RETURN TO LICENSE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4934, 3 February 1926, Page 2

RETURN TO LICENSE.

THE POSITION IN OHINEMURI. f CHANGE OVER NEXT FRIDAY. According to .the sections of the Licensing Amendment Act, 1910, dealing with local restoration, the existing state of no-license in the Ohinemuri district will cease after Thursday next. Clause 8 states that at every licensing poll there shall be submitted for the determination of the electors of every no license district the question whether licenses shall be restored in that district,” and part of Clause 9 sets| forth that “every such determijnation shall come into force on the expiration of three months after the day of the general election at which the poll was taken.” ELECTION OF COMMITTEE. As the poll took place on Wednesday, November 4, 1925, the district will therefore become “wet, ’ after 17 years of no-license, from Friday, February '5, and the first step towards restoring licenses' will be the constitution of a licensing committee. The firs.t election of the elective members of the committee will take place on a day to be appointed by the Gov-ernor-General by notice in the Gazette, and the committee will at its first annual meeting deal with the applications for licenses in the terms set forth by the principal Act. So far His Excellency does not appear to have moved in the matter, but it is anticipated that the necessary step? will be taken at an early date, and that the election, which will be conducted on similar lines to a Parliamentary election, will fake place some time in March or April. The committee will consist of six members, with the district magistrate, Mr J. H. Salmon, as chairman, the remaining five to be elected. Tn the event of even voting on matters before the committee the points at isfeue will be determined by the casting vote'of the chairman. Any elector of Ohinemuri will be entitled to seek a seat on the committee. NUMBER OF LICENSES. The licensing. Act provides that the number of publican’s licenses to be granted in any district shall not exceed one for every complete 500 electors of the district at the date of the general election at which the poll was taken, and shall not be less (if a slufficient number of such licenses are duly applied for) than one for every complete 1000 electors of the district at the date aforesaid. The electors, on the Ohinemuri roll when the poll was taken numbered 7638, which menas that the maximum number of licenses that could be granted would be 15, and the minimum number —assuming that there were sufficient applications—would be 7. The number of licenses that will be issued isi .a matter.to be determined by the committee.

,' BUILDINGS. * The buildings that carried the licenses seventeen years ago are for the most part now non-existent, and those that rem'ain will require a lot of renovations and additions to make them come up to the requirements of a licensed house. It isl not likely, however, that much will be done in the way of building)? until licenses are granted.