Evening Post FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1904.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 61, 9 September 1904, Page 4

Evening Post FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1904.

THE NEW LIQUOR BILL, ■ ■♦ Tho lothargic appcnrancp of tho House of Representatives lost night ns it listened to tho opomng of tho dcbato on tho socond reading of tho Licensing Amendment Bill gnvo no indication of tho electricity that was ac|ivo beneath tho surfaco, nnd a casual obsorvor would never Itavo guessed that thcro was anyUiing moro exciting in hand than the ordinary roufcino work of tho daily Parliamentary round. Tho galleries woro | crowded, as they always aro when & j Licensing Bill is expected, but tho occupants had to wait noarly two hours before tho business was reached, nnd •when it como it was surprisingly Hat. Tho Promior was in a far from happy mood, and his note was rather that of | a man who fought bocauso lie must, than , because ho hoped to win. i-In liis general deprecation of tho "everlasting turmoil" with wiwoh this question is surrounded ho hns our on&iro sympathy, but who is chiefly responsible for tho fact that during trio lnst twolvo months tho turmoil •haa bo*on worso than over, nnd tho prospocb of roasomblo reform moro romoto •■Mian ever? Tho oxtronio partisans of "tho trade" a*e often injudicious, and its extreme opponents aro often intempeniio, but wo liavo no hesitation in saying that tho coinbinnd offects of their -misdirected zeal in disturbing tho public mind since tho last local option poll havo been absolutely trivial in comparison with thoso produced by tho action and tho inaction of tho Premier. What the public wants is first of all such an aimmdmont of the local electoral machinery that a repetition of tho Bruco^and Nowtown scandals may bo rendered impossiWo, and secondly a schema of gonornl reform which, without challenging tho trienniwl exorciso of tho popular rights of control, would secure a closor observance of tho law nnd a botter class of licensed house. • On tho first point tho country is practically unanimous, and it is notoworthy that tho Liconscd Victualled deputation which rocently waited on the Premier very properly abstained from any attempt to opposo this obviously just and necessary demand. The l'romier, however, is in this respect move determined than the Licensed Victuallers thembclves to thwart the will of tho people, and instead of allaying popular excitement by parsing a machinery Bill on tho main principles of which all parties can agree, lto has stimulated it to a far higher pitch by tho* ingenious foolery of "clause 9." That proposal might tterve a, legitimate jnirpoHC in argument nf> ft "tv quoquo" on tho fanatical Piohibitionist, bufc the statute-book is no place for dialectical " tv quoquos," and it i» not the part of sober statesmanship to-aittempt to put them there. It is true t-htft " chwise 9 " no longer appears in its original absolute form, but its operation in to bo subject to the operation of nnother pojwilar voto to be taken simultaneously wibh t-lie ordinary local option voio. This makes tho proposal less dnw-

tiu than before, but tho confusion that must bo gonemterl by taking a contingent, volo as to Iho fll'ecl/ of "no-license," if curried, stjnultiuicouNly "with tho ordinary vote on tho question, and tho false issuo thereby raihed, woro well put by Mr. Fowids last night. The muddle exemplified by tho Viclnrinn referendum on Biblo iv schools would bo repeated in every booth, and both process and result would bo 100 absurd to doscrvo serious contemplation. Mr. Seddon was good enough to [my us the campHmonl ot referring to our article in which Uio " amazing ingenuity " of tho interdependence of clauses 9 and 10 was expounded. Ho denied thut thero wns any ingenuity in tho matter, but nH his denial waa not supported by argument, wo aro nob called upon to reply. Ib is, however, -worth adding that tho absurdity of tho position is heightened by tho fact that in order to enable Uio elector to oxerciso his second or contingent voto intelligently tho whole of section 10, which contains twenty lines, is to bo sot out on tho baJlofc-paper, yet ■section 10 does nob contain a single word to explain tho effect of this voto. Tho section, as wo pojntod out in tho article referred to, declare? categorically that the effect of a voto for "no license" is to bo "no liquor," yet it is set out, on the ballot-pnper by way of explaining the differonco between the two! It is, of course, clause 9 which explains tho contingent operation of the "no liquor" vote, and this clause, containing another twenty-seven lines, must also be set. out if tho voter is not to bo entirely misled. Tho effect, of the "no license" vote ns explained in the thirty-two lines of clause 11 should also bo added, making a total of seventy-nine lines of statute on tho bnllot-papor, and by tho timo he' has studied them tho anxious voter will cither know more law than he ever knew before, or else not bo quite sure whet4ior ho is standing on his head or his hools. Leaving these problems severely alone, Mr. Seddon devoted a largo amount of his timo to justifying tho proposed elimination of tho reduction vote, but tho basis of the justificaiion was nob that tho moderates had asked for it, but Ifliat tho Prohibitionists wore inconsistent in opposing ifc. Mi\ Massey was heard to great advantage in reply, and his speech was certainly tho "speech of tho evening. Ho did not think much of the reduction policy himaelf, but considered that ib was valued by many moderate voters as a police moAmire, and lie was against any radical interference with this or any other form of popular option. He declared boldly for compensation on tho linos of tho English measure from a fund contributed by the licensees themselves, and ho denounced the wholesale . lawlessness in the King Country in tones which must convince oven temperanco extremists of his sincerity, however they may disapprove of his remedy." But in Bpito of Mr. Mnwsey's sturdy and outspoken common seiiso tho debnto as a whole was dull and listless, „ and seems to mean that neifchor tho lloiiso nor its leader is inclined to take his Bill too seriously.