FURTHER DOINGS IN PARLIAMENT

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VIII, Issue 381, 11 November 1897, Page 14

FURTHER DOINGS IN PARLIAMENT

The recent discussions in the New Zealand House of Representatives have further justified our contention that the power of the prohibition party has greatly weakened in the House, and taking the House as a reflex of public opinion, the fanatics have lost most of their power in the country. The crushing defeat which attended the party on the question of Bellamy’s has shown the community that a large majority of the members of both chambers are resolved to stand no prohibition nonsense affecting their own liberty. It is also a significant fact that very little attempt has been made by the cold-water apostles to force the hand of the Premier to amend the liquor laws during the present session. It is true that one deputation, consisting of two M.H.R’s and one minister of the Gospel, did wait on the Premier, but nothing came of it, and it is true that two or three prominent prohibition members have temporally forced the hand of the Premier with reference to the police force of the colonybut the Premier’s friends and supporters have informed him that it is not so much the police force that is involved, but the whole question of trading in public-houses that the agitators have a design upon, and the Premier has been informed by his strongest supporters that if he allows his Cabinet to be dominated by political pigmies he will find himself deserted. After Mr Taylor, the member for Christchurch, had obtained a promise from the Government to set up a Royal Commission, he spoke on the Financial Statement, and, with the most questionable taste and a disregard, for British fair play, went into the whole of the individual charges against the police force, and pre-judged every case. It is not the importance or influence of Mr Taylor’s utterance in the House that has to be considered; it is the fact of their having become a part of the history of this colony, through Hansard, that has to be considered, because those persons who read the statements, and who do not know Mr Taylor, may, under existing circumstances, accept them as a fair and reasonable indictment. Up to the present iSir R. Stout has kept quiet on the liquor question, and this we think must be taken as a sign of prohibition impotency. On the other hand, a number of strong men are in support of moderation,and these at present practically control Parliament,, and hold the prohibition party entirely in check.