THE LICENSING BILL.

Mataura Ensign, 22 July 1914, Page 2

THE LICENSING BILL.

DEBATE IN THE HOUSE,

SEGOMD READING CAIRRJED,

PEE UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.

WKLLJNYvJTON, Jnlv 21. Jho -second reading 6f the Licencing Amendment Bill was mom [ j u the House of Representatives tin's evenino■by the. Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. W. L< v . Masscy). In doing so the Prime Minister aid that he was eonyfiu-edi that every member ot the House had made up his mind hew lie was going t( > vote on the Bill, and therefore it needed little explana- „ tion. He would have: preferred to have been aide to introduce a consolidating B measure dealing with, ail the required amendments in the licensing law, but pressure of business before I'arliaiiieiit prevented that. He dealt-with the views put before him by the respective deputations, and expressed the hope that the discussion ol the measure would he iricmlly m spirit, and that the minority would abide loyally . by the decision, whatever it might be. The principal proposal was the reduction of the .majority required to carry 110-lieehsc or restore, licenses, and for that he took the whole responsibility. Discrimination ivas made between local no-license and national option, and it was necesIsary to put the question on the broadest basis. Personally lie was imi ■>. lavor of a bare majority on oiihT .;:•:- tion, and the maiority'h>:,<: ':: ;!ie' liili was a proper one. The i.tlu-r ■/' -w ■■ v. as more or less «. in.icLiucr- ~-;uim . 'lie measure v.as not a. jiany .me.!■, 'he ballot n.ipor wore only i- ;.■ -•:-■ to ilio people tianon,':! .co '.'..,, fiu-o <■■ J nlain and'sin: y i): -. W>. Wl'^iXhe'ilil!' into 'committee he l-^r l(l , iM , tl) u ,. lt ~,.,„_„ i )llt - Ju '.mvliision. Mr Missei- iniupiii the House t'r.c tact that ill' 1 currying of prohibition would tiece.-.f.itate a i-L.iu'justmcnt of flie linaneeu of 'ite country, but ho had no tear a-, to the future, and thought that 'hey would be able to carry On- the • government just as well muter prohibition as under license., 'He bad looked into the Gothenburg system, and was now -convinced' that the less the State had to do with State control the better. He proposed to ask the House to agree to further amendments dealinowith the sale and mamufaeture of Ausrian wines. The question of tied houses .would also be dealt with. The sttrte of affairs i» the King Country also required attention. Europeans now outnumbered- the natives and were claiming the right to vote. He favored the setting up of a Commission to inquire mto the .state of affairs in the King tountry, and'if the" Government came back next election he hoped to brine in a consolidating measure dealing with thewhole question. Sir Joseph Ward (Leader of the Opposition) .said that he never gave a silent vote on any question and. was not going to do so now. He declared that after the Prime Minister had met the deputations that waited on him no one could tell what his- position, was. He , wanted ft know what attitude Minis- | ters were taking towards- the Bill. It was. .generally understood that at least six Ministers were against the Bill, and it it had not been sanctioned 'and approved by a majority of the Cabinet the House should know the fact. When lie brought down. a. .Licensing Bill ]„> made it clear that it was a- Government Kill, but now the Prime- Minister wis trying to divest himself of his responsibility by declaring that it was not a policy proposal. That was nothing but fool and colossal assurance, and such a system w a menace to future government. . if .Ministers were not with their leader upon, an. important question such. ■L ," 8 %"• okar duty was to tender Uei resignation before the election. IVreefmT h '" l ■ I>lcdf T l I,i,MeH to « intooffi « s , nia ,J o, ] n >;- bllt after"coming ut te.,l V' e ha i l ? hansecl ]lis ' °l' i » i ««. nit had surrounded himself with ( who were still in f av or the threefifths majority. Personally he would Snf 1 "!' I,u . blio Lis 1 uig or tiio Biu. He was not n favor of ldbitton o wl' 01 ' ] r- felt tllat if P>othe e -o 11 i Cl,, ' nec ] ltt the Dominion " tiieie would be a strong movement in favor of some form of State S ! Wofc f:^ 08 ", for Public - Works) said that he was goina to oi>pose ,v reduction of the majo fty lie was pledged to that, oud was going to Sd •«« P rom l lses - Tl >e mealure had never been made a party one and HiSr r™i TT J " sfc as free to exer ™e hJt Tf ht - to voae «s,private memoers lhe issue was much too serious to be deiermined by a bare majority. iNational pnhibition would result in a crop ot private stills and informers and these evils would be worse than any that could arise from the licensed

1,« w,= "I 1- - ,ltord ( Hlltt ) said tliat lie was not in favor of prohibition under any circumstances, and least of all JSnSrfV r Jicen ff- h cmild '* accepted thai he would vote for a. 55 per cent, majcnty for national prohibition and so settle the question. If such an amendmen: could not be accepted he would vote against the Bill, ♦wi. ,- NieWl ? ai \ ,(R a »gitikei) stated I \? » lv ' a .vs_liad been in favor of the three-ntth.s majority because a substantial major.ty-was necessary to determine the t.uestion where such :lar"e interests w,re concerned. Prohibition had only created deceit and slv-drink-

Mr H. Atmore (Nelson) said thai the figures quoted by the would maks anyone pause and seriousl? consider w aether any real benefit had been accoiaphslied bv 20 years' legislation. Tiere was the extraordinary paradox c: the vote for no-license increasing alongside the growth-of the drink bill and convictions for drunkenness. What; -would happen if -the people vohxl for no-license and the demand for liquor continued? -Mr J. Vigor Brown (Napier) said that it was imt as well that the House should hear both sides of tho -uestion. 1 hey had heard a lot about tied houses but he pointed out that a tied house

had ths advantage—Mie p:rp: e knew where the liquor was coming Irom. The publican why was not lied -sold what he chose. •!!;■ l'urther pointed out that the led hovi.se had tiic .supervision of the, man who owned it, and careful supervision w.js made of il. s conduct. Secret drink ng war; I'm- worse in it.'; eii'cets than drinking in pubiic bare. He strongly opposed the Bill, and would vote to mainta'n the lhree-h;',lr; majority. He knew well eii'mgh (hat! plenty of business besides the ptibhei house trade were tied. Kaiiiie.s iv?rei fed to their wi;ol merchants .as cld.vciyi as anv publh'an was tied, Me was not! | afraid to give Ir s veto. j Hon. A. T. Ngaia (Eastern Maori)! [said that in native n.d.'s taken upen thej hcansing qiu.stioii ihe cost should be l borne by the Government and not plae-! Ed upon the shoulders of the natives.! He wonkT support, ihe Hill. There )vas no question whatever as to the wh eh liquor had done to Irs r;o/c Mr A. E. Glover (Auckland Central) opposed the Billl.l Mr I'. C. "Wclili (Giov) w.trmlv con-' dc-mned the hyenorisv displayed 'in ihe. debate. Cabinet had brought Parliament to a low level by its evasion oi the real issue. The Prime Minister should show Parliament what it inlemlcd 1o do. | Mr J. Payne (Grey Lynn) he'd Uiat' other ocononi'e ouif:!ion..- should to con-' salerod besides ihe flriiik uuesthm. A hare majority would gh e a trite expression of l!ie wish ui' the pi op!o. ! 'Phe Prime Minister, in reply, print-! ■d otil, thai while llu- Ponder -el' (he. 1 Opposition hud accused him of ineon-j sisieney the B'li of ]<Si() wa.-. also :l ! eemproimso. Sir .Joseph \V>rd\s Cale-j not, was divided and had not supported] him when the Bill was b rough'- down.' In flie ease of .the present Pill (.he! Cab not was unanimous in wishing that Parliament .should he given an ui>pn"-j lunity to discuss the question. | The wood roiulin." was carried In- ;{R I votes to W, the following liein-'the division: —

.U-'KS (;SS> XOES('W>. Andeivsyu Allen '''"" At more Tiuxttm Bollard, R. E S : » !vlll Roliard, li. I>\ C/iii-io Bre.clncy l> : 'vi'y Brown" ''■" HlloliaiiaU Kscolt jiuii-k J'l.sher Crarrull 'Cfuthne, Campbell Hiuiiin Cjiih',; Hiuns DickieHiiidiiuir.sh I)ic!>un Hmo Eraser 1-iift (Hove,Lw rlerdman AicComb.-j Hen-iei Malcolm Hunter Mandcr Ma.ssey Macdonald N-osworthy JlcKenxie Okey Millar l'earoo Alyors Poland i'aviio Rhode,-, W.T. Rangihiro;, Hiiodeo, IMI Romaic RoborUon Reed Seddon Ku-soll Tllulinoil, Cf. M. S'-r. Svko-j Si-h-,-Voitoh :---i..i'i ; ., !■. U. Vyin-d- -cub. IS. W. ">o!.!. Si.-ilh.in: Wilkiii.--.oji 'I le.iii,-on. ,i .: - AViNoii "'iir.,,.,; '. ' ' Young . .-.V ln ' v " X wman A. '?; ' " HAIRS A\os Aloes I'.mMo i'ar.ita Chill- Forbes