NEWSPAPER COMMENT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 269, 15 November 1909, Page 6

NEWSPAPER COMMENT.

The Evening Post, in the course of a forcible articlej says it cannot congratulate the New Zealand Alliance upon the remarkable compromise that its representatives, have- agreed! to*. "It certainly amazes us that any level-headed temperance . reformer cannot see that his party stands to losei very much more than it can possibly gain by the deal. Except the reduction of. the majority, which, standing alone, would clearly have represented an immense gain, the Alliance seems to us to lose all along the line. The right of voting on Dominion option has, of course, been secured, but in our opinion the- party would be far better off without it, at any rate for many years to come.. . . Th© exultation of the advocates of cold water over this singular deal becomes the more surprising, when, one contrasts it with the panic with which they were afflicted five years ago by the late Mr Seddon's ingenious advocacy of 'clause 9.' That clause was intended to serve as a bomb shell in ■ the camp of the Prohibitionists, and | so it did." "But who," asks the I Post, "has so bewitched the Prohibitionists in the meantime that they are running in delirious joy down a steep place into the same sea from which they emerged in mortal terror five years ago? We take* leave to! say that it was the moderate man j who saved them then, and that it is their .determination to flout the moderate : ;man. that threatens ttf" -wT(^:-|he-mj;,-ni»^r^ ;>■ Of CDurse, if thte'j Prdhibitioiij#s choose.•>tav«ynreek theiit' own ca*ise,that is their:3*>ok-ut, T)tit' the Government and the Legislature, have no right to treat this matter .as a private litigation in which there are no interests at all to be regarded but those of the parties consulted by Dr. Findlay." The Dominion says:- "It would seem that the liquor interest Avas only represented by one apparently self-elected section, chiefly composed of large brewers, while the prohibition section of the community was represented by three members of the New Zealand Alliance, which, so far

as the general public is concerned, may also be regarded as self-elected. The granting of national prohibition is an issue to be decided at the triennial poll, which has long been clamoured for by the prohibitionists, ■■aiad:it^m-ay.;'itt:^fco;en&''piwJ6::a^qubl^-ful gain. It is a little difficult to understand why such an amount of secrecy should have been observed in connection with the negotiations, the results of which are now disclosed to the public. It is the general public, and not merely the brewer or the prohibitionist, which has to be considered in the matter, and the Government and Parliament must' bear this in mind."

The Dunedin Star says: "We frankly confess that it is the last thing we should have thought likely to happen, and apart from the merits of the actual agreement, the representatives of the trade and of the No-license party niay be complimented on their willingness to attempt rapprochement with a practical object in view. To' be candid, we had not given either party credit for such sound sense. . Moreover, provided definite good results can be obtained from this strange conference, we are inclined to attach very much importance to the complaint that the arrangement has been formed by two extreme parties without consulting 'the still greater party commonly known as the moderates.' "