WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 July 1916, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE INFLUENZA FIEND.

riiOGEIWS OF BUSINESS.

(From Our Sper-ial Correspondent)

Wellington, duly 21

The influenza fiend has retained its hold on Ministers during tlie week. Mr. Mnssey and Mr. Allen made their reappearance in tlie House on Wednesday afternoon, after an absence running into a couple of weeks, but tliey did not remain till the end of the sitting, and have not yet ventured out in tlie night air. Sir Joseph Ward, muffled up in coats and wrappers, stuck to his post till he got tlie Land and Income Tax Poll through on Tuesday evening, lint he could hear up no longer, and is now eonlined to his bedroom, where lie is carrying on the work of his various depai'tments. The three Ministers hope ta be themselves again ..when the House resumes next week and to be able to clear up the remaining business of the session within a fortnight. On the latter point they probably are a little too sanguine. The House has not been wearied by late sittings, and it has lots of talking power left which it will be inclined to employ if congenial subjects are offered for discussion. Ministers are now showing no disposition to unduly hasten matters and there is a feeling abroad that the "trip Home" will not be allowed to alter tlieir attitude in this respect.

WAR REGULATIONS. Neither of the party leaders was in the House when Mr. llerdman introduced the War Regulations Amendment Bill on Wednesday, and the task of expounding the Government's policy in regard to the various matters dealt with in the measure was left to the Attornev-General himself and the Minister for Health. At the commencement of the proceedings Mr. Horusby suggested that as somn'ot' the subjects to be discussed were of an extremely delicate nature it would be well to - have the gallery cleared of ladies, and the Speaker, though explaining he had : t o authority to issue orders in the matter, appearing to concur with the view expressed by the member-for W'iiirarapa, the Indies in the gallery withdrew. Mr. Mel'ombs then pointed out that certain clauses of the Dill were of vital concern to the women and children of the country, and contended there could be no possible objection to matrons watching tlie proceedings on their behalf, 'ike .Speaker reiterated bis statement that it was a mattei entirely for the judgment of the women themselves and later on live or six ladies leturned to the gallery and retained their seats there throughout the debate. It soon became evident that there was not the least need for any of the women to have retire'.!. EARLY CLOSING.

The House listened to Mr. HcrdmauV explanation of the contents of the Bill with no display of particular interest till the Minister louched upon tire question of early closing of hotel bars, which, oi course, was not mentioned in the measure at all. The Attorney-General is frankly opposed to the imposition of further restrictions upon the liquor traffic, so frankly and so honestly, indeed, that the prohibitionists, while regarding him as the most doughty of their opponents, respect him for his candor and his sincerity, lie said—meaning and feeling every word he uttered—that after the publicans had acquired rights under the laws of the country and had invested their money in certain property, "it would be _ gross act of injustice if Parliament were to curtail the rights of those individuals and take away their pioperty." fie resented the suggestion .that early closing was necessary in the interests of the soldiers or in the interests of the community, and quoted statistics and police reports to show that the soldiers at Trentham were the most sober people in the Dominion, and that Wellington \ia- the most orderly city in the Empire. The .Minister's own belief in the literal accuracy of his assertions was obvious for everyone to see and was positively pathetic in its intensity

THE OTHEF, SIDE. The prohibitionists in the House, with the single exception of Mr. lsitt, scarcely (lid themselves or their cause justice in putting their side of the question before the House. They vehemently denounced the liquor traflie. lock, stock and barred, without making any, pretence at giving judicial consideration to the six o'clock proposal, so one after another laid themselves open to the suspicion of seeking the extinction of the traflie rather than its regulation during war time. The member i'cr Christchurch North, who did not speak till last night, dealt with the question more judiciously and more cll'eetively than did any of his prohibition colleagues. He hoped sole day to see the Attorney-Ocneral occupying a scat on the Supreme Court bench, where he would interpret the law with marked ability and dispense justice with scrupulus care and at the same time "scarify'' any lawyer who put before him such fallacious arguments as he had used himself as* politician in defending the privileges of the liquor traflie. His speech was admirable from beginning to end. a perfect torrent of well-ordered eloquence, full of apt illustration and without a tinge of bitterness, am l yet, as a blase sceptic in the gallery ob-erveil, probably it did not affect a single opinion of the House. A NATIONAL PERIL.

Tlic Mini-tor of Public Health fully deserved the compliments that were heaped upon him after his very valuable contribution to the debate on Wednesday night. It was at the special request of the House that Mr. Russell followed the Attorney-Genera l with an explanation of the stops the Government proposed to take to protect the community from the ravages of venereal diseases, and, if possible, to remove this frightful peril from the path of the nation. The Minister had carefully prepared his speech in fact, the greater part of it was read by the indulgence of the House from his own manuscript—and whether the proposals of the Government are approved or not this plain statement of the position ought to be widely circulated for general information. It has been said by some of the critics that the Minister is seeking' to revive in another guise the objectionable legislation that was swept from *hc Statute Hook years ago, but Mr. Russell gives a most emphatic denial to this jug'gestion. and no one who reads the full text of his speech without personal bias and without unworthy suspicion can doubt his determination to deal justly between the sexes a?id to avoid placing any indignity upon women. The recollection'of what has gone before, to say nothing of the potency of public opinion, would save any Government from such a crime.