The Manawatu Standard PUBLISHED DAILY. Survant verite MONDAY, JAN. 2, 1883. THE LICENSING ACT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 3, Issue 31, 2 January 1883, Page 2

Manawatu Standard PUBLISHED DAILY. Survant verite MONDAY, JAN. 2, 1883. THE LICENSING ACT.

The New Zealand Times unreservedly condemns the existing Licensing Act, and jnstJy points oat that a large amount of property is affected by the Act, and complaints of great injustice m the Act itself and its administration are of very frequent occurrence. "In Wellington city alone," the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce stated "there were be'tweeh "'fifty and srsty hotels, and the co&t of land and buildiDg alone of these hotels would pro* bably exceed £250,000, taking the average cost of' each at from £4500 to £5000." It is now urged, apparently on j»ood grounds, that the tendency of the Licensing Act and of its present work ng are to cause a large depreciation of this property, and .other evils m addition,"' by driving 'all "respectable persons out of the trade, and filling their places with disreputable occus pants. And there is much, adds our Wellington contemporary, to- be 'stjid for this "view. 'The Act, wfiilit assu'm ing, by the very fact of granting licenses that the jtrade ijj a^Jawfal one, also assumes by the systematic espionage kept on his conduct, and by the perialtiesamposed upon him for trifling offences of which he may be personally ■innocent, that he is by virtue of being a hotelkeeper a quasi criminal, a sort of suspected fa^nb; .and; ] person] pt W$ .character. for mere inadvertencies, or perhaps laxities of employes, a publican's property, to the extent ot hundreds or thousands of pounds, may be reridered-hearly useless by his license being declared forfeited ; and, if he is allowed for a wbi.e to carry on business m his hotel, he must have the offence which was^con^mijtled -endorsed, on his ; license, accompaniediby a l ' warning ' -ad»ministeied at the time " that he may go iurth«r and fare worse," by having no license at all. Suppose a similar .plan\addpted in/theWse of; some other persons entrusted with responsible duties, and failing to discharge them % eatisfactojcily,,.|iow; i wouj4 i ifc,wpr ( k f t -As, we' remarked before, the licensing Act is one that should receive important modifications during the next session of Parliament., .>/■',.'. \ ■:..,:■'/., Yd