The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1895. ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS SALE ACT.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 131, 2 December 1895, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1895. ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS SALE ACT.

_». _ APART from the general provisions of this very important Act, the most prominent may be said to be tbat part of it which refers immediately to the class known as prohibited persons. Clause 26 provides tbat if any person against •whom a prohibition order bas been Sseued, under section 163 of the principal Act, €»ters or is found on any licensed premises is liable to a penalty not exceeding five -pounds;, find any licensed person who knowingly .permits any person against whom a prohibatiqa? order is i_ existence to be or to *ey_*«» fl»^ i licensed premises sfoall be liable & penalty of not less than five pounds and not exceeding ten pounds. Clause 27 provides that:— "Every person who, knowiug tbat auy one is tbe subject of * prohibition order, accompanies him lato ja/xy licensed premises, , or in any way-fifceot'lr or indirectly procures liquor ifor^fil— .ye* incites* or assists him to j drink . or \veomxn fojftor is liable to a penalty »Qte_jeedifigte»pQW<Jft." In

any proceedings under this section the burden of proof shall be on tbe defendant to show that he did not know of the existence of such prohibition order. From tb6 foregoing it may be gathered that it was tbe intention of the Legislature to protect tbe publican in some degree, but tbe main difficulty will be for them to recognise "a prohibited person," because with the order no description is given to help the publican or bis servants in the somewhat difficult task which is now set them. Clause 34 is to the effect that all prosecutions for breach of any of the provisions of the Act shall be heard by a Stipendiary Magistrate alone, anything in the Licensing Acts to the contrary notwithstanding. Any Justices or Justices of the Peace may sit in a court with a Magistrate, but cannot in such case act with the Magistrate, or exercise any jurisdiction whatever at such sitting. Every person who commits any breach of the provisions of the Licensing Acts for which no specific penalty is thereby provided is liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, but nothing in this section shall apply to offences under section 173 of the principal Act, which refers to forging or counterfeiting a license. This Act should have the effect of making ifc impossible for a prohibited person going for a trip to an adjacent township to indulge, as has been done iv many well-known instances.