POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13077, 13 September 1904, Page 5

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE

THE LICENSING BILL. (Froii Otb Own Cobhespon-dext.l WELLINGTON, September 12. It ia hard at the present stago to forecast tho fate of the principal clauses of the Licensing Bill, but members who havo no strong feeling cither .way, and who are, therefore, tho beat judges, predict tliot the proposal to elimiuato the reduction issue from, the ballot paper will be carried, but that elausss 9, 10, and 11 and the State-control proposals will be knocked out. With theso ami other minor amendments it is quite possible the bill will pass through the House of Representatives, but its subsequent fate will, of course, depend on what action the Legislative Council may take in regard to amendments. TOBACCO-GROWING. vMr Sutherland, who was manager at Fiji for the Austin Walsh Company, has interviewed tho Premier and the .Minister of Lands with tho view of inducing the Government to staVt experiments in tobacco culture north of Auckland. Both the Premier aud tho Minister of Lands were favourably impressed with the idea, and Mr Sutherland is hopeful that some experiments, probably in the Kaipara district, will eventuate, Mr Witheford, who arrnnged the interviews for Mr Sutherland, is now arranging for him to give evideneo before the Extension of Commerce Committee. STAGNATION OF PARLIAMENT. Parliament has been in Session for 11 weeks, and the results, though they fill some volumes of Hansard, have little of profit in them for the people Who pay tho-piper. Time is dragging on; we are bordering fast on a repetition of the farce of iast year, when the Premier played ou the patience of members for 21 weeks nm J did the business of tho session in the twenty-second; yet members arc listless. A radical change has come over tho scene. Hitherto, whatever outside people might think, Parliament has always taken itself seriously. It hod a high if not exaggerated idea of what the little world outside was thinking of it. This year nobody seems to care. Nothing seems to matter. Even tho Licensing Bill, which was supposed to put «s all into a stato of high fever, has failed to rouse anybody out of tho lethargy which has got a grip on Parliament Buildings. What is tho meaning of it nobody knows, or, at all events, liobody cares to tell. An early explanation was that the Premier was going Home as High Commissioner, ahd tliat Parliament wanted to send him Home with a sweet taste in his mouth, and let the spades fly after he had gone. But the Premier has deolaral that he is not going Home, ahd as tho weeks drag on Parliament gets sleepier and duller than ever. Tho Licensing Bill is the last hope. The first hurdle was disappointing. It will need an effort if Parliament is to be wide awake for tho second. HEMP GRADING. A deputation from tho Wellington Chamber of Commcrco waited on the Minister of Lands to-day to lay beforo him complaints that had been received regarding tho irregularity of the liomp grading, which resulted in hemp graded as " common" being " roally good fair," and vice versa. Objection was alio made to tho system of marking tho grading points on tho hemp bales, it being stated that this would result in great injury to tho industry. The Minister replied that inquiries had been mado at Homo for tho grading tags on the hemp that had given rise to the complaint, and theso were awaited before taking action. He was unable to favourably consider the objection to placing tho points on hemp bales, the arguments in favour thereof having convinced his officers and himself of its advisability.