Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPT. 11, 1894. Transfer of Licenses.

Manawatu Herald, 11 September 1894, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPT. 11, 1894. Transfer of Licenses.

After the passing of " The Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act, 1893 " hotelkeepers naturally believed that after the poll had declared in favour of there being no reduction of licenses in the Otaki district, so also would there not be any increase, and therefore the tenure of their occupation as fixed after the poll was secured for three years. The Act proposed but hotel-brokers and others desired to dispose of this security and at the last quarterly meeting held on Friday a desperate attempt was made to drive a whole public-house through the intention of the' Statute, by making an application to remove th« license from one hotel at Manakau to a billiardroom at Levin. This proposal was made under section 98 of " The Licensing Act 1881 " which provides for the manner any holder of a license shall act who " shall desire to remove his license from his licensed premises to any other house in the same licensing district." It will be remembered that prior to the passing of last year's Act the licensing districts were very small, and boroughs were districts in themselves, so that the permission to

remove a licente from one building td another w&b not in any way likely to upset the existing order of things'. in supporting the application on Fiiday, counsel stated that the population around Manakau waa not sufficient to support two publichouses^ and as tlie population at Levin was four times as many it would be of advantage to that district to have another licensed house. It was shown that the. applicant had made a srstt ol: Sporting" application to tn6 committee a3 at the time of making such application he had concluded no, Agreement wv A site even iipon which to erect a building, and only on the morning of the meeting of the committee had a proper deed been signed. The site secured was said to be nothing to the committee but whether Bo 'dr not its Sel'e'c tiott. tells a Very curious tale. Along the metals of the Manawatu Railway line at Levin runs a broad strip of land owned by the Company upon which they have allowed tenants to "erect .buildings uport slectye*, giving theni tbe power to remove, as, \vhicli is iiiipol.'tarit t'd note-, MAiter tlie company's agreement with the Government they had, when called upon, to hand this land for railway purposes to the Government, and therefore the tenant could on.ly secure a, 'cihatite oi I occupation for fWe y'eiirS, but might have to move at very short notice. Upon this land, it was mentioned to the committee, did the applicant, supported by certain hotel-brokers, 1 intend to erect a building, but owing to the good offices of the Chairman of the ManaWatu Railway company, Mr McCarthy, who also j carries Oil the business ol' a brewer, an extension of the lease for 21 years had been agreed to. The difference made in favour of the liquor trade to those conducting other lines of business is thus very marked. The Act makes it necessary that a license cau only be removed frijm otic building to another building, of course presumably as good us the one from which it was to be taken, but such a " sporting chance " did this application appear to the applicant and his backers, that to get through the clauses of the Act, a | single room wag seized upon, to represent a " building " and the Committee were laughed at by being asked to consider this sufficient and if the applicant were assured of the transfer a neft r building would be erected. It has beeii ruled by the judges that no application for a new license can be granted until a building is erected, and no promise can given as to what the committee will do by a reference to plans only ; yet this was what was asked of the Otaki Committee, because, so urged counsell, it was not an application for a new license but a transfer of a license. This manner of approaching the committee intimated a j contempt for their understanding. ; On the other hand it was contended ! that the population of Levin was not ; four times, or twice as large as that of Manakau, that a large number of the residents did not desire another j hotel and that no case had been made out in support of the applica- j tion. It was noted that until the day of the meeting no one in Levin knew where the proposed hotel was to be erected and were therefore debarred from the chance of objecting under the clauses upon which legitimate objections could be made, and that no notice of any sort had been placed on the billiard-room at Levin. To show what the ap plicant's counsel thought the committee would take from him he argued that it was of more importance to post a notice on the door of the premises to be removed, about which no one, except the owner of the property had the right to object, than to post one on the door of the premises proposed to be opened, about which every school committee, every member of a church in its neighbourhood, and the occupiers of neighbouring sections are allowed by the Act to have a great say in the matter. So far we have approached this subject from the actual point at issue on Friday, but we shall have more to say about it from a broader standpoint later on. The Committee pretty summarily dismissed the application and from the manner such notification was received by the applicant's counsel it was apparent he was not greatly surprised. It is something in favour of the judgment of the Committee that so little time was taken in arriving at this conclusion, as it must appear passing strange that only a short three months ago this same applicant; was particularly anxious for a renewal of bis license at Manakau, and within two and a half month's afterwards found there was not room for him in that settlement. The place must be radically bad, from the trade pbinfc of view, or he cannot be a good manager, and though his statements were not of use in support of his desire to try elsewhere they will be extremely useful, should a reduction of licenses be carried, to point where such can be commenced whilst doing the least harm.