Another curious perversity of view exhibited by Mr. Balfour was
to be found in his assertion that the com- pensation is not to be given out of public funds, but is to be provided by the "trade." That is, of course, a pure paradox. The State has hitherto given the publican free, or almost free, a valuable property. Under the Bill it is stipulated that a small portion of this annual gift shall be returned to the State. But this does not make the compensation fund a private affair of the "trade." The Bill merely takes partial possession of a great national asset which has hitherto been wasted. It is not the " trade " which provides the compensation fund, but the State, which has created the value attaching to licenses owing to its system of monopoly. The money goes into the public Treasury, and is public money like all other money collected by law. Its quality cannot be altered by calling it a fund provided by the "trade," any more than the money paid out of A's waistcoat-pocket differs from the money paid out of A's trousers-pocket.
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