LICENSING QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 182, 24 July 1900, Page 2

LICENSING QUESTION.

} The Dunedin Star, which is usually well-informed on political matters, outlines the new Licensing Bill to be sub-! mitted this session. " First and fore- 1 most, it is proposed that the poll on the licensing issues shall take place once in every nine years, instead of once in thr. e years as at present. The Bill will also propose the abolition of the Local Option poll and the substitution of a general colonial poll, the voting, taking place in the various districts as . under the present law, but the local tot-Is being added together in order to arrive at a colonial result. There will be only two issues—continuance and no license—and if in any district half the number of voters do not go to the poll the votes given in that district will not be counted in the general colonial totals. If, when the totals are made .up, it is found that the vote for continuance exceeds two-thirds of those who voted, continuance will be declared to 1 have been carried throughout the colony; while if the votes; for ' no license' comprise three-fifths of the total votes that issue will be carried, and no licenses of any description will be granted throughout the colony. But no merely local prohibition will be possible. Should the colony be in a state of' no license' when the poll is taken, a three-fifths vote will be necessary in I order to carry restoration of licenses;' and if restoration be carried it will be incumbent upon the Licensing Committees to grant licenses to a number not less than 50 per cent, of what existed before the carrying of prohibition, and hot more than that previously existing number. The Bill will also provide that 11 o'clock shall be the hour of closing in cities and boroughs, and within a radius of five miles of cities and boroughs; also that the endorsement of licenses, in case of conviction, shall be at the magistrate's discretion. Moreover, it is sought to jooake all people who are concerned in or parties to an ofience liable as well as the publican. In charges of serving prohibited persons, the police will have to show that che publican offended wilfully and knowingly, and it will also be proposed that a licensee shall have the right of appeal in all cases irrespective of the amount of the penalty. In regard to Sunday and the bona fide traveller, the latter designation is to comprise any person who has travelled three miles, irrespective of the place where he slept the night before, The Bill will also include some important proposals concerning the tenure of licensed houses. It will be sought to provide that no owner or landlord of any licensed premises shall demand or receive any line, payment, bonus, premium, or consideration for the c >nsent of such owner or landlord to any assignment, sub-lease, or transfer of the licensed premises of the licensee ; also that no owner or landlord sh ill refuge any such consent to any person who has a certificate of fitness to hold a publican's license signed by a stipendiary magistrate, anything to the contrary in any le se, deed, or document no withstanding It is also probable j that the follou ing provision will be ! found in the Bill: ( Any person j applying for the grant or transfer of a 'license who is not the owner in fee ■ simple of the premise,s which are the subject of the application, or entitled mortgagee thereof, or for some larger estate than a leasehold interest, shall hold and bs entitled to such premises under a good and subsisting lease , originally granting and creating a tn-m . of not less than five years, and the [ terms of such lease shall meet with the approval of the Committee. Otherwise the Licensing Committee to whom such application is made may refuse such application.' Obviously such a Bill as this will provoke a fierce controversy, , and the fight over the coming proposals (which we have fairly outlined) will be j the battle royal of the session, or even J the Parliament. If we wei'o to hi zard ( , a predion m should g.iy that tha,

'trade' will get part of what it asks] for, but not all. The triennial poll may l be changed to ' once in six years,' but I ' nine' years will not be conceded, and we have doubts as to the likelihood of Local Option being abolished. Certainly it will not go without a tremendI ous Btruggle."