"NEVER AGAIN!"

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19160, 17 November 1927, Page 8

"NEVER AGAIN!"

MR TAPLEY'S PLEDGES.

HIS OPINIONS AND HIS VOTE,

[THE PBEBS Special Servies.] ■WELLINGTON, November 16. The dilemma in which a pledged member found himself on the Licensing Bill was very frankly revealed in the House of Representatives this afternoon, when Mr Tapley, member for Dunedin North, told how he had been bound hand and foot by the Dunedin Prohibitionists.

Mr Tapley said lie was strongly opposed to Prohibition, but he was pledged to vote lor tho issues the iJrouibitionists wanted. Tho majority of his constituents, who were iTohibitlomsts knew clearly what his attituue was! lie believed that if rroinbitiou wero carried it would not prevent liquor from being brought in, and then they would have illicit sales of liquor in tho country. Thus we would be bringing up a race of lawbreakers if Prohibition came into tho country, and then the people would be wanting the wet process again. (Laughter.) It all depended on the spectacles a man looked through; if they were Prohibition spectacles he would see one way, if he had on the other spectacles, he would see in a. different way. He (Mr Tapley) knew New Zealanders who had gone to America, and they all told him there was no difficulty in getting liquor —and those were the people who didn't want it. (Laughter.) Mr Tapley drew a harrowing picture of America under Prohibition. In Chicago, lie said, girls were abducted and crime was rife. If that was all Prohibition could do in Chicago, it showed that Prohibition had fallen to the ground. He had given pledges to the Prohibitionists, but he would never make a pledge again. (Laughter.) However, ha had made these pledges before the election, and he did not intend to treat them as scraps of paper. But they would never tie him up again. (Laughter.) He was pledged to the two issues, but would propose an amendment in committee for a referendum. He Was also pledged to the three years' tenure, le would stick to his pledges, though tltey would cause him only to float in the direction he did not want to go. (Laughter.) He was pledged to a bare majority, but a bare majority was hardly a fair thing. (Laughter.) It was an awkward position for him to be in—(laughter)—to have to vote ono way, because ho had made pledges, although his inclination might be the other way. (Laughter.) He thought possibly others in that House were in the same position, though they would not sav so. (Laughter.) Mr Wilford (Hutt), who followed, congratulated the member for Dunedin North on the skilful way he had Walked the tight rope. It was one of the cleverest balancing feats he had seen during his 28 years in that House.