The Licensing Act Amendment Bill.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4885, 5 September 1884, Page 2

The Licensing Act Amendment Bill.

[By Telegeaph.]

(FBOM OUB OWN COBBESEONDINT.)

Wellington, Last night.

1 have just seen the draft copy of the Licensing Act Amendment Bill; it provides that upon election members of Licensing Commitees shall hold office for three years, and thereafter elections shall take place once in three years only, vacancies to be filled up by persons appointed by the G-overnefr, who shall hold office only until the next Committee is elected. Auctioneers may hold wholesale licenses. The committee may grant a re hearing of any application, such reI hearing to be applied for within fourteen | days of the date on which a decision has been given. The records of convictions for offences under the Act may be endorsed upoa the license at the discretion of the Justices hearing, the charge. The penalty for supplying liquor to any person apparently under 16 years of age is fixed at £10 for every such offence, er the suspeosion of the license for six months, a second conviction carries with it the penalty of forfeiting the license and premises, which are then liable to be disqualified for a period not less than two years, nor exceeding o years. Prohibited persons found in a state of intoxication are liable to imprisonment for one month, and on a second conviction to not more than three months ; for creating a disturbance or illtreating members of their family they are liable to imprisonment for six months, with hard labor. Where a renewal certificate is refused on the ground that a licensed house i« not required in the neighborhood, the holder of such license may give notice of the amount of compensation claimed, such notice to be advertised in the local papers, together with a notice of the amount which the licensing committee deems

equitably and sufficient; the matter may j then be discussed at a meeting of rate* payers, and if necessary a poll, of which notice shall be given, shall betaken, when if the number of votes in favor of the proposal to refuse to license exceeds the number given against such proposal by one-third, or more than one«third, of the latter, the proposal shall be deemed to be carried, and the Committee may refuse the license accordingly; but without such majority the Committee shall not refuse the license unless subject to the payment of the amount of compensation (to be settled by arbitration), the amount of compensation to be paid out of the Borough or County fund in which such licensed premises are situated, together with all costs incident to the poll taken, and so on ; and the Borough or County may levy a special rate of an amount sufficient to provide for the payment of such compensation and expenses ; the license shall be continued until such compensation has been paid.