THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1882. THE LICENSING QUESTION.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2553, 14 June 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1882. THE LICENSING QUESTION.

Several of the Licensing Committees for districts contiguous to Christchureh have taken upon themselves to read the provisions of the Act with regard to the time at. which public-houses must be closed in what appears to us to be a very singular manner. The wording of the Act is plain enough, and we are quite at a loss to understand how there can be any doubt that the Legislature intended that the normal hour of closing should be ten o'clock, snbject to a provision that in special cases the Committees might •grant a midnight license. The 30th clause reads thus :—" A publican's license shall authorise the licensee to sell and dispose of any liquor, in any quality, on the premises therein specified, between the hours of six in the morning and ten at night." The 37 th clause runs thus : " The Licensing Committee may at any annual or quarterly licensing meeting grant to any holder of a publican's license, on payment of an additional fee of ten pounds, an extension of time hereinbefore proscribed for the sale of liquors until twelve o'clock at night, on being satisfied of its being for the benefit and convenience of the public." And again in the 15-4th clause wo find the matter put in a still clearer light. This clause says " Subject as hereinbefore mentioned, all licensed premises shall be closed as follows, that is to say,— (a) Ou Saturday night, from ten o'clock until six o'clock on the following Monday morning ; (&) on the nights of all other d&ys, from ten o'clock until six o'clock on the following morning. If an extension of time for the sale of liquors has been granted,— (a) On Saturda; nij»ht, from midnight until six o'clock o the following Monday morning; ib) * the ni edits of all other days, fpn midnight until six o'clock on the folding morning." "We cannot conceive ia ' anybody can carefully read this iß st clause and imagine that Licensing omwiliees have any option whatever i *h«

matter. There is not the slightest hint in any of these three clauses that Committees may grant an extension to any intermediate time. We believe that the view of the subject taken by tho Heathcote, St. Albans, and Avon Committees is that the greater includes the lesser extension, and that Committees have such an extensive power of making conditions that it is quite within their power to include in such conditions a closing at 11 o'clock, if an extension at all is granted. We think that this opinion, however obtained, is utter rotten on the face of it. Committees have, indeed, very extended powers of making conditions, but they cannot fool the proTisions of the Act in this manner. If it is perfectly clear that the option lies between two hours, and two only, it is absurd to say that an intermediate time can he granted. And we again assert that, taking the clauses we have quoted above, it is impossible to draw out an obligation in a stronger form. Whatever legal maxim may exist as to the greater including the less, like many maxims, it is liable frequently to mislead. The working of the Act plainly shows that in this instance the greater is intended not to include the less. In construing Acts, it is one of the first principles that, unless a measure is execrably drawn out, one portion shall not be made to absolutely contradict another. The Legislature, in giving Committees large powers to grant conditions, did not intend to givo them powers to annul portions of the Act itself, and this is just what these Committees have been doing. The Legislature gave Committees extended powers in cases where nothing absolute was laid down by the Act. It would have been idiotic of it to have gone further. 'j he action taken by the Heathcote, St. Albans and Avon Committees may lead to very uncomfortable results, if, as we hold, these bodies have been acting ultra vires in granting extensions to eleven o'clock only. Take the ca3e of a publican to whom such an extension has been granted, and suppose him to be found selling liquor between eleven o'clock and midnight. It would appear that, when the case was brought on, he might very well argue that an extension had been granted to him, and, as there was only one extonsion provided for by the Act, he was perfectly justified in selling up to midnight. lb is perfectly true that a publican in so acting would run the risk of drawing upon himself the wrath of the Committee. But on the other hand, if the Committee were to come down heavily on that publican it would certainly not be acting in a judicial, but in a vengeful spirit. If a Committee cannot interpret the law it assuredly should not visit its own shortcomings on somebody else. When a body makes a false step it has, to use a vulgar but forcible expression, " to stand the racket."

It is a singular thing, to say the least of it, that the St. Albans and Avon Committees should have acted in the manner they did. The majorities of both of these Committees are formed of gentlemen who are on Christchnrch Committees. When the question of the closing hour came on in the Christchnrch districts the matter was adjourned, partly because it was considered to be too important to be decided on without much deliberation. Dates were fixed on for meetings for the Committees of these districts when the question was to be settled. We will take the special case of the St. Albans district. The majority of the Committee in this district forms the majority in three of the Christchurch districts. Now the St. Albans district has only two pnblic-honses in it, and the interests involved cannot in any way compare with the interests in the three metropolitan districts. And yet what do these three gentlemen do ? Thoy grant an eleven o'clock extension to these two public-houses, thns creating a precedent and apparently settling the question for the larger part of Christchurch itself, because of course they can carry their point, forming as they do the majorities in the east, south, and west cf Christchurch. Their own pet legal maxim has been inverted in this case, and the lesser has been made to include the greater. We do not fancy, however, that the public of Christchurch will enjoy the transaction or see the point of the moral conveyed.