TEMPERANCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5178, 9 November 1895, Page 3

TEMPERANCE.

The Masterton Women's Christian Temperance Crusade met in the Presbyterian Church on Tuesday last, when it was decided to retain the present Officers nnlil the meeting in February 1896, Tho temperance position, under the Now Law was then considered, and the following statement, by the General Secretary of the New Zealand Alliance read to the meeting -. The question whether it was wise to pass so much of the Liquor Bill this session as the two Houses could agree upon, or reject the measure until the whole could be'passed, was determined in favour of the former course, principally by the following considerations:—Next session being tlio last of the present Parliament, and the Upper House being very little sensitive to public opinion, it was considered by some to be at least likely that the near approach of tho General election would be seized upon by the Council us a reason for rejecting the measure altogether, and throwing the whole question back upon the constituencies. In Hint c:ise the next triennial licensing poll would be taken under the old defective Act before the new Parliament could meet, and it would bo more than four years from now before a poll could be taken under an improved law. It will still be possible during that time to deal by legislation with the question of clubs and of national option, thus in no way delaying the application of a national option law, while securing immediately the advantages of an improved local option law. As tho Council has excluded clubs fiom popiilarcoutrol.aml they sometimes represent one of the worst forms of the drink traffic, it may bo as well (odenmm! flint the granting of club charters shall cease to be lawful. The provision that half the electors must vote is retained where there is no contested parliamentary election. Notwithstanding tlia't Clutha is called a Prohibition district, tlio following forms of license have to the present time been lawful there, namely, wholesale, conditional, packet, bottle, New Zealand wine and railway, When Clutha, orany other district, carries Prohibition under the new law,no license of nnydeserip(ion will be lawful within the district, and it is hardly likely at this time of day that any Government will have the hardihood under such conditions to grant a club charter. No new club charter has been granted anywhere since the Act of 18% was passed, notwithstanding several applications. In Prohibition districts, undor the now law, the following new provisions also willobtain: It will bo unlawful to sell any liquor therein; or to solicit or receive therein any order for liquor; or to send any liquor into the [district, if there is reasonable ground for suspicion that it is wanted for sale therein; or to send any liquor therein without the package haying a statement on it, that it contains liquor; any suspected package may be detained, and examined in the presence of witnesses, by an Inspector. The penalty for a breach of any of these provisions will be-For a first offence, a fine not exceeding fifty pounds ; and for any subsequent otlieuce, imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, without the option of a line. People in the district wanting liquor for private use, will Imve | 0 buy it from outside the district, iiiid a brewer within the district may only sell for delivery beyond the limits of the | district.

[ The vote will be taken on general election days, wliich are usually in ; November, so that when Prohibition is carried the trade will get nearly eight months' notice to sell out before their licenses expire in the following Juno. It will be remembered that at the last poll the ballotpaper asked three questions about ' each of three kinds of licenses, niak- ' ing nine lines, of which six had to , be struck out to record a valid vote. ' Under the new law three questions | only are asked, covering all descrip- \ tions of licenses, as to whether the 1 existing number shall continue, or i be reduced, or whether any licenses '• shall be granted. There are, therefore, only three lines on the ballotpaper, and the voter may vote for any two of the three proposals. If, ! therefore, the voter strikes out the top lineonlyjietherebyvotesfor both prohibitionand reduction. Similarly if both continuance and reduction are carried, but not prohibition, reduction takes precedence of continuance. It requires a three-fifths vote to carry prohibition, and a three-fifths vote to reverse it; but a bare majority carries reduction. Reduction is to be from sto To per cent. Careful provision is made that the abuses and injustices which occurred at the last polling shall not bo repeated. Liquor-selling at Bellamy's is subject to an open vote of the two Houses in the first month of each new Parliament. Special inspectors other than the police, arc to be appointed to enforce the provisions of the licensing laws, including, of course, the enforcement of prohibi- • tion, but without relieving the police of their responsibility in the same matter. No new bottle licenses are to be granted, and the existing ones, of which there are about lifty-six in Ofago, Westlaiul, Nelson and Marlborough, are not to be renewed anywhere after the next licensing poll has been taken. From this date, no new compacts or agreements creating tied houses ate to lawful. The Licensing Committee is to be elected in March, triennial!)', as heretofore the March after the Novcmbor poll; but no Committee is to be elected where a district carries Prohibition because there will be nothing for a Committeo to do, The General Election day is to bo a half-holiday from noon, and liquor is not to bo sold from noon to 7 p.m. After May ■ next, licenses may not be removed to other premises more than a quarter , of a mile away. What a chairman of a Licensing Committee could do : alone, can now only be done by the , chairman and two members, There are a few other alterations of the law ! but those are of minor importance. , Sir Claude Maxwoll Macdonald, ' K.C.M.G., Consul-General and Administrator of the Niger Coast Protectorate, who arrived at Liverpool , last week from West Africa, has boen interviewed, and with regard to . the importation of spirits into Africa . said -" In the territory over which 1 , have got jurisdiction I put a treaty duty on all pernicious imports, and particularly spirits. All other I, articles, such as cotton goods and other necessaries, we allow in duty t free. VVhenouradministrationcamo in we found tho import of spirits [ heavy, and we faxed it. Wc cannot expect to do away with it all at once, 3 It is a trade that will take a considerable timo to wipe out, but it is a trade that we all discourage."