LICENSING BILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19807, 30 November 1927, Page 10

LICENSING BILL.

DEBATE TO BE RESUMED ISSUE LEFT TO MEMBERS. BARE MAJORITY QUESTION. NO COMPROMISE REACHED. [nv TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Tuesday A statement regarding the Licensing Bill was made by the Prime Minister, Mr Coates, in the House to-night. The statement was as follows: "I need not recall to hon. members the postion at which consideration of this measure was adjourned. It is sufficient for my purpose to say that, by amendments made in the House, the bill had taken a form which I personally could not hold myself responsible for and I accordingly moved to report progress in order to allow time for reflection and for consultation with representatives of dif ferent points of view. "Members will recollect' that by a division of 41 to 34 progress was reported accordingly and leave obtained for the committee on the bill to sit again. In the interval many members have called upon me and have stated very definitely their view that had tlio effect of the vote to report progress been thoroughly understood by them they would have felt it necessary to vote in a different manner, and it is doubtful whether progress would have been reported had these members voted in accordance with what they now declare to be their conviction. The Situation Obscured.

"The situation has consequently been to some extent obscured by this misunderstanding, and in the circumstances I have received intimations from a very large majority of members of my party in Parliament that in their opinion an opportunity should be afforded for the bill to receive further consideration this session. "During the period since progress was reported I have carried out to the fullest extent the undertaking that I gave at the time. I have made opportunity for frequent consultation with honourable members representing opposing points of view and have done all that lay in my power to bring about an agreement. My principal effort has been to arrange a compromise upon the question of the majority that should be required to carry national prohibition, but I regret to say that in this direction my efforts have been unavailing. It is a fact that many members of the House are definitely pledged to the bare majority on this question, and these members feel that they have no power to accept, or even to consider, any compromise on this point. Agreement on Other Matters. "On every other question, I am happy to say, 1 have been able to arrange complete agreement between those honourable members with whom I have been in conference, and it has been possible also to agree upon two further proposals which I am confident that opinion of all shades will approve —firstly, that theie should be a system of licensing barmen and, secondly, that the payment of large sums of money for goodwill on the transfer of licences should be prohibited, ihis goodwill, whatever it purported to bo, was in actual fact paid ior the licence itself. It has been agreed on both sides that trafiic in licences issued by the State is not in the interests of the country. Although -the actual terms of this provision have not yet been drafted, the principle has been approved. "Although all must regret that an agreement on the question ol the majoiity to bo required has been found to be impossible of attainment in the circumstances, very great progress has m general been made in the short time at my disposal for negotiation. I feel that it is a real advance to be able to repoit an agreement (with that one important exception) between those honourable members holding opposing views, * feel that those concerned deserve thanks for the manner in which they met me. Personal View Unchanged.'

" Although %vo are, of course, still faced with a definite and final conflict of opinion on the question of the majority, ray own personal conviction on the matter is unchanged. " My opinion on this point is rendered only stronger by the anxiety expressed in some quarters that in the event of prohibition being carried no poll for restoration should be taken for a lengthy period. Surely no stronger case for a substantial majority could be mado than the existence 'of some considerable 1 nervousness that prohibition might almost immediately bo reversed. I find it impossible, also, to ignore two further considerations—firstly, that should prohibition be carried a large number of people would be thrown out of employment and that a period of dislocation and confusion (temporary at least), must ensue, and secondly, that one immediate effect of the enforcement of prohibition would be a material reduction in revenue, amounting to some £2,000,000 a year in customs and excise duties alone. "I feel also that other factors in the matter are worthy of consideration, and perhaps I may be excused if I refer to one personal aspect. I think that at the last general election many members of the Reform Party were returned not only on their personal qualifications or as a result of their own appeal to the electors, but largely by virtue of the fact that they announced their adherence to the Reform Party and their intention to support myself as leader. Now, as leader of my party, and Prime Minister of the country, my responsibilities are wider than the responsibilities of any one member of the party or of the House. I am unable to take an individual point of view and I am bound to consider, especially in the cast; of such a sweeping reform as would be involved in the carrying of prohibition, my responsibility to the whole of the electors of the Dominion and uot merely to a section. Responsibility on House. "Weighing these conflicting points I have come to the conclusion that it is my duty in the circumstances to give the House another opportunity of considering the bill, especially with the improvements to which I have referred, and generally to enable those members who feel that they have been placed in a falso position to take what action they now consider necessary. An opportunity will accordingly be taken for further consideration of the bill in Committee. "In taking this course, I wish it to be clearly understood 111 the House and in the country that my own views 011 the matter are entirely unchanged, and even at this last moment I urge hon. members to consider carefully the proposal that I originally placed before them. The bill, as it was amended in Committee, is not, in my judgment, a wise measure, and there must bo no doubt whatever as to my own position. I never have been, and I am not now, a supporter of a baro majority. On this issue the House, in its wisdom, has thought otherwise, and when affording tho opportunity members have asked for to consider the bill further I must take the opportunity of divesting myself of all further responsibility for its carriage in its present form " The Prime Minister added that the discussion on tho bill would be resumed to-morrow.