Evening Post WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1910.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 113, 9 November 1910, Page 6

Evening Post WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1910.

THE COMING STAMPEDE. Tha session entered upon its' twelfth week yesterday, which means^ as the Speaker of the House of Representatives remarked, that the end is not far 0.7. Members will henceforth be allowed to deal with all the stages of a Bill at a single sitting — a concession which is in accordance with recent precedents, but is of very doubtful advantage, since it means that one of the established safeguards against hasty legislation is relaxed just when it is most sorely needed. Yet, failing this course, it is difficult to see how the end is ever to be reached. While the House is still suffering from a congested Order Paper, ' no less than threa new items were added to the list on Monday evening, when the Old Age Pensions Bill, the Loan^ Bill, and the Libel \Bill were introduced together by Governor's Message. Mr. Massey suggested that time should be allowed for the study of the Bills already on the Order Paper before new ones were introduced, 'and Sir Joseph Ward was unable to give any assurance that thare are not more to follow. It must certainly be admitted that two of the latest additions to the Order Paper are neither long nor controversial. The Libel Bill has more substance in it, but we should be glad to think that it also is entitled to the Premier's description of it as non-controversial. Sir "Joseph Ward will be- entitled to the hearty thanks of the press of New Zealand if he relieves it from the incubus of an antiquated and oppressive law of libel, which even the Conservatism of tiie Old Country outgrew more than twenty years ago; and we cannot see that any reasonable objection can be taken at this time of day to a change which British experience has proved to sacrifice none of the essential safeguards of character, while serving both the press and tne public by discouraging frivolous or blackmailing actions aimed at the suppression of facts which the public is concerned to know. The time has long since passed for reasonable opposition to such a measure, and we take the Premier's introduction of it now as evidence that he knows that unreasonable opposition is no longer to be feared. There is -ample other evidence of the Premier's confidence in the pacific temper of the House. A fortnight ago it did not appear unreasonable to allow a week for the Land Bill, and about two weeks for the Licensing Bill. But the extraordinary performance of the House in putting the Licensing Bill through its second reading in two hours, witb no speeches except from the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition, has upset, all calculations. Just as people were being satisfied by the resolutions of the Now Zealand Alliance and other Prohibitionist bodies that the crucial clauses of the Licensing Bill are nob a. "put-up job" between the parties to last year's compact, the peaceful collapse ot a debate which was expected to last at least two days, and to arouse very bitter feeling, has revived speculation on the subject. The Bill must not be takea as representing a compromise between the Trade and its enemies, but is there an agreement between them as to the ballotpaper to be substituted for that provided by the Bill? If not, how did they arrange a truce upon the second reading, Avliich was the proper occasion for discussing the big questions of principle at. stake? The btrong exception taken by tiie Prohibitionistb to the combination of Dominion Prohibition \uid local No-licc-nse on a single \ ote, the prophucy of Mr. Massey that the ballot-paper would be amended, and Sir Joseph Ward's pvomibe to give reasonable coneidgratioii to any proposal for amend..

ment, tend to confirm the impression that a way out will still be sought by compromise. Failing some agreement, how can the Bill possibly escape shipwreck in Committee? A similar remark applies to the Land Bill, for which, also, Sir Joseph Ward declares that a single day should suffice. \t is impossible to suppose either that there will be any compromise regarding the compulsory tease, or that the House will accept it ; bu*i even if the obnoxious provision is dropped, the free discussion of the rest of the measure would, under ordinary conditions, extend indefinitely. It is true that with the end of the session in sight tho present conditions are not ordinary, but even so, to get three such measures through in three days as the Gaming Bill, the Licensing Bill, and the Land Bill, would be an unprecedented marvel of political engineering.