Licensing Bill.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7926, 6 October 1904, Page 8

Licensing Bill.

Third Reading Carried.

The third reading of the above Bill was carried in the House last evening b'v 52 votes to 10. The amendments made to the Bill while in Committee lust night are published on page 8. During the discussion MrMawoy said he thought the Premier had had enough of licensing matters for some time to come. He could not but admire the Premier's astuteness in arranging for a conference to take some of the responsibihty off his shoulders. The conference reminded him of the old nursery rhyme : "There was a young lady of Riga, Who smiled as she rode on a ti^er • They returned from the ride with the lady inside, And the smile on the face of the ti«»er." There, continued MrMassey (pointing to Mr Seddon), is the tiger. Probably he said, amendments would be made to the bill in the Upper House, but as it lott the Lower House it might be likened to water and whisky. It was nine years since a liquor bill had passed through the House, and he hoped it would be nine more years before another liquor bill was brought down Mr Wilford thought the title of this measure should be " a bill to provide litigation for lawyers." He did not know how it was all going to end, but he did not think there, were two lawyers who would agree as to some of the clauses, and he thought that as soon as the next Parliament met they would have an amending bill of about two hundred clauses to correct the errors of the present measure. Mr Seddon, replying, said he had never had any doubts in respect to the bill. As soon as he read that it was " one of the Premier's jokes " he knew it would go upon the statute book, lhere was never a measure that had been termed a " joke " when he introduced it but had turned out a stern reality. • He had no doubt the leader of the Opposition would in a few years be claiming all the credit for the bill. Mr E. McKenzie had' said the trade got no advantage from the bill, and he was glad to hear that from a member who represented the trade on the conference. If he was correct, it proved that the statement that had been made connecting the Government and himself with the trade stood for nothing. Asa matter of fact, both the trade and the prohibitionist party had received that which they had worked strenuously for in the past. Next session, presuming that this bill became law, the larger questions of the country would overshadow the licensing question. He repeated that, as this bill passed the House of Representatives, so he should be no party, if any material alterations were made in it by the Council, to having it placed on the statute book. He did not say this with a view to intimidating; still, as the bill stood now it was what the people demanded, and what they had a right to have. In regard to wine licenses, there was a bill now before the House, dealing with the manufacture -f wine, and it was better to deal with tho question of the disposal of the product in that bill. He had, therefore, thought it unnecessary to recommit the bill with respect to the wine-license clause. In regard to the bill generally, in conclusion, he said it had been to him a great labour, but he was more than satisfied with the result.