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Beer and Wine Forces Split on Local Option As Ontario's Cure--All Home Smith, President of Moderation L e a g u e, Takes Iss ue With Heighington Resolution as Introduced in Legis-- 1 a t u r e--Government and Opposition Leaders and Press All "in Con-- spiracy of Silence" "Take it from me, I never heard of this Heighington resolution until I saw the newspapers after its introduction, and while it may be taken as a some-- what belated and faltering step in the right direction, it is nct in line with my own personal views, nor with those of the Moderation League," declared R. Home Smith, President of the league, commenting on the resolution introduced into the Legislature by Wilfred Heighington, M.P.P., advocat-- ing the sale of wine and beer. Mr. Smith emphatically voiced his dis-- agreement with the wording of the resolution as it stands. "Again and again I have reiterated my own personal conviction on the general form of wine and beer legisla-- tion," he said, "and I would quote you the following from a speech I made at St. Catharines some six months ago: "'We desire light wines and beer by the bottle, to be sold under license, and subject to local option, in licensed "'We desire light wines and be°r| "To all intents and purposes 1I by the bottle, to be sold underlicense, | opened this wine and beer campaign and subject to local option, in licensed | in a specch in March, 1932, and th hotels, restaurants and clubs, and un-- concluding words were: 'If eventuallyg. der such Government restrictions &ASs why not now?' Surely we have now may be in the public interest.' arrived at 'eventually.' Let us get "There must be local option, as that| on with it." s APvH )0 | principle has been the very roundation : stone of trus temperance legislation < during the past fifty years," continued | Mr. Smith. '"The problems of the City of Toronto are as different from ' those of North Timiskaming as the . County of Brant, as are red, white and blue, and within reason and subject to | proper general regulation and super-- ' vision, why --should not each municipal ' unit have the right to decide what its . people want and intend to have, and what regulations in the opinion of the authorities best suit the necessities of | the local situation. '"It is high time that this subject be dealt with and settled by the Lead-- er of the Government, the Leader of the Liberal Opposition in the House, the Leader of the Liberal Opposition out of the House and Mr. Nixon. Each of thom has dodged the issue and joined every first--class newspaper in thse Province in a conspiracy of stlence. Action should have been taken a year ago when Ontario had a choice, and when this Province stood to gain in tourist traffic as, against the Eighteenth Amendment' conditions then prevailing in the 'United States. Today we have no: choice, for 125,000,000 people to the' south of the line have gone wet, and ; all our neighboring Provinces are practically on the Quebec liquor law, and therefore the bone--drys of this Province are thrown back on the ab--| surd suggestion that we should con-- stitute ourselves a small Sahara in the midst of a continent flowing with milk and honey. "If any local bone--dry is still Sahara--minded, he must take one of two positions: Either, first, that the other 130,000,000 people on this con--| tinent are all wrong and that this: Province of 3,000,000 people is alone righteous on wine and beer; or, sec-- ond, that the population of this Prov-- ince is so inferior in moral stamina to the rest of the psople on the con-- , tinent that our legislators must con-- | tinue as nursemaids and provide a gencral law wherechy the drinking babits and morals of the people of Ontario are protected by the superior wisdom --of the 112 statesmen at | Q@ueen's Park.