PUBLICANS’ LICENSES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5070, 23 June 1877, Page 3

PUBLICANS’ LICENSES.

TO THE EDITOR OK THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sib, —A good deal has been said lately about the necessity of an alteration in the licensing laws of this colony, and that the present system is in many respects a bad one is, I think, very generally admitted. As plain statements of fact are always better than mere'arguments, I beg, with your permission, to lay a few facts before your readers, to show how harshly and unjustly I have been treated under the present licensing system. I am owner of the Family Hotel at Foxton, for which I held a license from July, 1875, until recently, when the Bench cancelled the license on the ground that the House had been improperly conducted. I asked the Bench if they refused the license “ to the house ” or “ to me and if to the latter, would they subsequently grant it if I found a fit and proper person to take the house. They said, “Yes.” I then did some business with Mr. Young, with whom and myself there was some dispute about the papering of the house. When the license was again applied for it was refused on the ground that “ the house was not in a fit state.” I then set to work and put the bourse in thorough repair, rebuilding a portion of it, and expending £IOOO on.it, and got a first-rate man to apply for it. Two of the Licensing Commissioners went over the house, and expressed their approval of it, saying it was quite satisfactory ; yet when the license was again applied for, it was refused on the ground that “the house was not required,” notwithstanding that a memorial in its favor was presented, signed by almost every respcctable'.settler in and around Foxton; whilst just at this time a license was granted to a new house in the township before the building was finished. Licensing, like kissing, “goes by favor” evidently in our district. Why did the magistrates tell me they woidd grant the license to a fit and proper person, and induce me to lay out £IOOO on their distinct promise, and then, after going over the house and approving of it, refuse renewal, and yet grant a license to a brand new bouse in the district ? As to the accommodation at the Family Hotel, as it is at present, it contains 22 bedrooms, a fine dining-room, 3 private parlors, 3 sample rooms, 1 commercial room, 2 other rooms rooms downstairs, a large billiard room with store and bedroom attached, a 20-stall stable, and outbuildings." That I have suffered great hardship, injustice, and loss, I think you will allow. Now, as to some of the complaints that were made whilst 1 held the license. On one occasion Young’s mail coach broke down near Otaki, and arrived at Foxton after its usual time. A man was employed to repair the vehicle, and finished Ids work about 10 o’clock at night (mine is a 10 o’clock house). I gave the man a pint of beer, and Constable Purcell saw me. The constable, by the way, himself drank two or three wluskys afterwards. For this I was “pulled up,” when I pleaded guilty, explained the circumstance, and hail to pay £fi. On another occasion this constable saw me turn a drunken Maori out of my house. This Maori bad tin-own the contents of a glass of beer in my wife’s face, and I kicked him out of the place. Another Maori, the chief of the Manawatu tribe, who was quite sober, had called for the beer, and tins drunken Maori had taken the glass away from off the counter and acted as I have said. This case was brought against me, and adjourned for evidence on the application of constable Purcell. It afterwards came on forbearing, Purcell calling as a witness a man whom I had discharged from my service previously at a moment’s notice, certainly not for good behavior. This cost mo £6. On another occasion two swagsmen called at my house (this was after thelicense had been taken away) and Lad each tea and bed, but no fermented or spirituous liquor. They got up early next morning, went into the township, and came back to my place drunk. They had not paid mo what they owed me (4s. Cd.), and I detained their swags. They asked me to let them have a glass of rum, which I refused. They said they’d “make it lioj; for mo if I did not give up their swags.” They then went to a J.P. and laid an information against mo for sly grog-selling. Next day they came to mo and said if I d let them have a pound or two I should never sec them in court. I told them if they did not quickly

got out of tlie place I’d kick them out. U-he case came on in court. These men never appeared. The case was dismissed, but it cost me £lO. One of these men was in the township whilst the case was going on, and was seen by Constable Purcell, who. did nothing to him, Instead of bringing up and getting him fined for non-attendance a witness, as ho ought to have done. During the time X held the license I don’t think more than one or two complaints were made as to the accommodation of the house (since greatly increased). On one occasion, there being a large number of people staying there, I could not accommodate one or two people with beds, and had to make up a shake down for them. Another time, at ten minutes before ten o’clock at night. Constable Purcell told me it was time to close, yet another house not far off had its front door open till eleven; and it is frequently so with that house, and nothing is said. When first I opened the house there were a lot of navvies working on the railway near the house, aud occasionally there was some noise and drinking going on, which it was next to impossible to prevent ; but even then I do n t remember more than two occasions on which the police had to interfere to take anybody up from my house, and then I lent them every assistance. It certainly appears to me to be high time for the licensed victuallers throughout the colony to unite to form such au association as from its numbers and character could exert such an influence as must make itself felt In Parliament, and bring such pressure to bear upon the members as must bring about a radical change in the existing licensing law. In this, as in other matters, union is strength. At present there is a want of proper organisation in the trade, which, however, I believe will shortly be rectified. It is, I think, as much in the interests of the public at large as in that of the licensed victuallers themselves that a change should be made if possible next session.

I fear I am taking up rather too much of your space ; but in the interests of the trade and from a desire that the public should know from simple statements of facts how a publican can be persecuted, and even ruined, under the present vicious aud corrupt licensing system, which places far too much arbitrary power in the hands of the police aud Commissioners, I have sent you this letter, hoping you will find room for it, and thereby greatly oblige.—l am, &c., A. Wakefokd.

Family Hotel, Foxton, June 15. P.S,—ln reference to my license being “ cancelled.” I have it in ray pocket. When the constable came for it I could not find it and had not got it. Some time afterwards I came to Wellington and found it at the Provincial Government buildings, in Custom House-street. I was never called upon to swear before a J.P. as to the facts in connection with the non-production of this license and the license was never really and truly cancelled ; and if I had liked to be a dishonest man, I could have gone on selling liquor quietly, and if “nabbed” by my friends the police, could have produced my license,, which was good till the end of the year, dating from the day of its issue. Our Licensing Commissioners have a queer way of doing things. It is high time for a change. A, W.