OPINIONS OF MEMBERS AND OTHERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2589, 28 October 1903, Page 28

OPINIONS OF MEMBERS AND OTHERS.

(From Ock )wx Corkesi>onde:;t.) WELLINGTON, Oetobsr 21. Members are wondering whether the I Licensing Bill is to be proceeded with this session, and, if so, how long the se&sion is likely to last. The prevailing imprer-sion seems to be. that if the bill passes its second reading, which is not altogether a , certainty, it will get one night in comj uiifctee, and if ito opponents make anychn.g j like a good start at stonewalling it will not jbe heard of again this session. The clause I to which most exception seems to bo taken is the proposal to give mayors and chairmen of county councils sears, ex ojßcio. on the licensing bench. In some cases there wouUl be several mayors or chairmen on the licensing bench and in others only one. The Premier states tho extreme, caro as being one in which there wouid ba five elective members and four ex officio merabcao on the committee. Then there is the objection that the liquor question would be brought into mayoral and county council elections. j The Prohibition party is apparently divided on the- question of whether the erasure of j tha reduction issue at no-license polls is a 1 good or bad thing. Both the Wellington i papers refer to the bill in terms of condemnation, the New Zealand Tim^s (which io usually regarded as a supporter of both "the- trade " and the Government) stating 1 that it will please neither " the trade " nor ■ prohibitionists, and referring pa'.ticu'arly to I its piebald character — there being patches I of strong "trade" colour, and others again of tho deepest prohibition dye. Mr H. J. Williams, sectary of *iic Licensed Victuallers' Association, a-ked how '' the trade" viewed the bill, replied that it had not yet boen considered by his Vj &ociation. and 00-Coequently he preferred not to criticise it too closely " Thore aia ! some good points about it, and there aro I also some bad ones." Ho added, " More j than that I cannot say at present." With regard to the- proposal that it should be illegal for any person to havr. liquor in his possession in a no-:icenso district, tha Rev. F. W. I=itt. who may N* tak-e-u •» • speaking the mind of the Prohibition parly on this subject, says tho prohibitionists have never asked for interfeienco with the private habits of temperate people, but only that the publio sale of liquor should be prohibited. Further, ho Fays the motive behind the proposal is to assist " the trade " and defeat the purposes of the Temperar.c:> party. He objects to the referendum on the period of the local option polls on tho ground that "the trad©" lias under it everything to gain and nothing- to 1< se. To some of the details of the bill Mr I«itt rivos his approval, but generally !.-» take* the general prohibition view — that tho bill, as a whole, is bail.