On Tuesday the debate was continued, the Government remaining firm
in their refusal to have no time-limit. Mr. Balfour in a vehement speech repudiated as contemptible the charge that the Bill was introduced for electioneering purposes, and declared that his party were the true Tem- perance reformers. The Opposition had been violent but barren critics. It would be possible in the future to lay out 21,200,000 in the extinction of licenses. That is true; but Mr. Balfour forgot to say that the State would be buying back its own gift, and that it was, again, dealing with the licensing question without taking account of the great public revenue which could be raised by demanding from those who share in the monopoly for the sale of liquor a reasonable quid pro quo. When the Closure had been carried (by 289 votes to 205), the amendment imposing a time-limit of fourteen years was rejected by 30li votes to 187. The limit of seven years, proposed by Mr. Griffith, was next rejected by 98 votes (290 to 192). The Opposition cannot be said to have shown any great ability in their strategy, but in face of the Government's very large majority no substantial alterations in the Bill were likely to have been achieved. A considerable number of Unionists voted for the time-limit, but some twenty Nationalists supported the Government and the "trade." That is a fact to which we have drawn attention elsewhere.
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