The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, MAY 1, 1882.

Kumara Times, Issue 1742, 1 May 1882, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, MAY 1, 1882.

" Becausk you are wise, virtuous, and good, shall we have no more cakes and ale" Apparently not according to that crude mass legislation called the Licensing Act; It is a straining after a mountain and it has brought forth a moose. One of the first fruits of this Act has been the constitution of a series of new licensing committees, and we ask candidly has the result been an improvement on the old method. Men have been elected who dd not possess a single qualification to entitle them to sit as judges in in matters licensing. In some cases the whole paraphenalia of electing a committee has been gone through for the purpose of dociding Upon he* merits of a single public-house. In Greymouth alone there are three committees and in two of the wards there are only four licensed houses. Again we' have the farce of the local option clause. No writer of hurlasque could ever have conceived a more farcical proceeding. In the large district of Maori G.u|ly twoi persons voted- and to tho e two. persons " ipse dixit " was left the say as to whet Her'.there should be any more licensed houses for the space of three'years;'' Therefore' if -lie verdict was " no " and a huge rush was to break out in the is not un. likely—no accomriiodation would be allowed for the space of three years. Oh wise legislators! Again in this important district of Riimara it was left to eleven to decide the Sncftty point—just two more than the celebrated ntimber of tailors of Tooley street, who planned the reformation of the world. Another subject is the attempt to make' people' g >od under this Act, and with an officidus constable the Act can be made an Act of persecution and tyranny never wc» hope contemplated by its framer-:. Tt gives power to suppress dancing, and the mnre sound of a "dance upon the flu re," even without :tlie concomitants of a " jng of whiskey punch," is deemed sufficient cause fox- a pnhlican, to be heavily fined. Again, the sound of a billiard ball after hours is deemed by the 155th section of this Act to be a misdemeanour —although no liquors I may be on the premises—not only bil- ! liai-ds but "l>agatelle or any othet game whatsoever." • Therefore if several persons were amusing themselves at " scratcb-cra-dle " " push pin " or anything else that a gentleman in blue should consider " as game " a publican

Is liable. The boarders or lodgers have no alternative but to sit still with their thumbs in their mouths—by-the-bye it is questionable whether this would not be considered an insult, as according to the old Shakesperian rule "to bite your thumb " at a person was considered the greatest" insult that could be offered. Reading goody-goody books might be allowed, if they accorded with the theological proclivities of the "gentleman'' on duty; It must not be forgotten that under the 184th section of this precious bulky bantling that a constable has power " at all times to enter on any licensed premises,*' if he merely suspects anything. In some neighborhoods, perhaps, it may be necessary to carry out the strict letter' of the law, but in quiet, orderly, respectable neighbor hoods, we contend there is no necessity in enforcing the inn vote to the utter-* most. Another absurd rule is contained in the 124th clause which sets forth that every person must keep a lamp burning over the door of his house from sunrise to sunset, failing to comply with which he renders himself liable to a penalty of 40s. Yet in the same clause power is given to the Licensing Committee to exempt any publican from burning a light. It is a nice Act altogether, and we question very much whether any member of n Licensing Committee has yet mastered its details.