The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

What the Government offeps as temperance legislation "well abreast of public sentiment" the Opposition sharply and vigorously attacked in the Legislature yesterday afternoon and evening on the second reading of Hon. W. J. Hanna's bill to appoint a Provincial Commission to administer the liquor Hcense law. The announce-- ment that the debate would be tak-- en up yesterday drew large crowds io the House that filled the galleries until a late hour and evidenced the fact that the temperance question is still a live issue in Ontario. Argu--| ments by Opposition speakers asserl,-l 'ed that the proposals of the Govern-; ment were entirely inadequate to «meet present--day conditions, and the amendment to the second _ reading, moved by Mr. Wm. Proudfoot (Cen-- tre Huron}, after pointing out that the bill did not close a single bar otr j club in the Province or enlarge the power of the people to deal with thez traffic now or after the war, calied | for a measure to at once close bars] and clubs, to grant to the electors the | right to say whether the drinking | places should remain closed, and provide for more effective measuresl of wiping out the shops. t Mr. Rowell's Appeal. | The address of Mr. Howell, which came shortly before midnight. was a scathing arraignment of the Govern-- ment for its failure to give the Pro-- vince a measure of progressive re-- form. The meagre provisions of the bill he denounced as a pitiable spec-- tacle in a time of crisis. The Lib-- eral leader was followed by Premier HMHearst in an earnest defence of the Government's action. The Newest Amendment. Mr. Hanna's presentation of the (iovernment's case was an amplifica-- tion of his statement on the introduc-- tion of the bill, coupled with the an-- nouncement that a clause would be added to the section giving the Com-- mission power to restrict the sale of liquor to any class of persons by giv-- ing additional authority to _ declare "any area, no matter how large or «mall, absolutely dry." The Provin-- cial Secretary laid great stress on the character of the men to be selectod for the Commission, who would not represent any particular class . or section, to have no opposing inter-- ests on the Board. "I would like to say,'" he explained, "that it will be the work of the Government to see to it that this Commission is composed of the right kind of men, men who are not only in sympathy with the enforcement of the law, but with the betterment of the law and with the doing of what they think should be done from time to time to improve conditions with regard -- to this whole traffic." Hon. Mr. Hanna's Claim. Mr. Hanna, in moving the second reading of the bill, reiterated his re. mark of last week that he regarded the measure as the most important of its kind that had ever been introduc-- May "»Declare Any District, Large or Small, Absolutely Dry," Says Mr. Hanna--A Brisk All--day Debate on Temperance in Legislature, NEW POWER FOR Mr, FOR A REAL REFORM Rowell Delivers Po(%'ful P¢. Address hy BOARD w e D ment had all been in the direction: 0O% , better enforcement of the . liquor . lHcense law and minimizing the evils of the liquor traffic. © The policy . of the Conservative party had been be-- fore the electors of the Province at three general elections as the -- out-- standing issue, first in 1908, with re--| gard to the three--fiifths clause; then | in 1911, on the administration of the | liquor license law, and again in 1914,| on the question of abolish the bar. In' the interval between the general elec-\ tions of 1911 and 1914 there -- had been eleven byc--elections, and in every instance the electors had sup-- ported the policy of the Conservative party and given it a most emphatic endorsement. Last General Election. "I want to repeat now," said Mr. | Hanna, "that the interpretation tha.ti this Government put upon the last| wkeneral election is that the electors of | this Province, when they voted for: the Conservative condidates, said -- to the Conservative Government under| 'ir James Whitney, they said of Bir | James Whitney's policy--and that is ; the policy of the Prime Minister to--| day----(applause): 'You have done well | up to date. We go to the polls and | support you again; we support -- you | mot because we think you have gone | to the point where you can afford to | leave the question alone, we support | you because we have confidence you | will keep on and do better as the op-- portunity presents itself and the oc-- casion demands.'" Provincial License Board. Proceeding, Mr. Hanna said that in Proceeding, Mr. Hanna said that in | the past the Government had re--| ceived many suggestions for the man--/ agement of the liquor trafic, but the| one that seemed most likely to pro-- | duce the best results was to establish | 1 Provincial License Board. The suc--| es a® thi@ nronbosal. the Provincial vess of this proposal, the Provinciat Secretary declared, was in selecting men of sufficiently high calibre to ad-- minister the law apart from politics, apart from interference of any sort, with an eye only to the minimizing of the evils of the liquor trafic. . To secure such a Commission would be the sole aim of the Government. The 4overnment had secured men of & S uoi nds u0 0 00 n n s id 4 4 14 t cfi o4 28200 i 5A nc txintaty rcte in .ms the sole aim of the Government. The tovernment had secured men of a high type to serve on other Commis-- slons so far appointed. He instanced Mr. J. L. Englehart, Chairman of the T. & N. O. Railway Commission; Sir &dam Beck of the Hydro--electric Power Commission, and the members »f the Ontario Railway and -- Muni-- ~Apal Board. Emphasizing the ° would be given to : Mr. Hanna referred of the bill to enable down the number 0 district. It could dei Emphasizing the wide powers that would be given to the -- Commission, | Mr. Hanna referred to the provisions | of the bill to enable the board to cut| down the number of licenses in any. district. It could determine the hours. during which taverns and -- shops should remain open within the lim-- its prescribed by the statute. The power to suspend or cancel licenses subject to the approval of the Lieu-- tenant--Governor in Council, he said, had met with some criticism, but he doubted if any Government would care to refuse the recommendation of any Commission unless on exceptional grounds. | i k Cuaklin« ' +ha Com_ ts £E O UIRC S The provision enabling the Com-- mission to declare any district "ab-- solutely dry,"' he said, if wisely man-- aged could not fail to result in the better administration of the law. In closing Mr. Hanna read com-- ments from Liberal newspapers and 'The Pioneer, declaring that the Pro-- vineial Commission idea was a vast improvement on the present system, and, if the proper men could be se-- cured to serve on it, should be pro-- d4uctive of good results. 191d5. Mr. A. H. Musgrove (North Huron) ald one of the principal points in the administration of the liquor license law was good enforcement, and that was what was aimed at in the Gov-- »rnment's proposals. There had to be a strong force of public opinion behind any movement to make it suc-- cessful. He ventured the opinion that if the Liberals had been return-- ed to power at the last election they would not have been able to carry + thalr nolicy. In his own riding Many Members Debate the Temperance Issug out their policy. of a Commission.