TRE LOCAL OPTION POLL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2499, 12 May 1909, Page 2

TRE LOCAL OPTION POLL.

THE NUMBER OF LICENSES EXTINGUISHED.

| (By G. B. Nicho’.ls.) It will be of considerable interest to tlio general public to learn how many licenses will be extinguished as a result of the late local option elections in New Zealand. I have corresponded with the various areas and find the numbers as follows: i Publicans’ Licenses only, Through' No-License—- „ Ohinemuri ... 14 Eden ... ... ' ... ..... 4 Master ton ... 15 Wellington Suburbs ... 7 * Wellington South 4 Bruce ... 22 Through Reduction — ' - Dunedin City .-. 10 Auckland City, say ... 4 Manukau ••• 3 Parnell ... ... ... ••• 2 Chalmers ... ... ... ... 3 Dunedin South ... .... 3 Taieri ••• ••• 2 Through being added to Nolicenso areas — Oaniaru ” Ashburton ... ••• ••• ° Mataura ... ••• -L

Total ... ....... 106 In addition to the 'above two wholesale licenses will be destroyed at Masterton and two bottle licenses in Bruce, and there is a possibility that thirteen bottle licenses may be extinguished in Dunediil City and two m Dunedm S °Thus the net of the no-license efforts in the 1908 campaign- reckoning publicans’ and accommodation , censes only, is 106 licenses. A total oT twelve electorates altogethei v ill■ Jjo under no-license after June 30 next, seven in the South Island and five in the North, two- of these latter, however being suburbs of Wellington, are St of great value as object-lessons. UNDER A 55 .PER CENT MAJORITY The above is wllat has taken place under kW per cent, or three-fifths, majority. The question is often asked, What Would have been the result if the extra majority requited had been reduced, swyw.t? 55 P er equal to ’splitting the difference between the three-fifths vote and the simPl AsSng y 'thal>, Under this reduced majority, the people would have voted the same way -as they did with _ three-fifths requirement m operation, we have the following result. The h-o-ures giveh. are taken from Mr Lll s parliamentary return of. licensed houses fn 1907, and may he slightly incorrect in some instances, owing to alteied boundaries: —• Places over 55 per cent- piiblicW Licenses. Marsden Franklin :jw Waitemata Egmont , % Wairarapa ji Hutt Kaiapoi , .i Geraldine Waitaki . Manukau, extra Parnell, extra Chalmers,' extra ... ••• 3 Dunedin City, extra ... 30 Dunedin South, extra ... BJ Taieri, extra ... ••• ••• 11 Waipawa ... , • LJ

Total 217 Add closed by three-fifths 106 Total bars closed by 55 per cent, vote 323

Thus it will he seen that if the extra majority required had been reduced bv 5 per cent, the total number of electorates under uo-license would now- be •28 instead of 12, as at present, and the number of licenses extinguished would have been 323, instead of 10b, as at present. In the ' case of. those electorates that carried reduction, 1 have only reckoned the oxtia number of licenses that would have been affected UNDER BARE MAJORITY. The list of those places that polled over a bare majority with the number of licenses they contain, according to Mr EU’s return, will also be of interest. It will he noted that this list mc:udes all the four centres of the dominion. Publicans Licenses.

More than bare majority — Kaipara £4 Thames • • • _ Tauranga (estimate • •• to Gisborne (estimate) to Stratford (estimate) ... Lj> Waikato ....... 21 Pahiatua ... ••• ' Taranaki tl Patea . ft Wanganui jo Oroua ••• Manawatu ••• ••• ••• . Wellington'City Buller on Wairau Avon • •• ••• ••• , Christchurch if” .Lyttelton ... ‘in Timaru ftt Tuapeka Awarua •** • Auckland ... Total - ... ••• 567 Add closed under three- _ fifth's •••■•• ••• ••• 10b Add closed under o 5 pel cent: ... v : - ; •••_ Total, closed -under hare Tauranga, Gisborne and* Stratford are new electorates and I have not the exact number of licenses ™Mam. The total number of publicans anu

accommodation licenses in.: New Zcalaud in 1907/ according to Mr Ell’s return, was -1422. Had the simple majority been in operation, and assuming that the people would have voted the same way as they did on the three-fifths ' principle, it follows that this number, would have been reduced to 532 by tho late poll, and the number of no-license districts would have been 50 instead .of 12, or 49, assuming that Ashburton would liavo carried Restoration. PLACES THAT FAILED. There are 68 licensing districts in the dominion, equal to 76 electorates (each , of the four centres counts three electorates, but is only reckoned as one licensing, district), of these 12 will have no-license after Juno 30 next; 16 others .polled over 55 per,cent., . 22 others polled less than 55 per cent hut over a bare majority, and'lß failed to poll, a majority of the votes cast for nolicense. The names of these hackv, srd electorates - are: —ln Auckland province/'Bay of Islands and" Bay of Plenty electorates; in Hawke s Bay province,. Napi,er and Hawke s electorates; in Taranaki province, ranui electorate; in Wellington province, Otalci, Rangitikei and Palmerston North electorates; in Nelson, Marlborough and Westland provinces, City of Nelson, Motueka, Grey and Westland electorates; in Canterbury province, Riccarton, Hurunui, Ellesmere and Selwyn electorates; in Otago and Southland provinces, Wakatipu and \\ a.lace electorates. NORTH ISLAND BEATS THE SOUTH.

Auckland is now tlie banner province as regards no-license vote, as their percentage of no-license voters is 56.21, taken over the whole province, as against 55.84 taking the vote over the whole province of Otago. The North Island now shows a percentage vote of 54.53 and the South Island 52.17, a substantial lead for the North Island. The percentage of no-license votes to all those that voted was 53.45 for the wholo dominion. I am indebted for the percentages used in this article to the very complete set of reckonings lately published by Mr Edward Walker jij (hq “Lyttelton Times.”