LOCAL OPTION POLLS

*, Almost the whole of the official returns of the results of the local j option polls taken on 4th inst have now j been received. The decisions in all } but a very few cases are that the ! number of existing licenses be con i tinued. In about half a dozen in stances neither of the proposals were carried, the result in such cases being that the licensing committees have power to renew the existing licenses for j other three years. Thp following are i the detailed results in Otago and the i totals in theotherprovincial districts : —

Mr H. Field, secretary of the New Zealand Alliance, has supplied the Wellington Post with the following statement and remarks, which indicate the view taken of the recent local option poll by the Prohibitipn party : — Particulars ars to hand from forty four out of the sixty two electorates, and these show the total. voting on the respective issues to be : For continu ance 102,412, reduction 73,145, no license 72,745. There is thus a differ ence of 29,667 between the continu ance and the Prohibition vote, out of a total of 175,157 votes cast, Roughly speaking, out of every five votes three veted for continuance and two for Pro hibition. There was not 1000 votes difference between reduction and no license, and as the plan of the Prohibitionists was { Strike out the top line only,' it may now be regarded as certain that there is not a large section of the community i who believe in a policy of reduction. as opposed to the policy of prohibition, j The result of the poll shows au increase in the Prohibition vote in the forty four electorates reported upon of 32,934. In the four chief cities the in creased vote -for no license is as follows : — Dunedin, 560 ; Ohristchurch, 1295 ; Wellington, 1454 ; and Auckland, 3864. But it is needful to note here '.. that Auckland did not make a real , pffort in 1894, believing that under the ' local conditions then existing eflort would be wasted. The difference be- ' tween the continuance and the Prohi bition vote in the four cities is as j follows :— Dunedin^ 3324; Christ- j church, 2997 ; Wellington, 1968 ; ' Auckland, 1513. 