed in making such laws. Notwithstanding all these things, the proposals set out by the reformer are throughly unworkable, and to a practical politician read like one of Jules Verne's works. Doubtless they will make men think, and therefore they have merit, but the most sanguine teeto« taller of the present day cannot expect to see them made law. The proposer's zeal as an Apostle of Temperance has carried him beyond the limit of practicability in this portion of his essay. The second part of the scheme is simply a rechaujffe of arguments used at different times in endeavoring to encourage colonial industries. The only suggestion offered to the Government was in relation to the of railway plant in this colony, which should be carried out here, even if at a small loss, as it would afford a large amount of labor to skilled artisans and others. This of course every colonist will assent to, as capital is not only kept in the colony, but employment is found for a large 'number of its inhabitants. The matter, though, is only vaguely connected with the object sought to be dealt with, and renders the essay more general than we presume its author intended it to be. The third head under which Mr Green had fixed his subject was to enable the poorer classes to settle on the land. This in itself embraces a large area of politics and thought. Every liberal politician of the present day opens his programme with " the land for the people," and after a brief existence in Parliament the idea seems to leave his mind; the notion is not at all a new one. Whether the legislator becomes infected with the ideas of power in the House, held by a number of persons, that "the land is for a certain number of privileged persons," or, whether the desire to possess land is contagious in the legislative chambers, ir. is impossible to say; but here Mr Green once more goes-iu for an old cry, which has been re-echoed until it has become monotonous. Doubtless the opening up of land would, to some extent, provide means for people who are anxious to avoid poverty, but it does not appear to the proposer that the burning part of the question is that which should make people who are careless in the matter, provide for their helpless future, and so avoid the necessity of being dependent upon the people. Taking the scheme as a whole, even allowing for the imperfections usually attendant on the early efforts of young legislators, it does not present any striking features, which would lead to the slightest hopes of its ever being tried. We are by no means satisfied with the emanations of Major Atkinson's thought on the subject, but we hope that the opening of it will, ere the session commences, lead to some practical and beneficial scheme being produced,.