Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1877-01-13 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

THOMPSOK, J.P., Manchester, in an able speech, spoke in support of the resolution, and expressed his pleasure that Mr Bell, M.P., would have voted for the Permissive Bill had he not been in America as one of the British Commissioners at the Exhibition; and as a member of the United Kingdom Alliance he heartily thanked them for sending to the House of Commons a gentleman who would support Sir Wilfrid Lawson. (Applause.) The Chairman in his opening remarks, in referring to the Permissive Bill, said that if there was no other better measure before the country he would be prepared to support it; that was precisely his position and that of the Alliance, which was prepared to favour any measure which went in the right direction—(applause)—and they seemed to have the promise of a great number of measures in that direction. (Hear, hear.) The principle laid down by the Alliance twenty-five years ago was that the sale of intoxicating drinks could not be controlled; therefore it should be prohibited. The Chairman had said he, as a magistrate, was not prepared to go in for free trade in drink, but they had a prospect of al measure in- that direction, for the Right Hon. Robert Lowe had been writing an article in the Fortnightly Review, in which he propounded a the which, by the way, was not new, but which he had got up from a report of a committee of the House of Commons in 1854, appointed to investigate the question of licensing reform. That committee suggested that the traffic should be free to this extent: that a house situate in a town of certain population should be charged a £6 license where they wished to sell liquors, and that other houses in larger towns should pay up to £3O, according to the population for a license to sell liquor, and then every person who was of good character might have a license. No doubt Mr Lowe had studied this question, but it had been forced upon him. It was only another proof that the agitation of 25 years ago was taking root and bearing fruit. They had not been labouring invain; their ammunition was not wasted, and they were going to fight it out. (Applause.) He bad belonged to tke Alliance ever since it was formed, and saw in this movement the greatest reform which it was possible to imagine. There was nothing keeping them ,hock so much as the drunkenness by which they were surrounded and its consequences. They were told continually that all this would be remedied hy education, but he did not believe it. He had been for many years a magistrate for the city of Manchester, and he told them without any hesitation that he believed there were as many educated met and women came before the Bench as those who 'were not educated. (Hear.) He poutradieted the statements that the Maine Laws were a failure, and said the Alliance wen were only going in for the enforcement of prohibition where the public voice was in favour of it. He said that was perfectly constitutional, and would prove highly beneficial. (Cheer) Having glanced at the Gothenburg scheme and that of Mr Cowen, M.P., for the election of licensing boards, the speaker remarked that the question was not a party one, and concluded by urging the meeting to support the policy of the Alliance. The resolution was= then carried amid applause. Mr MATTHEW GRAY moved a resolution pledging the meeting to support the Permissive Bill, which was seconded by Mr Withy, supported by Mr J. H. Raper in s long and powerful speech, and carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the meeting.  CO-OPERATIVE tlmme.—The Manchester Courier says that some time since the South Yorkshire Miners' Association yurchased the Shirland Colliery ,in Derbyshire, murder to carry out the principle of co-operation. The experiment, however, has disastrously. The trustees have sold the colliery for £ll,OOO, and the Miners' Association loan tkcti.l lort £3I,OTJI