WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 November 1917, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

LIQUOR REFORM. SHE ULTIMATE SETTLEMENT. Special Correspondent. Wellington, Nov, 23. In the course of a few days six o'clockclosing, with the modification introduced by the Legislative Council allowing liquor to bo supplied with meals up to eight o'clock, will come into operation, and before the end of the year tho public will be able to judge fairly well the tangible effect of this war measure. In the meantime tho hotclkeepers are not contemplating the reduction of the hours with much satisfaction. They and their friends protest that it constitutes a breach of their contract with the State, and predict that it is not going to contribute to ciher the efficiency or the sobriety of the community. On the other hand the six o'clockers, who include many people outside the ranks of the prohibitionists, while prepared to .see some increase in the daylight drinking and in the home consumption, profess to believe there will be a very large reduction in the ajnount of promiscuous drinking, which they regard as one of the most baneful accompaniments of tho traffic. STATE CONTROL, One effect of the enactment of sixo'clock closing has been to direct increased attention to the question of State control, and some people arc seeing in Mr. Wilford's elevation to tho Ministry a concession to the growin" volume of public opinion which holds that the only cure for the evils of the traffic lies in the extinction of the proprietary interest in the trade. Of course (here is no ground for such an assumption. The ••State eontrollists" in the country are a much more numerous body than is generally supposed, hut thev have neither platform nnr organisation, and. so far, even Mr. Wilford has subscribed only to the broad principle of making the regulation and supervision of the traffic really effective by the only means available towards that end. The members of the Cabinet are divided on tiie question, and-that being the case., it is bound to remain in abeyance until after the war. THE WELLINGTON NORTH SEAT. The somewhat premature discussion of r-iie prospects of the by-election in Wellington North, which, of course, will he inevitable when the Hon. A. L. Herdman, the present Attorney-General, takes his seat on the Supreme Court Dench, seems to indicate that there will be trouble for the National Government when the contest actually begins. The Prime Minister has given the newspapers to understand that Mr. J. P. Luke, C.MG., the Mayor, will bo tho official candidate under the conditions of the party truce, and that he will have the full weight of the Cabinet behind him in the contest, but in spite of his very excellent war work and his other services to the city, Mr. Luke is not exactly a persona grata to a number of electors in the constituency, and other candidates are being encouraged to come forward. Colonel Hughes ,is already in the field as an independent candidate, and is personally so popular that if he insists on going to the poll he must give the Government nominee a very bad run. Then the Labor Party are considering putting" a candidate forward a s a frank critic of the National Government, and it is being whispered about that the members of Mr. ITcrdman's election committee are not satisfied with Minister's choice, and havn to take a free hand in the impending struggle. Altogether the position appears likely to be even more difficult than was that in Hawke'a Bay in what similar circumstances.

THE MINISTER AND THE.JUDGE. In the meantime Mr. Hcrdman's appointment to the Bench, which is now taken for .granted, .is giving the disgruntled journalists !an opportunity to pay off old scores against the retiring Minister in the way most acceptable to their personal grudges and political bias. According to these critics he enjoys no professional eminence, has little legal experience, is lacking in human srmpnthy and temperamentally unfitted for the high office to which" he aspires. Most of them admit that he is conscientious, sincere, courageous, and possessed of the judicial mind, but further than this tho.v make no concession in his favor. They imply that lie put * pistol at the head of (lie Prime Minister when he demanded the Attorney-Generalship as the price of his support to the National Government, and that ever since he has schemed for the reward that now appears to lie awaiting him. Perhaps the Minister will be aide to obtain some comfort from the fact that much the same (hmgs wero said of the distinguished judge he is succeeding, and-.whose retirement everyone is now deploring. .