THE PEOPLE'S LAW.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1766, 3 June 1913, Page 6

THE PEOPLE'S LAW.

HOW IT WAS FRAMED. ENIGMA OF PRIVATE BARS. \ SUP-SHOD STATUTE. THE COURT IN GRIPS IWITH IT, Extraordinary looseness in the wording of an enactment of Parliament (1912) was rovcaled in the Snpreme Court yesterday morning. - .Tho caso was the appeal of John - Charles ' Masoj, . licensee <of the Panama Hotel, Wellington, from the decision of Dr. M'Arthur, S.M., in prpoeedl- - ings known, as "The Unregistered' Bar'inaill'tiase." ' ".His Honour Mr. Justice Sim was on the Bench. Messrs. T. M. Wilford and K. A. Singer appeared for the appellant Mason, anil Mr. P.' S. K. Macassey represented the Crown. Th# Decision Appealed From. In February last several city publicans were prosecuted on the information of police-Sergeant ICclly on charges of their paving employed unregistered barmaids in private bars. ' ••Giving decision in one of the cases his Worship quoted Sub-section I of Section 86 of the Licensing Amendment Act, 1910 (as amended by Section 2 of the Barmaid's i -Registration Act, 1912) which reads as foljjows:— , ' v.; "After the first day of June, 1911,. ' no female shall bo employed in any' capacity, or permitted to servo in any '.capacity in or about tho bar of any 1 licensed premises., at any time while the bar is open for tho sale of liquor." His Worship proceeded to. find that the place; in which the barmaid was employed was a private bar, and that an offence had been, committed. He convicted the licensee. ; ' '' .. '"Pilgrimage to Sec the Last Barmaid." In addressing the Court yesterday, Mr. Wilford said that the ease was of considerable importance 'to all the •hotelkeepers of tho Dominion. The words "private bar" wero first inserted in the statute law of this country in 1912. A "bar" was defined as a room, opening immediately to the street, wherein the public might ensei' and "purchase liquor. But the Legislature had not defined "private bar." Tho magistrate had said that a private bar was a bar lacking one or other of the qualities of a 'public bar. This Teally meant that any room in which liquor was mid was a private bar, and, of course, included dining rooms. If the decision of the magistrate was good law, it meant that it was illegal 'for a waitress to execute the I order of -anyone in the dining-room who .wanted a glass of beer for dinner. His Honour (looking through the statute): Has not thero to bo'a counter or something oyer which the liquor'is sold ,to constitute a bar. Mr. Wilford: Tour Honour has the deJfinition. • ■■ His Honour: Bar! Tes, "bar" is a room. t .Mr. .Wilford: It would also be illegal ■. for a woman to go into the bar to, scrub I the floor. His Honour: Tho prohibition is very Jv'ide.'.. No, she could not scrub the floor. ' Mr. Wilford: She could not go in to .wash glasses at rush times. Mr. Macassey: She could go in to work ttfter the house was closed. : Mr. Wilford: Oh, that is so. i Mr. Singer: No! Mr. Wilford: Well. I doubt if she could. • His Honour (rending): Tho prohibition "at any. time while,the bar is open." Messrs. Wilford and. Singer: Yesl Xe3! ,ihat is correct! I vMr. Wilford:. It is only a matter of' a :¥ew years when there will be a pilgrim--1 ege to see the last surviving barmaid. 1 Mr. Macassey:.l hope we wilL live to see It ; Mr. Wilford: Well, I shall not be in the ■pilgrimage^ ; Mr. Singer contended that the onu9 was '■on tlio prosecution to show' what a private bar was. .. . .

'(Beautify!. Spscimon. of How Act was Drafted."Mr. Macassey contended that a private bar was a bar which did not- open on to the street.' 1 Ho,thodght"that the Court should take into-consideration thaihtention of the Legislature. ; The first aspect, of the reform''had been to prevent any 'barmaid being employed about a bar. His Honour: Axy 1 female. ' Mr. Macassey:'Yes, any female. Then it.'was considered unfair to take away the livings of those 'girls who wero already employed, and they were allowed, to register;' Next'some astute lawyer found that the enactment not to "private bar." Sothe-Act was amend--ed by the putting in of the words '"'or private bar" the word "bar." Nofr the Act reads»"bar, or private bar," and the prohibition' applies to both. It was ta meet this very matter of girls serving in private bars that this alteration was made. •His Honour (looking at the statute): A beautiful specimen of the slip-shod manner in: which the Act is drafted. . Mr. Wilford: If your Honour was ono |of 80. all o£ whom were trying to make inmendments, you would wonder that it icame out as well as it did. His Honour: Yes, but the draftsman bas.an,;„oflp,gxliunity. of., revising the. measure: ■' ' Mr. Wilford: This is as drafted. • The-Extraordinary Blunder. I Shortly-after this the case came to an i*nneipec£ed stop. His Honour read the ! wofds of Section 3G of tho Act ,of 1910, as I follows:— '?•». "No female shall be employed iCany'capacity, o'r permitted to serve in any capacity, in or about the Oar ofvany licensed premises at any tiino. tyhite+he " bar is" apenr for tho, sale o'f" liquor." • His Honour then. Teferred to the 1912 ' y»mendment, which runs:—' Section 36 of the Licensing Amendment Act of 1910 is hereby amended by inserting after the Word "bar," where it first occurs, the, words "or private bar." AfteT stressing the point that the /•words "or private bar" were only inserted after the word bar, where it first 1 occurred, his Honour said that the effect of the amendment was to make it illegal for an unregistered woman, to .serve fin a private bar while the "bar" (or [•public bar) was open for business. So t'beforo thero could be a conviction against Hhe licensee in tho present case, on the tharge of employing an unlicensed woman in a private bar, it had first to uo •proved that there was a public bar in tho lioteL and that that, bar was open for iho sale of liquor. If there was no pul> lie barons defined by tlie a Act then there Jwas no offenco in employing unregistered | women in private bars. The questions ol whether thero was a public bar in the (house and that that bar was open for [the sale of liquor at the time the present •offence was alleged to have been com-l.-mitted, are questions of fact, but tho f Magistrate does not say anything about jit. Ho may. however, have had ample (evidence on that point. I Mr. WilfoTd: I have already stated v ,that thero is no public bar in this house.

His Honour: Well, thon, tho barmaid xan be employed all tho time. I Mr. Wilford: There are only two or j'three public bars in Wellington, accordl lnar to tho police. I His Honour: I will reserve my decision, Vniul if I find it necessary I can send the joints mentioned back to the Magistrate.