That law gives the Licensing Bench no such freedom, but expressly prescribes that it shall bo bound by the will of a majority of two-thirds of the adult residents of tho, dis trict. This is the " legitimate means" which tho law provides for restricting the trade. As to the police being the proper referees on questions of character, &c, let the pasb history of the trade in Wellington reply. Where were tho police during nil the many years when tho Sunday trade wont on ? How many publicans did they report for this habitual and gross infraction of law, of which most, if not all, wero guilty fifty- two times every year ? Every Magistrate who has sat on the Licens* Ing Bench knows that the reports of the police have hitherto done nothing whatever, or next to it, towards preventing the existing of im properly conducted houseß. 6. You protest againßt " busy bodies making house to house visitations, and obtaining sig natures to explained or ill-explained petition?, by which a great deal of mischief may be done." This is little else than a protest against the right of petition in general ; but is pecu liarly unhappy in this case, as such petitions are the very mode prescribed by tho Licensing Act of last session for ascertaining the will of the majority required by tho Act to veto a license! I admit it is a pity it is so, because it goes far to nullify tho efficiency of the Act, that its being put into operation should depend on volunteer action. If the Legislature had adopted the clauses proposed by me, it would have been otherwise, and I think it will still j see the necessity of dealing with this ques tion in that particular, in the same way as with all others in which a vofco of the people is taken. The Government must itself pro vide the machinery for taking tho vote, in tho manner suggested in my Bill, or some similar , way. To give the people a right of deoiding the question by their votes, and then leave it to volunteer action to collect those votes, is an anomaly, and one which must be corrected if the Permissive Bill is ever to work efficiently. As to the petitions requiring explanation, I think most persons understand pretty well what they mean. 