THE NEW LICENSING BILL.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 400, 4 June 1880, Page 3

THE NEW LICENSING BILL.

£By Tklkgra_h.] (from the lyttelton times.) Wellington, June 1. The new Licensing Bill introduced today provides that it shall come into force on Oct. 1, 1880. The present licensing districts are to remain until re-constituted by Government. Licensing Committees, to consist of the Resident Magistrate, witbin whose jurisdiction the licensing district lies, and four persons (exclusive of the Licensing Magistrate) are to be appointed from time to time by the Governor, and they may be resident either within or outside the districts. No bottle liceases are to be grauted. Unmarried women may hold licenses. Ordinary licenses are to be from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., with an additional fee of £10 for permission to keep open till midnight, and for every public bar exceeding one in any hotel a fee at the rate of one-third of the license. From the commencement of the Act no new publicans' licenses shall be granted until the latepayers of the district shall have previously determined whether the number of publicans' licenses within the district may or may not be increased. A poll shall be taken as follows : " Voting papers shall be printed, setting forth the proposal and the words ' I vote that tbe number of publicans' licenses in the district may be increased.' and ' I vote that the number of publicans' licenses in the district may not l<e increased.' The voter shall erase one or other of the raid lines. Each ratepayer shall have only one vote. If the majority of the votes that have been given are in favor of the number of publicans' licenses not being increased, then that shall be the determination." After December next, new licenses shall be granted only at the annual meetings in June of each year. Every application for a license, but not for any renewal, shall be accompanied by a certificate signed by at least ten householders in respect of the fitness of the applicant. Any ten or more ratepayers or adults male or female residents in any Licensing District, may object by petition or memorial to tho granting or renewal of a license. Licensing Committees may of their own motion, take cognisance of objections where an application is refused because of personal objection to the applicant. No new application is to be entertained within a period of three years. The following objections ■may be taken to a renewal of tlie license :— That applicant is of bad fame and character, or of drunken habits ; that the premises in question are not maintained at the required standard ; that the house is ■conducted improperly ; that the licensing thereof is not required in the neighbourhood ; that the premises are in the immediate vicinity of a place of public worship, hospital or school; or that the quiet of the place in which such premises are situated will be disturbed if a license in grant >d. Clause 120 provides that "whereas a practice exists in certain parts of the Colony of hiring women and young girls to dance with men in rooms and places where intoxicating liquors are sold with the intention of inciting and inducing such men to drink, any contract by which any females shall be hired to dance in.any such room or place shall be null or void." The following are the fees, &c. ;—Publicans' license within tho limits of any Borough, £40; outside,' £30; family hotel license, £20; billiard table license, £10; for a conditional license such a sum not exceeding £30, according to duration of license as shall be named therein, at the discretion of the proper authorities granting the same; packet license, £10; club license, £20 ; wholesale license, £10. The proportion and amount of fees to be paid in respect of such licenses shall be for all licenses dated on the first or second day of July, the full amount of the license fees prescribed by the Act; for all licenses dated on the first or second day of October, three-fourths of the license fees; for all licenses dated on the first or second day of January, one-half of the license fees ; for all licenses dated on the first or second day of April, one-fourth of license fees. All fees to form part of the Borough, County, or Road Board funds. Ample provision is made for the inspection of houses, and the penal clauses are very heavy. The Act repeals 48 previous *_cts and Ordinances, including the Imperial Act 24 George 11., c4O.