Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1894. The Licensing Law.

Manawatu Herald, 26 June 1894, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1894. The Licensing Law.

Shortly affcer tho passing of The Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act 1898 many local bodies were particularly anxious to be appointed the local authority of .the licensing district, " permitting them to make all necessary appointments and do all things for the conduct of elections, or the taking of. a.,p01l of the electors, and for the. general administration of the . ..Licensing •- .Acts. .."within . the licensing district,'.' as is set forth in section 9of the said Act',. , Ona local body in each licensing district secured the coveted honour, and have now learnt how bare that honour is, and so have begun to cry oufc. The officials have been laying low waiting for the bewitching time when license tees had to be paid, when, with a unanimity which is pleasing they have made a claim for all fees to be paid to them, to be, so we dare suppose, distributed by them, in their own good time, less deductions for expenses. The Clerk of the- Horowhenua County has informed the Clerk to the Foxton Borough that the fees musfc be paid to him afc Ofcaki, or otherwise he cannofc issue the licenses — ifc is sad ■ that he sbould imagine he is placed in such.. an awkward position, but as the Borough Clerk has fortunately got the fees we very much doubt if he will give up possession of the mon .y: . .The Horowhenua County Clerk is not singular in mnking this sort of stand and deliver demand, as in the Waira-'apa, the South CountyCouncil beiug the administrative •body is. try ii_g thg' same little game on with the North County Council, and as the report goes " complications are likely to arise owing to the

South County Council issuing certificates to publicans whose fees are receivable by the North County Council." Again, the Clerk to the Patea Council is making the saiile claim to oil fees within the Patea licensing district, which the clerks to the Hawera Borough and the Hawera County are objecting to. The Palmer, ton Borough Clerk has accepted license fees from publicans whose fees should go to the Manawatn Road Board, which he declines to pay over. If it was not for the inconvenience to publicans one might laugh at the whole business, though ifc shows that the licensing law needs making clearer so that all who read it, may understand. The Licensing Act 1881, section 109 states " The fees for all licenses granted in respect of premises situate in each borough and county asherein defined, and each road district outside of such boroughs and counties, shall respectively be paid to the person acting as treasurer for such borough, county, or road distric!;, and shall form part of the Borough, County or Road Board Fund, subj.ct however that the Council of such Borough or County respectively, and the Road Board of such road district, shall, out of such fees, pay the cost of nil charges for printing and advertising the necessary notices relaliug to the meetings of tlie Licensing Committee in such borough, county, or road board re. p -clivoly, as also the actual cost of the travelling expenses incurred by any member of a Licensing Committee or the Clerk thereof in attending any such meeting." The Clerks of the local authority having the administration of the Act do nofc like thia section, they desiro to imagine that section 9 of i( The Alcoholic Liquor. Sale Control Act " which we first quoted ha-3 in some mysterious way repealed the above clause. Ifc has not, as the following section 10 empowers the administer" ing body to recover a contribution from the local bodies receiving the fees. The main trouble has arisen from the Clerk .to the Licensing Committees not having forwarded the Certificates for the issue of a Publican's License to the proper local authorities, as, tho certificate being in the hands of the treasurer to the local body entitled to the fees, he (the treasurer) issues the publican's license. If the clerks of the com mit tees had forwarded these ceitifi cates in accordance with the Act no trouble of this nature could have arisen, and we are glad to know that the Chairman of fche Ofcaki Licensing Committee, whilst acting as chairman ot the Palmerston Committee publicly mentioned thafc " Certificates had been forwarded to the other local bodies as soon as fche matter had been pointed out to him " thus showing that in his opinion these claimants for other people's revenue had no moral or legal claim. We may jusfc add one more argument to the support of our contention, sup- j posing fchat it was intended that revenue belonging to various local ; bodies sliould first be paid to the j administering body, under what i clause of the Act would that body l)_ j empowered to pay away this money, j and for how long a period could the administering body keep that money I from getting to its proper channel ? j The law is safest as ifc is, the only j pity seems the trouble some persons ! take to misunderstand it.