DELAYED LEGISLATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10116, 25 October 1917, Page 6

DELAYED LEGISLATION.

AWAITING .ITS CHANCE. (Special Corresponded!'.! WELLINGTON, Oct. M-To-day tlm Prime Minister is not w confident as ho was oil Aloiidnv o, bringing the session to an tmd early ut'xl week. The passage oi the Pensions Bill and the acceptance of Lite compromise on the Liquor Bill have not cleared all contentious matter out of the way. It is suspected, indeed, that the Government lias held hack two or three troublesome measures in the hope that criticism will he less intense and searching when members are eager to get. to their hone's than it would have been when time w’as merely the plaything of their leisured liottrs. Ihe Expeditionary Forces Amendment Bid has an extremely delicate clause dealing with the exemption ol clergy Irom military service, the Social Hygiene . hill exploits one of the most- perilous of legislative grounds, the War Regulation Bill is the hist word in autocratic rule, and Hu- Washing-up Bill attempts more than any other measure ol the kind ever has accomplished. Ihe appearance of these Bills high up on the Order Paper has provoked a tooling of expectant unrest iu the House, and Air Massey, reading the signs of the hour, has extended his prophecy cnueciiiiug the prorogation hv a couple ol days. SIX O’C LOOK CLOSING. The inevitable compromise between I Hie two Houses on the question ol six o’clock closing has been effected. 1 lit' j ordinary sale of liquor is to cease at the hour originally prescribed, but people taking “a substantial meal on hotel or club premises between 0 and S p.m. may have* drink with their loot!. A small minority in the ( ouneit strongly resisted this concession to the licensed victualler, protesting that it would | mean unlimited drinking during the - iwo additional hours, but the prohibitionists and their friends in both C hambers, believing that further opposition would imperil the Bill and all it implied, very sensibly concluded it would lie better’ to accept- a large half loaf than to go without- bread altogether. It is difficult to estimate the precise effect of the compromise, but the general opinion of people acquainted with the ramifications of the liquor trade is that the right of serving liquor with meals up to 8 p.m. will not return to the publican more than o pbr cent, of the revenue he will lo.se through .early closing. SOCIAL HYGIENE.

The Minister of Public Health did not find all the members of the Hoime be met in conference yesterday . weL disposed towards his Social Hygiene Bill. .Most, of them had received oom-j mutiicalions from more or less representative botlies in their constituencies strongly protesting against both the principles ami the details ol the measure, and naturally they were inllueuced to some extent by those demonstrations of voting strength. But the Hon. GW. Russell made the need for drastic action so plain that not- a single member was hold enough lo say nothing should be done for the protection ol the health of the community and the preservation of Ihe virility o! the nation. The plea was for palliatives, for something less thorough and effective than the .Minister was advocating, and probably several useful clauses in the Bill will have to bo abandoned in -order to moot this plea. But if Parliament refuses to retain the main provisions ol Ids scheme. Ah Russell will withdraw the measure, altogether, and do the best he can with the existing legislation. PENSIONS AND ALLOWANCES. Although the great majority of the members of the House who attended the National Caucus came away Irom that historic conference pledged to support the Government in its refusal to make further "concessions by way ol pensions and allowances to the members of the Second Division, many ot them were in the position of the proverbial person convinced against his will. They were of the same opinion still. Now several of them, in view ol the announcement that a war bonus is again to he paid to Civil Servants, are drawing comparisons between the mail with a comfortable billet- in some public department receiving Lo a week and a war bonus, and the man in the trenches getting Cl los a week and no war bonus. Titov urge; and on the lace ol it with a. great deal ot reason, that il the Government has CtdO.UUO to spare from its own immediate requirements, thy money would he much better employed in making adequate pr'nvision lor the dependents ol the men at the 1 vont than in lightening the less grievous burdens ol men already in the enjoyment ot a living wage.