The Press Friday, December 2, 1927. Parliament and Public Opinion.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19173, 2 December 1927, Page 8

The Press Friday, December 2, 1927. Parliament and Public Opinion.

The fate of the Licensing Bill is now in the hands of the Legislative Council, which is free to amend the Bill to any extent. It was made -clear in the debates in the House of Representatives that those who support the demands of the Alliance on the three crucial points—the two-issue ballot paper, the bare majority, and the triennial poll—will accept no compromise; and if _ the Council should alter the House's decision on any of these points and insist upon its alteration, the Bill will disappear. This will be the best thing that can happen. The supporters of Prohibition will be disappointed, but actually the passage of the Bill as it now stands into law would probably result in a heavier vote against Prohibition than ever. We have nevertheless opposed the House's decision because it seems to us to be wrong that a bare majority should be able to impose Prohibition on the country, and wrong that those who desire • some such system of licensing reform as Corporate Control should be denied the right to express their opinions. The Legislative Council may well take the same view, but there is an independent reason why the Council should decide to exercise its power of revision. That there was in 1925 a majority of the public against the bare majority decision and against the elimination of the third issue cannot be questioned, and that majority should weigh more with the Council than the absurd majorities by which the House ran counter to . public opinion. One of the Prohibitionist criticisms of the proposal to extend the interval between polls has been that there was no demand this. But there was no demand for a bare majority decision on a two-issue ballot paper, for of course the agitation by the New Zealand Alliance was not a public demand at all. The case is clearly one in which the Legislative Council can and should exercise what is its chief function, namely, the correction of any trespasses by the House against public opinion.