LICENCING COURT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 574, 5 March 1878, Page 2

LICENCING COURT.

The 'quarterly sitting of the Licensing Court was held to-cl;iy ; the following gentlemen being on the BenchJ. tidal], Esq., J. Hind, Esq., and J. B. Borton, Esq. KAKANUI DISTRICT. Mr. O'Meagher, on behalf of Mr. William M'Googan. applied for a license for the Teaneralu Hotel, Teaneraki. Mr. Mirams appeared to oppose' the application. Two petitions were put in. witli reference to the apj)lication —one in favor of the granting of the license haying mnty-one names attached to it, and one against the application with fifty-five signatures. Mr. O'Meagher urged that, owing to the- running of the. railway, .there was a large travelling public to tho township, and he certainly, thought that there should at least be one hotel in the township, for the convenience of travellers. There was at present no accommodation for those wlnse business took them, to that place. i If no hotel were permitted in the district, a boarding-house would certainly be opened, with, the additional evil of sly-grog-selling—a practice which it would be more difficult to 'put down than was the case in Oamaru. Mr. Mirams referred to the petition which had been presented against the granting of the license, and said that the I reasons urged were good ones. There was no necessity for a hotel, and it would be a nuisance to those living in the township. There was a boarding-house in the township which was capable of affording proper accommodation for the travelling

public. The petition against the granting of the license was signed by a number of well-known residents in the town, while that in favor of the hotel was signed chiefly by laborers, who formed a merely floating population. The Bench had previously refused to grant a license to another applicant, and now they had another person applying for a license. This did not spring from a desire to benefit the public, but ill order to open a grog-shop. Mr. o'Meagher, in replying, referred to the two petitions, and styled the petition against the granting the license as a bogus one. He had taken the trouble to , go through that petition, and found that only eight bond fide ratepayers in Teatieraki had signed that petition. There were the names of a large number of [females; while that in favour of the granting of the license, which had a very

much longer number of signatures oil it, did not contain the name of a single female. The learned counsel, who had opposed the application had referred to the petition being signed by labourers. He (Mr. O'Meagher) maintained tli.it thelabouring classes were entitled to accommodation; but the petition was also signed by a large number of others, including farmers, millers, &c. Casting aside the petitions altogether, the broad grounds which lie had urged as to the necessity for a hotel where people could claim accommodation, were paramount. He did not attach much importance to the petitions ; ho went on the ground that where there was a railway station, there was a necessity of hotel accommodation. Where there was a necessity for a station, there was also a necessity for a hotel. :

After some consultation,' the Bench decided to grant the license, the Chairman remarking that at the last sitting of the Court it was felt that there was a necessity for a hotel, and the Bench would have granted the application then had there not been objections against the then applicant. . . On the application of Mr. O'Meagher a transfer was granted of the license for the Devonshire Arms Hotel, Kakanui, from Mr.' Henry Stock to Mr. George Campbell. OAMAHTJ TOWS. Mr. O'Meagher, on behalf of Mr. •Tames Familton, applied for a bottle license for his store in Thames-street. Mr. O'Meagher also appeared in support of a similar application by Mr. Hugo Lippert, for his store in Thames-street, and drew attention to a petition signed by 130 persons in favour of the granting of the license to Mr. Lippert. The Bench remarked that some applicants had been continually before the Court for the last two years. The Bench feit that there was a certain amount of hardship in the matter, but in order to be consistent the Bench must refuse the application, as no necessity had arisen for additional bottle licenses iu the neighbourhood. ■_Mr. Hislop, on behalf of. Mr...Jas. Thos. Hughes, applied for a bottle license for a stove situate in Reed-street, at the back of Meok's Mill, and handed in. a petition in favour of the application signed by nearly the whole of the residents in the neiglxmrhood.—The Bench granted the application in consideration of the store being situated so far from any licensed house. Mr. O'Meagher applied on behalf of Mi\ It. Richardson, for an additional bar in the Royal Hotel.—Application Granted. On the application of Mr. O'Meaglier,. n. transfer of the license for the White Hart B oi.el from Sir. M. Hanley to Mr. Thomas Harmon was granted.