ANOTHER ATTEMPT

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 122, 25 May 1928, Page 8

ANOTHER ATTEMPT

Parliament will have a further opportunity in the coming session of considering Licensing legislation. The Prime Minister has.come to this decision on ..the ground that the issue should be set : tied, if it is at all possible, because it crosses many very important policy questions. This statement is scarcely open to argument. .The bare-majority two-issue' poll is not a proposal upon which candidates are aligned according to party. It is possible that a ReformProhibitionist voter may have the choice of a Labour candidate who favours his Prohibition views and a Re-' form candidate who is opposed to them. His vote will then be decided by the order in which he places the issues. Some voters, we are aware, would have the bare majority at all costs, and some would reject it at all costs. This must lead to confusion in the political contest.. Parliament should spare no effort to avoid this. Wo do not wish to see either a muddled political verdict or a mandate which is no mandate upon the bare majority. In 1925 •the country gave a clear verdict on general policy, and, accidentally, what purported to be a mandate for the bare majority was obtained at the same time. We have always contended' that the electors did not intend that mandate. That is why wo consider the Legislative' Council' was fully justified last session in - interposing to revise the proposals of the elected Chamber. ■ It is now contended byi the president of the Alliance that the Bill did not have a fair deal. The reference is evidently to the amendments made in the Legislative Council. But those amendments were supported by men not unsympathetic with the Prohibition cause. Their attitude was guided by appreciation of the fact that the pledges, by which the elected members had been bound had ..not been deliberately and unmistakably endorsed by the -voters. We do not believe that such tin enjdorsement would be given. A majorityl of the petfple, we aro convinced, whether favouring Prohibition or not, share the Prime Minister's concern as to whether Prohibition obtained by the bare majority would assure complete and definite^ compliance wifli the law. It seems hopeless to expect from the Alliance- an appreciation of this viewpoint," but it is a Viewpoint which Prliament cannot ignore. Parliament should also be mindful of its duty in a matter which does not affect the referendum —the revision of the law by which the Licensed trade as regulated so long as it continues. This duty has been long neglected, and reforms which are most desirable have been shelved— mainly because attention has been concentrated upon the referendum aspect of the law. Disappointment with tho Legislature in this respect has been a recruiting agent for the Prohibition movement. We know that our views of reform differ radically from those of the Alliance, which holds that all beverage use of alcohol is abuse. We believe it possible to legislate for use and against abuse, ana to remove some of the ridiculous anomalies now in the law. If Parliament, being pledgebound, cannot decide the referendum problem, it should at least endeavour to revise the law operating for control of the liquor traffic. The Prime Minister's courageous attempt to secure a settlement of this complicated issue is one which should be both applauded and supported.