LIQUOR LICENSES.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1909, 3 December 1874, Page 3

LIQUOR LICENSES.

To the Editor of the THAMS ADVERTISER. Sißr-The,latest on this matter appears' to be .that four times during the year, in* : stead of one, have we to read that the; various Licensing Courts throughout the colony administer the law according to their several different views of it, and that some are apparently guided by no definite principles. Review the proceedingsofour own Court,- and we find the ' worthy chairman stating " that applicants knowing the, feeling of the country, should be able to show'that their houses were in a proper condition." If the chairman knows anything of the feeling of the country he must know that ,it is not in favour of the multiplication of licensed houses, no matter how gilded their outward appearance, but their diminution. The absence of definite principles to guide is shown in that one house about 30 yards distant from another is allowed seven days to execute repairs, while another house 78 yards from the nearest public is refused a license?, If a pub. is needed every. 20.yards, think of the awful suffering to be undergone to travel 78 long yards before a .house licensed to vend intoxicants can ,be reached. Contrast the decision of the Court, in the cases- of the"Ohinemuri applicants,; and the • party the Court : : thought was a- substitute for one' to whom they had previously refused a license; in the one case they jealously prevented thatjparty previously refused.. having any benefit from a license, in the other, granted the licenses, although the previous cause for their being refused : still exists, viz., that it lacks the sanction of. Te Moananui, who, by the way, I am informed, is noc a Good Templar. What does Taipara know, living at Parawai,; -'about; the advisability or not of granting a license atOhinemuii?, The Chairman wonders the Licensed' Victuallers do not rise Jiheir' influence to prevent black sheep getting into their number. Now: many .white . sheep are there; might not the colour be truthfully classified by the various shades between brown and blaok P. Look at tho matter in the light of the " feeling of the country." Who are fit to hold licenses P Those that oarry on' their business in accordance with the licensing law 3of the , land. And who do that ? Who P Is it not a lamontable fact that numbers of our young men ,are led to ruin by means of. the facilities for drinking, the card playing, the bagatelle, and other hotel attractions. A/e these the best schools, _ espeoiaJJjraQ a demooratic community like ours,lto train , up our future citizens P let we find, although the ladies'of the Benevolent Society report, destitution caused by drunkenness, our Licensing Court 1 inevitably exercise their : " discretion." *• to grant applications for even new licenses., dome meet this by stating the; increase of licensed houses does hot cause ,■* any increase of drinking, the reverse has often been proved. Granted they do hot, then why are : our local brewers so anxious to extend their business 'by the multiplication of their retail houses. The police 'admit, nay, we all know, that the licensing laws are broken every day.-Why> then, increase ;the number of houses which already are too numerous to be well looked after ?; : ; The day is not far distaut when the people who"are so intimately t oonneoted with this question will them- ; selves say whether license,' or ho lioense, shall be- granted; until that day. would ,tha,t. the barriers we have be. built up. i strong.~Yours, #o.', ! UWw.foHK.