SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1893.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4335, 3 February 1893, Page 2

SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1893.

BEINO 188 EXTENDED TIHB OF THE Wairarapa Daily, with which it is IDENTIC! Ali

We have now tho assurance of a Judge—und" a good Judge too " that Prohibiiion means a gravo restriction on individual liberty, Prohibition is in the a>mosphero, though the decision of the Court of Appeal in the Sydenham case, for the time being kills the local phase of it, and it must be faced as a strong probability. It is not altogether a question of whether Prohibition be right or wrong, for, | now-a-days the brutal axiom is accepted that majorities must rule. If Prohibition carries with it a majority it must prevail, and there is eveiy prospect of it doing eo. Singularly enough it is the publicans themselves who are building up the Prohibition majority. They are conducting their business loosely and carelessly, thoy evade the law in every possible way, and show that neither the police nor the Licensing Committees can control or punish them. The Licensed Victuallers appear to us to be exceedingly unwise in playing into the bands of tho Prohibitionists. Prior to the last election of Licensing Committees we pointed out that in the interests of both the public and the publican that local men of the highest standing and holding the most independent positions should be asked to constitute the Committee for this town. Had this heen done tho hotels of Masterton would have been well conducted, there would have been no complaints from the police, and there would have been no popular demand for prohibition. As it is the Licensing Committee has been regarded as a cipher, the police and the publican bav3 been at loggerheads, Sunday trading and (Sunday drunkenness have been prevalent and the observance of the fixed hour for closing has been a farce. The consequence is that there is probably a mnjority of residents in the town favourable to prohibition, It is too late now for any moderate reform to be adopted; either we shall get the restriction of individual liberty involved in prohibition or the publicans will emerge from the scrimmage once more triumphant and prepared to carry on their business moro recklessly than ever, Ultimately the State must decide which extreme is to be adopted or whether a middle course may be • possible, The majority must rulo and it seems to us that in more than one way the publicans are making a . majority for the prohibitionists.