THE TEMPERANCE PARTY AND THE GOVERNMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9830, 27 May 1895, Page 5

THE TEMPERANCE PARTY AND THE GOVERNMENT.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION'.]

Palmerston North, Saturday. The Temp Convention opened yesterday. The following resolutions were carried:—(l) "That this contention desires to call the attention of the Government to the disgraceful laxity in the administration of the liquor laws throughout the colony; demands the immediate removal of J.P.'s who instigated their violation; and urges, generally, that necessary administrative and legislative steps be taken to compel magistrates and the police to make the enforcement of such law 3 something better than a farce ; that this meeting recognising the large and growing share in the evils of liquor traffic for which drinking clubs are responsible, demands that these clubs be placed on the same footing with regard to Sunday observance, limitation of hours, police supervision, and popular control, as public houses." It was also resolved to request the Government Railway Department to consider the desirability in future engagements of managers and officials generally to prefer men of total abstinence principles, other things being equal.

[BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Saturday.

lb is one of the aspects in the present political situation, that should the sections of the Temperance movement supporting the Government, and that section which refuses its confidence to Ministers, at any time coalesce, the result would narrow down the Ministerial majority to an exceedingly narrow margin. For this reason a good deal of importance is attached to the opinions of the more prominent advocates of temperance, who sit on other than the Ministerial side of the House.' The following is an extract from the speech of Mr. H. D. Bell. He advocated the most drastic legislation for the regulation of the liquor traffic, including local prohibition by a bare majority and colonial prohibition by a majority of districts ; and the American system of the responsibility of hotelkeepers to persons injured through drunkenness or to their relatives, and also for the support of those impoverished by the drunkenness of their relatives. A special vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Fred Pirani for the manner in which he had carried out his platform pledges in Parliament.