The Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1881.

Evening Post, Volume XXII, Issue 5, 6 July 1881, Page 2

The Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1881.

THE LICENSING BILL. ? • Once moro we raise a note of warning in regard to the Licensing Bill now before Parliament. The fate of that unhappy measure is still trembling in the balance. Whether it will be finally torn to piecoa in the Lower House, or receive the cou,p tie grace in the Legislative Council, does not yet appear quite certain. It is to be feared, however, that only a miracle can save it from destruction in one way or the other, unless the extreme teetotal party will moderate their burning zeal, and be content to accept half a loaf, ta a whole one is unattainable. Yet, at present, there does not seem to be the remotest chance of any such mode of esc-vpe being afforded. An attempt was made last night by the Premier to take the discussion on certain points of principle, which had been made with a view to their disposal, so that on the return from Dunedin of the Colonial Secretary, who is in charge of the bill, it might be afl the more speedily carried through to its third reading. But this proposal was instantly and almost unanimously rejected, various members intimating that they had a great deal more to say on the subject yet, and that if they were to say it on that evening, they probably would have to say it all over again perhaps with a great deal more added when Mr. Dick returned and proceeded with his bill. So Mr. Hall promptly accepted the inevitable and withdrew his suggestion, proposing instead that the bill shall be gone on with to-night, after the Financial Statement has been delivered and the private members' business disposed of, a proposal very unlikely to be agreed to. Just a fortnight ago we expressed the opinion that unless members could make up their minds to deal with the measure in a manner very different from that in which they had hitherto treated it, the bill must be regarded aa doomed. Its prospects have by no means brightened during the two weeks which have since elapsed. On the contrary, the clouds which then overshadowed its career have since darkened until hardly the faintest ray of light is left bo break the pervading gloom. Amendment ifter amendment is tabled, recommittal on recommittal is imminent, and if the hapless bill ever succeeds in passing through the £ro of committal and recommittal to its third reading in the House of .Representatives, it will probably emerge in such a 3hapu as will ensure its inevitable conlemnation by the Upper House. This is jreatly to be regretted, from whatever point j£ view the question is regarded. Even if 10 new departure at all were taken this session, but only the fifty-one different laws low in force in New Zealand on this subject ivere consolidated iuto a single Act, that it least would afford a materially simplified starting point for another session. But jven this is almost past praying for. Mem)ers of all shades of opinion on a question vhich admits about as great variety of vhims and crotchets as any other under the inn.tuiit air their special " fads" and theories. !t is true that nobody takes up exactly ike ground that intempen nee is desirable, >r permissible, or indeed anything short of a lerious evil. But as to the best means of checking it and of carrying on the liquor trade trith a minimum of ill-effect, members differ is widely as the poles are asunder. Sir William Fox would gladly sea the sale of .lcohol absolutely prohibited throughout the ength and breadth, oi' the land, under the everest penalties. We are not quite sure rhether he would not like to see the sale of quor constituted a capital offence. Colonel 'risible on the other hand, believes that emperance would be promoted rather by llowing absolnte free trade in liquor, unattered by any of the restrictions now ivored, and he contends that the experilent when tried has given highly satisfactory Bsults, while the severer the restrictions the lore ingeniously they are sure to be evaded, let ween these two extremes there is an ilinity of variety in tLe ideas entertained y hon. members. The publican interest . net wholly tmtepresented in the House, hich is moreover daily flooded with petions atrainst one or other of the restrictive rovisions in the new Bill. Nor is the club iterest without its ardent advocates, he more patrician institutions of that ass do not relish tho idea of police ipervision and control. The Working [en's Clubs object strongly to the

heavy license fee sought to be imposed on them as a check on the illicit enterprises which borrow their designation aa a cloak for sly-grog selling. It ia not even yet a settled conviction in the minds of members whether the provision for elective licensins committees is or is not a mistake. Nobody U guise clear whether this will favour the publican* or the teetotallers. Some of the publicans evidently take the latter view, aa they havo petitioned earnestly against the alteration. The fact should not ba lost sight of that the functions of the licensing committee are purely judicial. They have simply to administer the law, and it may therefore be fairly questioned whether an elective bench may not be open to grave abuses. It is only one step more to make the offices of magistrate and judge elective, an " advanced" principle which will hardly as yet meet with general acceptance. We have reason to believe that this particular point will receive the special attention of the Legislative Council, shonld the present bill ever travel so far. which, as we have said, iB doubtful in tho extreme. Wa question whether any member of the Lower House could explain to us the precise position in which the bill now stands after the cutting and hacking and pruning and grafting and patching and darning which it has undergone in committeo. It will not surprise us if, when the bill is reprinted with, amendments and put into the hands of its father, Mr. Diok, that gentleman should declare it is not his bill at all, and utterly repudiate his putative offspring. But we shall be vory much surprised if the bill as amended up to date do not turn out, when reprinted, to be a mass of incongruities and inconsistencies. We hardly see how it can be otherwise after the ordeal through which it has passed. What its further trials may be on recommittal we Bhudder to anticipate. Present appearances all indicate the probability that th.9 House will, ere long, become thoroughly wearied and sickened of what Mr. Reader Wood called "these unutterably dreary teetotal debates," and give up the whole thing as a " bad job." That would be a serious public misfortune. A Licensing Bill is one of the most pressing legislative needs of the day. and it is greatly to be regretted that useful legislation on this important question should be rendered almost impossible through the crazy " fads," intemperate zeal, and obstinate impracticability of a few enthusiasts.