Licensing Bill

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 December 1913, Page 4

Licensing Bill

REDUCTION OF MAJORITY

The Licensing , Amendment Bill which the Prime Minister lias promised shall be proceeded with next session was circulated among members of the House of Representatives last night. The Bill is of three operative clauses only. Clause 2 provides that the majority recjuired to carry National Prohibition shall be 55 per cent., instead of threeh'fths, which means , that the excess of votes required to carry a proposal is reduced by half. The same clause provides that the majority to restore licenses to a prohibition district shall be reduced from three-fifths to 55 per cent. Section -3 deals with the employment of unregistered barmaids, and seeks to correct the defect in the present law as a result of which the employment of unregistered barmaids in private bars is not illegal. The present law as declared in the Act of 1910 set forth that "no female shall be employed in any capacity in or about the bar of any licensed premises at any time while the bar is open for the sale of liquor.' , j The clause in the new Bill proposes to delete the words "while the bar is open for the sale of liquor/ , and substituting the words "while the licensed promises are lawfully open for the sale of liquor to the public?." This seems to mean that unregistered barmaids may not be employed in any bars, public or private. The fourth clause repeals the schedule which prescribes (he form of the voting paper for the issue of National Prohibition, and another schedule is substituted The voting lines now are :•-- "I vote for National Continuance." "I vote for National Prohibition." Under the style at last poll the first line was "I vote against National Prohibition," and it was said that it led to some confusion. -Dominion.