WAIROA BOTTLE LICENSE.

Patea Mail, Volume 1, Issue 19, 16 June 1875, Page 3

WAIROA BOTTLE LICENSE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PATEA MAIL. Sir, — The granting of a bottle license to a person at Wairoa at the last meeting of our Licensing Bench, has caused some little discussion among those who have some knowledge of the law of the case, and it certainly does seem to me that the granting of the license in question is ultra vires. A year ago the Licensing Bench at Wanganui made a similar mistake, and was not slow to hear of it, as both local journals commented strongly on the illegality of the act. The same Bench a few weeks ago refused to renew the bottle

license in question on the ground that they had no power to do so, thus admitting their error in having granted the license in the first instance. Now it seems to me that the Pafoa Bench having this fact before them, have taken rather a peculiar course in granting the buttle license at Wairoa, as they must either be aware of some legal power under which to grant such license of which the Wanganui Bench was ignorant, or they must have repeated the folly of the latter by granting a li Jense they had no power to under any General Government or Provincial Act applicable to Wairoa. It, as I firmly believe, they have repeated the mistake made by the Wanganui Bench last year in granting a bottle license in the Wellington Province, whose Licensing Ordinance does not provide for or contemplate the issuing of such licenses, they have done an act of doubtful kindness to tbo grantee, as he will find to his cost when he applies for a renewal of his license. In Wanganui, the person to whom the license was improperly granted, has been left with a large stock of wines and spirits on hand, which he must either dispose of bofofo the end of June, or run the risk of being brought up for a breach of the Licensing Ordinance. There is no doubt he is an illused man, and has good cause for complaint, but where is be to seek his remedy ? He has been induced to go into a business and to invest all his capital therein, only to find himself at the end of twelve months debarred from following it, all because those gentlemen whom the Government deputed to administer the law on the subject marie a, mistake, which they rectified a year aftc-rj wards, irrespective of the loss it entailed on the unfortunate recipient of their illegally granted license. Now, as Wairoa is in the same province as Wanganui, and consequently subject to the same licensing laws, it is quite evident the Wairoa bottle license is not legal, and will have to be rescinded when next its holder applies for a renewal—that is to say, if the Patea Bench do not persist in issuing a license they have no power to grant. Had Wairoa been in the Province of Taranaki, the case would have been widely different, as the granting of bottle licenses is quite legal in this Province, which perhaps led the Patea Bench astray when dealing with the Wairoa case. I think our local Licensing Bench could not do better than re-consider this matter while there is yet time, so that in the event of their not finding any clause of the applicab'c Licensing Acts or Ordinances to bear them out in what they have done, they may give the person to whom it was granted timely notice that it cannot be allowed to issue, and thus prevent him from expending his money on a stock ho will not long be allowed to dispose of in the manner intended. A wrong inflicted by a mistaken interpretation of the law by those appointed to administer justice, is one of the cruelost of wrongs, and one for which there is seldom any adequate remedy ; it should therefore behove Magistrates to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the laws they are called upon to administer, so that they iqay not, by blundering decisions, cause their fellow-colonists oxexpensu and annoyance. All through the Colony I hoar complaints regarding the decisions of the inferior Courts, and it can hardly be wondered at when the Magistrates have both to administer the laws of the country, and to give decisions based on equity as well as law. A man may have a legal claim, which his opponent may equitably dispute ; the Magistrate is on the horns of a dilema. If he decides for the enforcement of the legal rights of the one, he makes the law the medium for the infliction of an injustice on the other, whose equitable rights are ignored. Should he reverse the above course, and give a verdict based on the equities of the case, the party on whose side the law is, at once applies for an appeal; and then commences a fearful waste of money and time, and all because it is possible under present conditions for the law and the equities of a case to he opposed to each other. Our laws want mending, and their administrators In many cases improving ; but I suppose we must wait for all these things until that good time which has been so long in coming, and so slow in arriving. In the meantime, I suppose we must be thankful for what we have got, and not expect too much from our rulers, who are but “ mortal men,” and liable to make mistakes at times like other people. I hope they will make as few as possible, though, as legal mistakes are serious things. I am, &c., A LIMB OF THE LAW.