REFUSAL OF LICENCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 478, 6 October 1928, Page 10

REFUSAL OF LICENCE

LAND AGENT’S APPLICATION MAGISTRATE URGES PROHIBITION ORDER (From Our Own Correspondent.) TE AWAMUTU, Friday. An application for the issue of a land agent’s licence was made on behalf of a well-known Te Awamutu resident, and refused by the magistrate, Air. W. Wilson, at the Te Awamutu Police Court yesterday. The granting of the licence was opposed by the "Waikato Land Agents’ Association. Evidence was given by the police, who quoted convictions against applicant over a period since 1917. In his evidence, applicant said he had been a member of local bodies for nearly 30 years. He had been a member of the Te Awamutu Borough Council for six years, also a member of the Te Awamutu Electric-Power Board. “I a ma well-off man to-day,” he stated, in giving further details of his financial position. The Magistrate: Would you be prepared to take out a prohibition order if a land agent’s licence is issued to you? Applicant: There would be no need. The Alagistrate: It certainly appears to be necessary. I ask you again? Applicant: You need not issue a land agent’s licence if that is the condition of its issue. The Magistrate: You certainly appear to bo a very objectionable person when under the influence of liquor. The fact that you have gained popularity and have attained public office does not necessarily imply that you are a fit man to hold a land agent’s licence. If the applicant would take out a prohibition order, the magistrate said, he would grant him a licence, but it was not in the public interest to grant him otherwise. Fitness for land agency did not consist merely of boosting land: it required sobriety and skill. The present applicant said he would not take out a prohibition order. “I make a point of requiring that in his case,” said Air. Wilson. “Therefore I refuse the application.” An application for costs was granted, £1 Is being allowed.