THE PUBLIC HOUSE AT HOME.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3139, 17 March 1909, Page 3

THE PUBLIC HOUSE AT HOME.

THE COMPENSATION QUESTION. MR ASQUITH'S BILL. TOO MANY LICENSES IN EXISTENCE. Ihe Rev. E. S. Buchanan, v, ho was educated at Canterbury College, and who has been working in the Temperance cause in London and other parts ot England for the past 12 years, has returned to Christy church, where he will spend a little time before he returns to London. Speaking to a reporter, he said that at Home, in spite of all the efforts of reformers, drinking Amongst women had increased by leaps and bounds. It was the most serious danger which England had to face at present. Referring to Mr Asquith's new Licensing Bill, he said that its principal proposal was that, at the end of 15 years, the 96,000 publichouses in the United Kingdom should be reduced to 66,000. Compensation was to be given for every license taken away, and was to represent the difference between the values of a house with the liccnne and without it. In Seven Oaks, for instance, a house was abolished, and £1,500 was paid in compensation. As a dwellinghouse the premises were built for £350, and the land cost another £l5O. The license, which was given by the justices for Netting, raised the value to £2,000. So that there was practically a free gift of £1,500 to the house. Before Mr Balfour's Bill of 1904 was passed no compensation was paid, but Mr Balfour transferred the license from the State to the licensee by enacting that no license could be taken away except for misconduct without the State paying for it in full. Mr . Asquith's Bill provided that at the i end of the 15 years the State should : resume possession of th°. licenses, | which was a very desirable point. ; There was a great temperance wave 1 sweeping i - ound the worJd. The United Kingdom had felt it, and would not take lying down the summary rejection of Mr Asquith's Bill by the House of Lords. Next election would be fought mainly on temperance principles. It was practically im possible to get a new license in England to-day, as public fueling was unanimous that there were too many licenses already in existence. The Archbishop of Canterbury supported Mr Asquith's Bill, and made the speech of his life in the House of Lords when the Bill was discussed. Although the Temperance party was well organised, *it had a very powerlu! organisation to fight. England was very far behind New Zealand in regard to the Temperance movement. There was a strong movement in the country in - favour of Sunday-closing in Glasgow. For a time barmaids were abolished, but they had now been reinstated, although the reformers hoped that the reinstatement would not be permanent. The greatest power in the cause was the Temperance Alliance, whose headquarters were in London and Manchester. Its organ was the "Alliance News," which circulated throughout the whole •of the Kingdom once a week. The Temperance Legislation Leagua supplied literature and speakers free of cost to all parts of the country, and did yeoman service while Mr Asquith's Bill was being canvassed. Sir Thomas Whitt aker, M.P., v.as the champion of the forward movement, and, since the death of Sir Wilfred Lawson, he ha J been the leader of the cause in the House of Commons. The Rev L. M. Isitt did great things for the cause [during fhis last tour through England, and in England was regarded as the greatest platform advocate of the present day. "