The Licensing reformers of Liverpool have agreed to support a
Bill retaining the justices as the licensing authority, but allowing the ratepayers to veto now licences, selling new licences by public tender, shortening the hours of business, and improving the police supervision. The compromise, though carefully drawn, will not pass the Legislature. It is identical in principle with the Per- missive Bill—which is a bad- bill—and would be still more oppres- sive to the minority, who would see their neighbours in old dis- tricts drinking at will, while they could get no liquor, and it gives all the new houses to the big brewers. One house per 1,000 souls, and no new licences till we get down to that proportion,— that is all we can hope for at present, but that we can get easily. That protects the existing publicans, and doubles their temptation to keep decent.
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