HOTELS IN VICTORIA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8399, 13 April 1907, Page 3

HOTELS IN VICTORIA.

THE SYSTEM EXPLAINED

In the .opinion of Mv A. F. Buckley, General Secretary of the Federated Licensed Victuallers' Associations of Australia, and Secretary to the Victoria Association, who is at present on. a vi3it to this colony, New Zealand could learn something from Victoria in regard to licensing matters. In Victoria there are 8,600 hotels. The statutory limit provides for one house for each 250 of the population for the first 1,000, and one for every 500 after the .first 1,000. That is to say, a township with a population of 1,500 would be entitled to five licenses. In certain districts the number of licenses is under the statutory limit, and the Legislature provides for an increase by a vote of 'thV ratepayers. Roadside licenses, for the benefit of tourists and travellers, however, may be granted by the Magistrate. Mr Buckley considers the Victorian system much better than licensing committees, and not even the prohibitionist has found fault with it. As at present constituted the Victorian Licensing Courts are above reproach. Their decisions are judicial, and are not influenced by party feeling or bias. Each Court consists of a county judge, and two police magistrates. After twenty years' trial of local option, Victoria has gone Tn . for a new system by •which it is hoped to intelligently decide what houses are not required in the interests of the community. This is being done by the appointment of a Licenses Reduction Board, composed of three commissioners appointed by the Government It is anticipated that within the next ten years they will close between 700 and 1,400 hotels that are in excess of the statutory number in certain districts. During the twenty years of local option in Victoria 200 hotels have been closed. It is anticipated that the new system will. do more than local option has accomplished.