MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD. AND POHANGINA GAZETTE GUARANTEED LARGEST CIRCULATION IN THE DISTRICT. WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 1900. NEW ZEALAND WINE LICENSES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6709, 30 May 1900, Page 2

MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD. AND POHANGINA GAZETTE GUARANTEED LARGEST CIRCULATION IN THE DISTRICT. WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 1900. NEW ZEALAND WINE LICENSES.

Several correspondents have asked us as to the power of a Licensing Committee to grant a new license for the sale of New Zealand wines, and as there seems to be some doubt upon the point, it is worth examination, especially as any appeal against the validity of a Licensing Committee's action will have to be defended at the individual cost of the members of the Committee. We do not think that there can be any question but that the Committee have no power to grant a new license of any description, unless the number of licenses in existence at the time is less than at the time of the taking of the local option poll. Under the Act of 1893, the voting was taken on each class of license individually, but the Act of 1895 altered that and provided for the voting being solely upon the question of " licenses." Proof of this contention is to be found in section 8, where it states, in the event of no-license being carried, "thereafter no licenses of any description shall be granted therein until another licensing poll has been taken." Now, under the Licensing Act of 1881, " licenses" included New Zealand wine licenses, and there seems to be no special section omitting them from the provisions of the poll, so that the weight of evidence seems to be against the Committee having the power to grant such licenses.