HOTEL CLOSING.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 9 July 1917, Page 5

HOTEL CLOSING.

™°» E « g O'CXOCK

GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY

bJo^lH^T 118 the ,House has h^ D.eroie « the demand for «i x o ' c i oc k closi?!f f hotel .bars, and toiayit t admxtted that the agitation k much more weighty than on any previous o7 going on, but jt must be regarded as utterly unreliable in the light of stvee disappointments suffered* 3 by keen lobbyists last session. One well-known member, when approached on behaTo six o'clock closing, remarked to the £ m V?r* raT ad 7, ocate wh<>«™ fiim, ±*ut me down." He was nut down, but. voted "No," aid ££ genuinely surprised at the subsequent reproaches because he had not intended h IS remarks to be taken seriously The really definite development of the situation JS the responsibility which the House has thrown upon the Government of deciding what lead it should g lve to Parliament. Mr Craig c ZuineKh^'r 1 this tactical ™c *? dfree? g to fhp P™*™ Petiti°n referre^ aSon ■ tOrJ hl. Govel^ent for considerat.on. io his motion, though it was perhaps not realised clearly at The SToth^ 8 a^ aChed the P^Le "and ?ect°> V tIODS T the *»"<> «»b--a 1 ProP°sal was not contested much to the delight of most of the members of the former M. to Z fn P nV°f ,Committe«. who last session 6pent a busy month in hearing evidence and the arguments of four prominent counsel for and against thp? P^ mitte* reported in 1915 Sat £ tfc "o recommendation to make, as the question was one of policy for • po.l;6™^^ to decide. They varied that attitude last session rl ferring the petition to the Government for favorable consideration Now Zi a% f°r to ? e original position, and the feeling of the lobbies is that the Government would do well to avoid all the turmoil of select committee wranghng by accepting the suggestion qu4t¥on HOU6e tO make f* a CaW-* Eight o'clock closing was lost by only one vote last session, and it is said that had Captain Hine been able would have been a draw, with the tkk sibihty of Mr Malcolm,' the CWm?n ot Committees, giving his casting vote in favor of eight o'clock. The conditions have so changed this session that there ]s absolutely no doubt about ?W Jl?£ ei gh j °'clo<:k ' and *i« said tflat the trade would be satisfied if thwi is earned and its interests not further encroached upon by a more drastic curtailment