LICENSING COURT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 7 December 1880, Page 2

LICENSING COURT.

THIS DAY. ! The quarterly sitting of the Licensing Court was held to-day before T, W. Parker, Esq., R.M. (Qhairman), J. Udall, J. B. Bortqn, and' J. Reid, Esqrs., J.Ps. (Commissioners). TRANSFERS. The following transfers of licenses were granted:—Bottle license for store at Papakaio, from Mr. Dugald §haw to. Mr. Edward A. Atkinson bottle license for store at Reidston, from Mr. Bernard Grady to Mr. James Pryde ; Royal Hotel, from Mr. J. D. Kett to Mr, Henry Newey ; Imperial JJotel, from Mr. G. Newey to Mr. §i. Newey ; North Otago Hotel, froiq Mr. jVf. S. Southan to MrFrancis Doherty, JfEW LICENSES. Mr. Thomas Dunn applied for a license for the Whitstone Hotel. Mr. Hislop appeared in support of the application, and Mr. Newton supported the objection which had been lodged. Mr. Hislop said almost every other little township had its house, and urged that there was no reason why the township of Whitstone should not have its hotel. He contended that the ground set out in the objection which had been lodged against the granting of the license, that there were three licensed houses within two miles of the proposed hotel could not hold good. He handed in a memorial signed by 110 residents in the district in support of the application, and asked that tjie Commissioners trpat the township in the same planner as other townships had been treated. He mentioned that the applicant had long been a public officer, and waa no doubt known to the Bench. Mr. Newton said that there were two grounds on which objections could be taken to the granting of a license—first, the character of the applicant, and, second, that there was no necessity for a licensed house in the district. In the present csse no objection was raised to the applicant, but thoge who opposed the granting of the ! license did it an the ground that there was no necessity for the hotel. In the facei of the objection sent in and the report of the police, the Bench should satisfy themselves as to the necessity for the license, and he held that it was incumbent upon the applicant to show that there existed a necessity for a licensed house. He would gall §vjc|ence. tq show thy population of the district and the amount of accommodation whioh already existed, and leave it to the Bench to determine if there was any necessity for another hotel in the district. Constable King stated that there were three hotels in the district, within two miles on one side and three on the o.ther. The population within a radius of three miles of the proposed hotel was about 400 or 500. Weston was three miles from the proposed hotel, and had two licensed houses; Teaneraki was within two miles of the house for wliich a ligensq was and had one hotel.

To Mr. Hislop : —The proposed hotel was at the junction of two roads-—that to , Elderslie and the Waiareka road. There was a good deal of traffic on those roads during the grain season. Mr. Newton asked that the question might be put directly to Sergeant-Major Thompson whether or not there existed a necessity for a ligensed house. Sergeant-Major Thompson said that so far as he was concerned he usually collected all the information he could for and against the application and placed this before the Bench. hia duty ended, and he preferred not to express an opinion as to the necessity for a licensed house. After some argument, Mr. Newton said he would call Sergeant-Major Thompson and put the question to him. As the officer in charge of the distriot he was the most competent person to give an opinion upon the matter. Sergeant - Major Thompson was then placed in the box, and stated that he had reason to believe that the house for which a license \v§s sought wag one in which drink had beei} sold without a license. As a police officer, he would prefer that the house should be licensed than that liquor should be sold there without a license. It would give him a better means of maintaining the peace. He had no other reason for preferring to see a license granted. He had nqt made up his mind as to. the necessity for the hotel, and did not care to express an opinion upon the question. To Mr. Hislop: It was before Mr. Dunn occupied the house that liquor was sold in it, Mr. Hislop, in reply, urged that the evidence called in support of the o! jection to the license had actually favored the applicant's case. He pointed out that the majority of those signing the objection were residents of Weston, where there were already two hotels, while many of those signing the memorial in support of the application were residents in the immediate neighborhood of the house for which a license was sought, and others were those who travelled past it. After consultation with the Commissioners, The Chairman said that, so far as the applicant was concerned, there was no objection, but the necessity for a licensed house had not been made out, and the application was therefore refused. Mr. William Dickson again applied for a license for the Qo-Qperative Store in Thames-street, Mjp. Newton appeared in support of the application. •

The Chairman said that the decision of the Bench simply depended upon a consideration of the question whether these licenses should be issued broadcast, or whether they should be limited to the requirements of the town. The Bench preferred to take the latter view, as formerly, and refused to grant the license. Mr. William Shaw applied for a license for the Town Belt Hotel. Mr. O'Meagher, who appeared in support of the application, pointed out that the house was within 100 yards of the Town Belt railway station. He said he had. ascertained that during .the past month 200 passengers had been booked from this station. This large number of people required some accommodation, more especially when the miserable nature of the Town Belt station was taken into consideration. People often had to wait some time there for a train, and the evidence of Mrs. Shaw would show that already the house had been a great boon to ladies and children, who had sought shelter and light refreshments there. Mrs. Rachael Shaw stated that before the roof was on the building ladies and children had sought shelter in it. Since it was opened scarcely a day passed that ladies and children did not seek shelter and refreshment in the house. Sergeant-Major Thompson said that when he inspected the house he found it clean. The furniture was such as he would expect to see in a wayside inn,' and not in a hotel in Oamaru. In the course of Sergeant-Major Thompson's further examination, he stated that he had had a complaint made to him as to the manner in which the house was conducted, but he had not laid an information in the matter. Mr. Hislop argued that the applicant had not shown the necessity for a hotel. The only evidence that had been adduced had been to the effect that ladies and children had sought shelter there, and had been satisfied with tea. Was it desired to vitiate the tastes of these women and | children by offering them spirituous liquors instead of the more harmless beverages ? He submitted that it had not been shown that there was any demand for accommodation at the Town Belt by persons wishing to pass the night there, and even if there were such a demand, the house for which a license was sought would not afford it. He also referred to the former character of the applicant and of his wife. Mr. O'Meagher replied at some length, and referred to the fact of both the applicant and his wife having been fined for sly grog-selling. He said the Bench had now an opportunity of plucking a couple of brands from the burning, and giving the applicant an opportunity of doing legally what he had hitherto done in defiance of the law. The Chairman stated that some time ago a clerical party had appeared before the Court and asked the Bench to consider the question of increasing the number of hotels in the town, and -although the Bench had not bound itself to any line of conduct, it was favorably disposed towards the views put forward by the deputation. There was now a good supply of stone hotels in town, and what the Bench now had particularly to direct its attention to was to see that those hotels were in the hands of respectable men. Without considering anything in regard to the nature of the house and its suitability, the Bench, seeing that it was some distance from the town, thought it should be in the hands of a thoroughly reliable person. They had not confidence in the applicant, and on this ground refused to grant the license.