The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1904. MR HALL-JONES AND THE TEMPERANCE PARTY.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXI, Issue 12480, 17 September 1904, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1904. MR HALL-JONES AND THE TEMPERANCE PARTY.

Phe resolutions passed at the annual meeting ofjhe Timaru Council of the Churches, and at the joint meeting of the Committees of the Timaru No-License League and Women's Christian Temperance Union may, we suppose, be 1 taken as an indication that the Hon. W. Hall-Jones has lost the confidence of the temperance section of his constituents, or at least of that portion which is repressed by the organisations referred to. At both of these gatherings, exception was taken to the action of Mr Hall-Jones in voting against Mr McNab's motion to retain the reduction issue on the ballot papers at local option polls, and the member for Timaru was commanded to subscribe to the manifesto of the New Zealand Alliance. Although this paper has never bsen a very ardent admirer of .Mr HallJor.es, we must protest against this attempt on the part of self-constituted authorities to tie the hands of the member for the district. It may be quite true, as was said on Thursday night, that Mr Hall-Jones gained his seat as a supporter of t lie Temperance Tarty, but we decline to be'ieve that the Council of the Churches or the No-License League are the "Kingmakers" in this constituency, able to send a man to Parliament for the one purpose of giving effect to their views on liquor legislation, and able to remove him as soon as he shows a disposition to exercise his own judgment on the matter, when that judgment does not follow the exact lines that commend themselves to these local organisations. It is an unfortunate fact that- a great number of people are unable to consider any question at a general election except the liquor traffic, which therefore occupies public attention to an altogether extravagant extent, while other more important matters are quite obscured by it. For this reason, we should prefer to have general elections and local option polls | conducted on different days, and then we might hope to see the electors pay some attention to subjects of colonial concern which are now absolutely forgotten in the fierce combat between the extreme Temperance Party, and interested supporters of the "trade." At the same time, we do not think matters have come to such n pass that an election is decided solely on the willingness or otherwise of a candidate to become the bond-slave of the New Zealand Alliance. If Mr Hall-Jones really rode into Parliament on the shoulders of people who sink every consideration before that of closing the hotels, then he deserves

any treatment he may receive from them. The country require* it# members of Parliament to bo something more than mere wooden figures, to jump about when the wires are pulled by No-Licensc Leagues or by the secretary of the New Zealand Alliance. The House of Representative* .should be the highest deliberative assembly in the colony, and should legislate for the benefit of the people as n whole, instead of being threatened and coerced in particular directions by extraneous forces. Wo showed yesterday how Mr Rcid-is trying to maintain the supremacy of the Commonwealth Parliament against the insidious efforts of those who would place the rca.l power in tho hands of political organisations, nnd party caucuses which shun the light of day. The New Zealand Alliance, and its local branches, riro making just the same effort to arrogate to themselves the control of tlie legislature in this colony, and whether this district was represented by Mr Hall-Jones or anybody else, we should raise our voice against attempts of this sort to degrade the status of .a member and the functions of Parliament. We have not the slightest objection to any section of the community discussing any matter that is of special interest to it! nnd making representations thfetecm to til 6 member for the district. That is a right which inalienably belongs to the public. But we take the strongest exception to an organisation, which conducts its deliberations, in secret, claiming to hold a member in the hollow of its hand, and virtually threatening him with extinction unless ho blindly follows its dictates In voting on a particular question. Wc have not much sympathy with Mr Hall-Jones personally over this business, for tho policy of his Government lias been largely responsible for the attitude which bodies claiming to represent particular interests like temperance or labour, or other sections of the community, take up towards the Ministry and ordinary members of the House. If the Government had had the courage to lead the country, instead of trying to pander to every whim of the multitudinous leagues and associations and councils which neck to establish a proprietary interest in moulding the legislation of New Zealand, Parliament would be allowed to carry out its proper functions, instead of being regarded as a collection of- invertebrates, to be bounced and bullied by any organisation with a high-sounding title and an infinite capacity for offering advice and making noise. The public appetite grows on what it is fed on, and- tho more Mr Hall-Jones and his colleagues seek to evade their responsibilities by referring this, that and the other to tho people, as they are so fond of doing to prove their democratic principles, the moro they will have to put up with in the way of dictation and threats of losing their seats, ■unless tlicy subordinate their own judgment to that of people who bave a bias oil some particular question. The only misfortune is that Parliament is thereby placed in danger %f being permanently discredited in the eyes of the people, and that members are coming to be regarded as mere delegates for a section of their constituents afflicted with some "form of monomania, instead of being, as they ought to bo, the law-makers for the country.