THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 1012, 3 November 1917, Page 6

THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

WHERE THE PARTY LEADERS STAND. (Special Correspondent). ' WELLINGTON. Nov. 2. The statements matin by Mr Massay ajui Sir Joseph Ward in the House yesterday in regard to the licensing quoslion are of general interest on account of the light they throw upon the party leaders’ attitude towards a problem that, is calling aloud for a satisfactory; solution. While the Prime Minister ha.-, declared that lie. does not like the idea of State control of the liquor trailie. Sip Joseph Ward has said lie believes this to be the only way out oi the maze of bias and prejudice- that is perpetually confusing the social and political life of the country. Doth the .Ministers were perfectly consistent in the remarks they made yesterday. I hey deprecated the. suggestion that at such a jtime as this an attempt should be made I to finally dispose of the licensing question. Desirable as a permanent settlement. might he, this was quite impossible while the whole, country was distracted by the needs and anxieties oi a great war. So tar the two leaders weie in perfect accord. A R KFEItkNDPM. Dot their agreement, proceeded little further. Mr Massey talked of submitting to a popular referendum the proposal of the Kflieieney Hoard lor national prohibition during the course ol the, war, with compensation to the people financially alleeted, while Sir Joseph Ward, without- offering any objection to the electors settling the question lot themselves, urged the paramount necessity of maintaining every possible source of revenue till the end oi the costly conflict was in sight. He did not wish to go hack on anything he had said in the past, nor to commit himsell to an undemocratic policy in the tutu re, but his duty in the present was to the finances' of the country, and this he was determined to discharge to tile best of his ability. THK CIVIL SKHVICE HOSTS. It may lie permissible lo say that in the circumstances that, the very general assumption oi a week or two ago that the bonus to Civil Servants would not he paid this year rested on very high authority. It is rumour<\l now that there was a marked difference el opinion in the Cabinet on the matter, and that, 'this difference, rather than the disagreement over the exemption ol teachers irom military service, was the occasion of the tension in which some people saw the possibility of a. very grave Ministerial crisis. The tension is relaxed now, and the Cabinet is aj happy family again, hut the position was very critical lor a day or two, and ■ it looked at one time as it ant thing' might have happened. (Ino member of I the House who enjoys some reputation for being aide to read the signs of the times, expressing himself in the terms of the racecourse, said during the weekend he would not lay two to one the present Parliament would endure rill the close of its extended term. i SOME ANOMALIES. Wellington is not the right place in which to obtain an unbiased opinion as to the propriety of paying a. war bonus to Civil Servants when thousands of people in really straitened circumstances with no prospect of increasing their earnings are being taxed in one way or another for the maintenance of the country's army in the field, in the capital city the Civil Servants and their dependants and sympathisers form a very large proportion of the population and the popular judgment is not unbiased. Hut- reports irom the provincial districts show there is a good deal of feeling among people who may he supposed to take an impersonal view of the matter. and that invidious comparisons are. being made between the pay of men and women in private, employment and those in the public service. This, of course, does not settle the propriety of the matter, but it suggests .it may he further discussed when the next general election comes roinpi.