"COURAGEOUS BILL"

Chronicle (Levin), 1 December 1948, Page 6

"COURAGEOUS BILL"

press AssoclatUmJ

Opposition Approves New Licensing Laws

( Per

WELLINGTON, Nov. 30. The Licensing Amendment Bill was the most impovtailt one relating t.o licensing matters to come before the House for a great many years, said Hon. H. G. K. Mason in the House of Representatives to.night when moving the second reading debate on the measure. The Bill attracted a fair amount of public attention, the majority of apec tators iiL the galleries being women. Mr. Mason said he had been reproached for not having followed tho reeommendations in the report of the Royal Commission but where there was such a conflict of views it was inevit able tliat complete agreement would never be reaclied. The main item on which the Bill diverged from the report of the Commission was the question of taking over the breweries. A'Lhough it had been asked why tlie people could not vote on that. question, the concentjiis of opinion was that the sentiment of people, was unlikcly to be in favour of taking that vote. ' He felt that the-re would he an almosl unanim--ous opinion that the tunnoil and disturbance tliat would arise, was not war.•anted by the slender chance of a elninge in ihe existing situation. The centrai feature of the Bill was tlie constitntion of the Licensing CouLrol Commission. lle did not want it to be thought tliat conditions were bad in the licensing trade. On the oontrary there had been an improveme.nl in recent years. However, there wen exceptional cases where there was room for improvenient.

During a review of the more im- j portant provisions in the Bill, the j Minister said tliat the need for tourist j licenees had been felt greatlv in cer- j tain areas and the llo.val Commission ( had no hesitation in saying there was j such a need. Oue important provision relating to | new licenees was made in the Bill. ! People in tlie neiglibourhood of v> here i a new licence was expected to operate, could object and they could deiuand a , poll . Other objeetions could be made on the ground tliat the licence wuuld be uear a church, school or residential area. A poll would decide the question of the Koval Commission 's recoiinim.ndation of liotels being open for broken hours extending to 10 p.m. Any ,fairmiiided person would f.ay tliat the entitled to express 1 it was. for the pcuj^H^^^HRllitics existed and it wasW^^^^^H^lecide from their point mBP'-vn. most con\ en.Mr. M7B|HH|rhe Maori people had long beeiwSi^e aliout the differences in the licensing law between Maoris and Europeans. Tho Bill now removed those distinctious. The Bill was.a better oue for the attention giveu rt by the select committee whicli heard a great dctail of ovi(Ience lmt it was possible a few furtlier niinor chauges migjit be iutroduced when tlie House w.ent into committee ou the Bill. Opposition Approval. Mr. llolland* dcscribed"the Bill as tlie most interesting one of the session. . Wlicn during tlie, war- he visited New Zealand troops on Ihe battle fronts, llicir lirst questiou • invariablv was, " What are we going to do about our licensing laws?" Sdrvieemen becaiue

accustomed to different systems of controlling the sale of aleohol and as a result they asked, "When are we going to learn to drink sensibly in New Zealand?" Mr. Holland said the Bill as iutroduced in the Hou.se, was Ihe Governnient's version of how far tlie report of the Royal Commission was to be followed but the Bill had since been vastly improved as the result of the work of the gelect committee and evidence submitted to it. "I weleome this Bill because I hope that within my time in public life, we will see the end of a situalion in whicli Parliaments clo not discuss this important problem, " said Mr. Holland. The people would applaud the fact that Parliament was at last endeavouring to deal with the probiein instead of running away from it as past Governments and Parties had' done. He believed the Bill would make possible great im provements in the conduct. and admi-nis tration of our licensing laws. In tho past interested parties, vested interests and pressure groups wrero sufficiently powerful to tlireaten the loss of votes against any members of ■ Parliament who sought to change the laws. Tonight new ground was being broken in that the pressure groups, soeial reformers and others, having had the opportunity to state their views, Parliament was now dealing with the matter as it thought best. That was what the eountry expected and sensibkpeople would applaud Parliament 's courage in tackling the question without giving way to pressure groups oi any sort. No one regarded this Bill -as the last word on the subject but it was au important b^ginning frcm which a luture Parliament could work. Il j would be a grave error of judgment tt miss this oppcrtunity of passing tlu I Bill. If it were delayed for a yenr it would still not allow time foi detailed ! considcration of all aspeets of tho | problem and a delay was not justified