New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK’S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, April 26, 1851.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 598, 26 April 1851, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK’S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, April 26, 1851.

So far as ' Y 7 vwjcvl Cttll ue QISCOvered ui the vapid and unmeaning declamation in Wednesday’s Independent, beyond that habitual railing against Government ana Government Officers which seems to have become a confirmed habit akin to monoman» on the part of the unfortunate writer his meaning („ e will not say for it would be a great misiake to suppose fie Has any,) seems to be to advo. cate free trade in public houses; that the Magnates W ho are the conservators of or! mOra ! S Should afford every 1 1 y o an unlimited increase in their umber; m e fF ecfc thafc they should . every encouragement to drunkenness Afterre P rintin g a minute agreed to by the Magistrates at the Annual L lC ensin" Meetmgm 1850, the writer referred t! nute e th e e S M that ’ said mi- » u e the Magistrates, having specially “the "T r \° fthe » ready to receive all applications which

“would secure to the public th competition,” and seems to i this minute, like some ImpeS? 6 ' is to be binding on all ing Meetings of Magistrates, th - their rule and guide on all future 1,5 H81 Before going further we must ° CCaS mistake (a very material one) fl labours under, as to the effect wEi^^ ® the confidence of ignorance, h e this minute. He talks a great little purpose, about the Bench of't'fl trates, whereas in fact under theOrd' s fl there is no such body. There is aa meeting of the Magistrates und er t ?f| censing Ordinance for a specific kW and the object for which they fij ''''BB having been accomplished, havin' 6 fl formed the duties required of thena functions are at an end, the meetin ’• sll solved, they have no power tn ■■ future meeting of Magistrates bvaZfl laws or minutes they may frame. Ttfl minutes may be accepted as an or justification of the proceedings ado W by the meeting at which they are pa fl but they have no power to conduct of any future meeting; theM-.b ■- trates at each annual licensing meetin»’H bound to administer the law under they are summoned to the best of theirfl cretion and judgment, without referenefl any previous proceedings. I But we maintain that the minute o n J| so much emphasis is laid does not in any warrant the inference drawn from it fl professes to regard “the welfare of the JS munity alone,” as the rule in grantingS withholding licenses and not the interests® individuals, whether those to whom lice j | had previously been granted or fresh plicants. At the Licensing Meeting 1850, without any great increase or extfl sion of the town which might seem to fl mand an increased number of public honsfl the population of Wellington having refl ved no sudden or extraordinary accessionfl its numbers, the number of public hoi J WOP !YI or-nnonrl 4- a. - V .unvaaLu num m u lCcu to eiguiecu. the last meeting, the population of the tor! remaining nearly the same as before, fl number of applicants for licenses is sC greater than that of last year; there ' eleven fresh candidates; and if these tfl been successful, the number of applicJbs on each succeeding licensing day woB 5 probably have gone on increasing, -I every other house in Wellington had come a tavern. Now it is obvious 11? this sort of competition is not Ills’ to promote the welfare of the communityM which was to be the paramount considerfl tion, this indefinite multiplication of theo^'-1 portunities of indulging in intemperances® not precisely the way in which the pub!j 1 interests would be best consulted. Aad| 5 at last year's licensing meeting, when mailtg| by the instigation of Mr. Fox, to whose / is ascribed the minute referred to, the pub-1 J saw to their dismay five additional pulljl l houses added to the previous number intlfl town, it must be admitted that the satisfef/A tion so generally expressed at the recent j cision of the Magistrates is well grounc-l and that they have evinced a due the welfare of the community, and a to promote its best interests in the which they have pursued. |