The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 311, 17 September 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1874.

We* have received a copy of the " Licensing Act Amendment Bill" as amended by. the Legislative Council, but not as finally paseed by the House of Representatives, and give below an abstract of the more important clauses, the amendments proposed by the Upper Houee being printed in italics. Upon receipt of the Act as passed, we will slate whether those amendments have become law. Wherever the words " the said Aot" occur, they are to be taken as referring to the "Licensing Act, 1873." Clause 4 provides for the constitution of Licensing Courts as follows: — " The fourth, sixteenth, leventeentb, and eighteenth sections of the said Act shall be, and the same are, hereby repealed, and the following provision shall be substituted in lieu thereof, that is to say,— Licensing Courts shall be constituted in the following manner : — (1.) The Governor may from time to time, by warrant under his hand, appoiot such persons as he shall think fit (being not more than seven nor less , than three) to be members of aLicensing Court for any licensing district defined : under the eaid Act ; and the number of persons so appointed shall be notified in the New Zealand Gazette, in such form as the Governor shall think mo3t convenient. The persons so to be appointed as aforesaid shall (with the Chairman hereinafter mentioned)* form the Licensing Court for the district for which they may be appointed. (2.) Every such member shall hold office for a period of two years, unless he 1 shall die, resign, or be removed from ' such office, or become otherwise disqualified to act as a member of such Court." Clause 9 runs as follows : — " Notwithstanding anything in the said Act contained, any person being the holder of a public-house license may have more than one bar for the sale of alcholic liquors in or upon the premises in respect of which such license shall have been granted : Provided that wherever there shall be more than one bar in or upon any such premises as aforesaid, the holder of the license shall pay a fee for each additional bar at the rate of one-third of the fee payable for a publican's license, or at such other rate as may be fixed by the Legislature of the province within •. which such premises are situated." From Clause 10 we learn that wholesale and packet licenses may be issued by the Provincial Treasurer at any time, without the applicant obtaining the certificate of a Licensing Court. Brewers' licenses may also be issued whenever such are provided for by any Provincial Act. Clause 11 states that " no : wine and spirit merchant, and no brewer or other person who may be required to register his name or place, of business under the previsions of " The Distillation Act, 1868," 6hall ba deemed to be exempted from the operation of that Act by reason that he is the holder of a wholesale license or ja brewer's license issued under the provisions of " TheLicensiog Act, 1873," or of this Act or of any Ordinance incorporated or read, therewith." fa Clauses 12 and 13 provide for the holding of quarterly instead of annual licensing meetings, that is to say, ion the first Tuesday in December, March, June, and September : Provided that new licenses shall be granted only at the quarterly licensing meeting* to be held in the month of June in each year. Clauses 14 and 15 state that notices of the licensing meetings are to be ! advertised one month before they are held, and that applications iv duplicate on the form prescribed are to be sent in to the clerk at least tweaty-one days before the meeting. Clause 18 provides that personal attendance at tbe licensing meeting is not necessary to procure a renewal of the license, provided that the requisite notice has been given, and that no notice of opposition has been given. Clause 21 states that transfers of. licenses may be granted (except brewers* or packet licenses) to the appointee of the holder of the original license, provided such appointee is approved of by the Court. In clause 27, provision is made for tbe extension of a publican's license to sell liquors at " any volunteer encampment, races, fair, market, games, regattß, rowing matches, cricket grounds, or any other like places of amusement, for any period not exceeding four days ;" also on tbe occasion of a public ball, dinner, or other festivity, permission may be granted to any house to be kept open for the , sale of liquor for such period as the Court may think fit. .i..- :• . • ; ■:•--. Clause 40 gives power, to apy Licensing Court to take . away the license from \ any house that, to tbe satisfaction of toe Court, shall be proved to have bean conducted in an improper 'ffluotr. .„.,.» ,:,,;/ *

Clauses 41, 4*2, and 43 we give verbatim*.'-— \ : 41. "Whereas a practice exists in (dertaio parls of this colony of hiring Vfom^n and jfourig. girla .^'.-. dance with men In rooms and places where intoxicating liqoora are sold, with the intention of ezcitiog and inducing such men to drink, any contract by which any females shall be hired to dance in any each room or place shall be null and void." Any room or place in which females shall be so employed or" permitted, whether by contract or by the share of the produce of a sale of tickets, or in any other way, shall be taken to be a disorderly house, and the licensee of the promises oo which such dancing goes on shall be liable on conviction to a penalty of twenty pounds for the first offence, fifty pounds for a second offence, and forfeiture of bis license for a third offence; and any such conviction shall be indorsed by the Magistrate convicting on the license. " 42. No female other than the licensee or the wife or daughter of the licensee,* as the caee may be, shall be employed in the bar of any licensed bouse for more than ten hours in each day of twenty-four hours; and no female except as aforesaid shall be employed in the bar of any licensed boose before the hour of eleven (ten) in the forenoon , or after the hour of eleven (ten) post meridian. " 43. Any holder of a license who shall permit the provisions of the last preceding section to be broken upon his licensed premises shall be deemed guilty of a broach of this Act, and shall forfeit and pay for every such offence any sum not exceeding £20." Clause 44 states the penalty for adulteration of liquors in the following terms : — "In case any dealer in intoxicating liquors shall be proved before any Licensing or other Court to have sold or kept for sale or been in possession at his licensed house of any Jiquor adulterated with any substance injurious to health, or calculated to increase the intoxicating power of such liquor, the license of such dealer shall be cancelled, and ho shall be for ever incapable of receiving or holding another."