The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4.

Evening Star, Issue 16908, 4 December 1918, Page 4

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4.

The more one studies the Licensing Bill of the National Govern. A Cunning Sill, merit tho clearer or.o sees the .skill of tho plot that is placed before the public. Tho measure is something of a masterpiece in cunning, and it looks ns though the Prohibition party, ns represented by tho Alliance', have entered a sort of legislative trap. They surrendered lofty principles for the sake of expediency, and eagerly made plans to win everything and end a wearing struggle; but so far they have merely succeeded in obtaining six of one thing and half a dozen of the other. Ail their concessions from the “trade” have been paid for in kind, and time may yot prove that the PmhibiHonists have made a very bad political bargain. It is understood that tho Bill is not in any sense a surprise measure but actually represents the mature product of triangular negotiations and compromises between the main parties concerned, plus the Coalition Government's policy of compromise on an embarrassing question.

! The keen di-scnssion on the second reading of tins remarkable JJill lias emphasised seme of the difficulties and defects which wo outlined in this column yesterday. The Prime Minister candidly admitted that in tho measure as introduced there was really no limit to the amount of Compensation that could be paid, to tho varied interests directly affected by the abolition of the liquor traffic.. This admission would have been enough in itself to have condemned tho Bill, because, though we believe that a majority of the electors are willing to pay “reasonable” compensation on the score of helping National Efficiency, without which it will not be possible to den! effectively with the after-war problems that will demand delicate trentnent, tho taxpayer is not prepared to give a “ blank cheque ” to the National Government even to bring about a. pressing social reform like the abolition of the liquor traffic. As we pointed out in yesterday’s article, there are thousands of people outside of the two extreme sections who have agreed to subordinate principle to expediency, but will only do so on a distinct condition precedent to any poll being taken. They are willing to vote for the extinction of the “ trade ” on an absolute pledge, n-s far ■■ - such, can ba secured by legislative enactment, that the solatium needed for ensuring this groat social reform shall not under any circumstances exceed the sum of four and a-half millions sterling, which the keen business icon and competent students of economics who constitute tho Efficiency Board have declared to bo ample to cover the State's obligations in that regard. This view, we are glad to sec, has impressed itself on tho House; and when tho committee stage was reached last night Mr Massey took the only safe courts, recognising that it was quite hopeless to expect that tho country would foot any bill it might ba called on 'to pay for buying out tho “trade” lock, stock, and barrel. Tho member for Ofurm.ru is to bo complimented on having brought his Leader to acknowledge the fatuity of asking for unlimited Compensation, which orght never to have entered into the minds of tho National Government.

As will bo seen by our parliamentary report, there was a very close call over making Six o’Clock Closing a permanent institution. It was moved by Mr' Wilkinson, who is one. of tho stalwarts of the Prohibition movement in Parliament, and when heads were counted it was found to he a tie—27 all. There was some curious cross-voting. For instance, Mr Massey, whom wo know to bo convinced by ocular demonstration of the beneficial working of Six o’Clock Closing, felt constrained to vote against its retention, not because it was not the right thing to do—which should have been the only consideration with a Loader who earnestly wishes to advance tho cause of humanity—but because tho purpose could bo better achieved in a different direction; while the Mayor of Wellington voted in opposition to his- pronounced opinions ns a lifelong temperance reformer. Following precedent, tho Chairman of Committees gave his casting vote in favor of retaining tha status quo, and his decision was uphold by a majority of one cn the subsequent and final division. It will be worth watching how the Legislative Council, as now constituted, will view tha narrowness of margin, or if they will accept it as indicative of the people’s will.

Even in the shape in which the Bill has emerged from tho Representative Chamber, there are undoubted blemishes in it; and chief of them, in our opinion, is the fact that idle alternative poll is placed 100 close upon the dale of thb proposed special licensing poll. It is reasonable to infer that many people who are daily warned by the Government of tho great strain on the Dominion’s financial resources will heritato to veto for National Prohibition when they know that by waiting for six months more they may extinguish tho “ trade ” by Juno, 1920. without having to pay a penny-piece as Compensation. But the alternative poll is merely a cunning device for tho stronger entrenchment of tho “trade,” for it Is obvious that a minority may easily carry Continuance. All things considered, the Alliance eo far have been manifestly outmanoeuvred in political tactics. Tho Bill requires much vital alteration before it can be accepted as a democratic law.