[To THE EDITOR OP TEE "SPECTATOR. "] Sra,—In your first leading
article in the Spectator of May 7th you severely criticise the Unionist Premier for dealing with a Compensation Bill before a Redistribution Bill. Might I point out that the Licensing Bill was included in the Speech from the throne as a sequel to a direct pledge repeatedly given by the Government last year ; that it is in accordance with a principle supported by a majority of two to one last Session, and approved, on the authority of an ex-Whip and a member of the Government, by practically the whole of the Conservative party? Does the Spectator urge that pledges and promises alike should be set aside? Moreover, I can positively assert that if the settlement of the licensing question were postponed till next Session, the " trade " would suffer in a very apprepiable degree. The article describes the anxiety of a man to protect his vital interests, his means of livelihood, as " grasping." I should have thought that it was natural, human, and justifiable. Is it fair to describe the Bill as a measure "to give the brewers a million of money " ? The million belongs at the present moment to the " trade " from which it is to be extracted. If, say, an old-age pension scheme were established by a Govern- ment Bill, by which the whole of the fund was raised by premiums paid solely by those who might participate from the fund, could the pensions be described as a gift from the Government to the aged? Does the writer look upon a pay- ment from a fire insurance office as a gift ?—I am, Sir, &c.,
HENRY A. NEWTON.
[We think that the money to be raised for the compensa- tion fund should long ago have gone into the national Ex- chequer, as part consideration for the tremendous gift annually made to the "trade" by the grant of monopoly rights in the sale of intoxicants. We would charge for licenses an annual sum proportionate to the benefit conferred by the State when it grants an annual license, and give an equitable solatium out of the national Exchequer when a license is not renewed. As to the Government pledges, we can only say that if the Government made them, they acted most unwisely, and con- trary to the public interest. —En. Spectator.]
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