But, Lastly, by Whom is Compensation to be Paid?

Is it to come out of consolidated revenue, or by loan, or how? If not the Central Government, is it the ratepayers of the district in which the houses are suppressed? This simply means that no houses shall be suppressed, for we know how eagerly the County Councils stick to the licensing fees, which, most injudiciously, have been handed to them. Is it likely that they will not only page 11 give up the licensing fees, but tax themselves heavily to pay compensation to the publican and brewer? The Victorian method of paying it out of increased licensing fees has not proved itself a success, and in that Colony they have not undertaken the annihilation of the traffic, but only a moderate reduction of the number of existing houses to what is called statutory limits, what in most countries would be called an excessive number.