HAMILTON—JUNE 1. The first application considered was for the

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 474, 3 June 1875, Page 2

HAMILTON —JUNE 1. The first application considered was for the

I HAMILTON HOTEL. Mr Richard Gwynne was complimented by 'the Chairman on the excellent character the Reporting Officer of Police gavp the house. License granted. R«T*^' <kOTl^,-I|AMILTON EAST. Mr Richa\oß&n^e^^l^^k)rward as applicant for renewal of ijie licenseMiOthis hotel. The Chairman, addressing him, said the house had maintained its good character, for accommodation, and being well conducted. He desired to remind landlords, that one conviction of a breach of the Licensing Act gave the Court power to cancel their licenses. He particularly warned them against selling on Sunday, License granted.

NEW LICENSES. An application for a license for an hotel to be erected next the Court House in Hamilton West was lodged with the Court, accompanied by plans of the proposed building. Mr Hay 1 appeared in support of the application. Mr M^HsnJ^timiatfldto^ihe Court that he appeared to «u^o^the"^pplJamon, and was not aware that Mr ijW was engajJe^arM- would be glad if he would explara, the circumstances. Mr Hay said he was very pleased to have an opportunity of explaining the circumstances, and desired to elicit from th« Court an expression of opinion as to the manner in which he, as a professional man, had been treated in the matter before the Court. Mr Sullivan and Mr Butler called upon him so<ne time back, and in consequence of their instructions he lodged the application, and was instructed to carry the case 'Ithrough, .which he was well prepared to do. He was \iot surprised at Mr Butler being guilty of iis- business without notice, bu*Y^s4sn^whatastonKhld\t a professional gentleman who knows at any rate a little of professional etiquette, undertaking it without giving him (Mr Hay) notice that he was engaged. He had only received notice from Mr Buttler that morning that Mr Madden was engaged, and he declined to appear with him. He hoped the Court would express its opinion of such conduct. Mr Madden rose to explain the circumstances. Messrs Sullivan and Butler, had waited forhim nearly a whole day to place the business in Jhis hands, j owing to his not having come to the office on that day, Mr Hay was applied to, and he lodged the application. Since that time neither Mr Sullivan nor Mr Butler had spoken to Mr Hay on the matter. Much to his surprise Mr Hay mentioned the matter outside the Court. He (Mr Madden) had acted in the matter throughout, and had been consulted on several occasions by the applicant. Mr Butler pressed him to appear, so far as he was concerned, he was at a loss to see how he had been guilty of any breach of professional etiquette. Mr Hay said there was another question ; he had [ done certainvwork and had a lieu on the documents. Y. ]VL'*^hroiker &q,r\ffiuus curia, he would explain J&jjt $ft the!* SiiJqjeWe\Court the name of a solicitor y in a case coyld nor b\ altered without application to the court. The Court asked Mr Butler who he wished to appear for him. I Mr Butler said Mr Madden was the only gen[tleman he had employe!, and he desired him to ( appear for him. j The Chairman thought it right that the Court ( should express its opinion in the matter. In the face of Mr Hay having been first employed by Mr Butler and Mr Sullivan, he should certainly have received notice in writing that the case was placed in the hands of Mr Madden. The Court are of opinion that Mr Hay has not been treated courteously. Mr Madden: Does the Court include in the I remark both client and solicitor. The Court made no reply to the question. Tlio Chairman asked whether the application was made on the strength of plans submitted to the Court, and that no building was in existence. Mr Madden : Yes, the- timber is ordered conditionally'^nt'he license being granted, He desired to call the\jotirt's attention to the fact that many travellers at the^present^ime are inconvenienced from want of sufficient hotel accommodation. The house it is proposed to erect will contain d rooms down stairs, and twelve rooms upstairs which will include ten bed-rooms. He would point out that other places with much smaller population had two hotels. Ngaruawahia had two, Cambridge three, Alexandra two, and Te Awamutu two. It would be remembered that last year the commissioners saw the necessity for another house, and granted a conditional license. Mr Gwynne had done all in his power, but it was not in his power to perform miracles. Mr Whitaker, who appeared to oppose the application, said he would first notice the reasons urged by his learned friend for the granting of the license. He states that passengers are often put to inconvenience. \ln ordec^ to remedy this evil, extra accommodation is in course of construction, the improvements will be made immediately. It was a very cheap way of coming to Court to hand in plans, and say, if you grant me a license, I will build an hotel. With reference to the petition, he asked the Court to look carefully at the names. Most of those who signed it were as well known to the Court as to him. The characters of tho c who sign such petitions should be considered before deciding. t^fcantyher hotel would bo a blessing, < n the strerigtß' - of k certain number of signatures. The petition against the application was only signed by a few, but amongst them will be found the names of throe clergymen of different denomi-

ations. They, from visiting amongst their flocks, hould be good judges of the question. As to the oings of last year, he felt certain that the Court, f it* could be shown that it had erred, would not •c bound by precedent. He had the best opinions n Auckland, and the gentlemen applied to disinctly state that a license cannot be granted to a louse not in existence. The Act states distinctly hat there must be certain accommodation. He ailed the Court's attention to section 33, Proviniial Act, 1874; sections 25 and 27, Act General Assembly, 1873. It will be seen that the Act ibates that it shall be lawful afttr the building has wn reported upon. This section clearly lays down ;hat the Court has no power to grant a license mtil the building has been reported upon. It is mpossible to report upon a building that does lot exist. He was himself confident that he was right, out in order that not a shadow of doubt should remain, he had secured the opinions of Messrs F. Whitaker, sen., Hesketh and Richmond, and Fhomas Beckham. He pointed out that unhealthy 3ompetition leads to the breaking of the laws. In order to show the improvements that are in course of erection at Mr Gwynne's house, he would call Mr I. R. Vialou, wha is architect and builder, to speak to the question. Mr I. R. Vialou, being sworn, deposed : I am an architect. I know Mr Gwynne, of the Hamilton Hotel. I have large additions to make, viz., din-ing-room, coffee room, and eleven bedrooms, and five more only await lining. I am also erecting stabling. When all the alterations are complete theNiptel will be able to sleep 100 people. The accommodation forlorn mercial travellers has also been ltocreas^l.Vw \^ v C"""\^ By Me> M&dtieh : Tl^e N^veN tJEhpoms I spoke about are under the sample room. They are below the level of the yard, on the property recently in possession of Colonel Lyon. The additions have been in contemplation since Mr Gwynne took over the hotel. People have to lodge outside the hotel in Colonel Lyon's house. Mr Madden said he would not delay the Court long. He wished to point out that only two rooms were in existence when the license was given to Mr Knox last year. He was only there to ask for the granting of a license conditional upon the completion of the building acccording to plans. He urged upon the Court that it would be unreasonable to expect a man to expend £2,000 on a building on the chance of gettiug a license, which might be refused. The petition for the house was signed by people of standing, and who are quite capable of judging as to its necessity. More accommodation for travellers is required, he had no desire to disparage Mr Gwynne's exertions, but he had not the means to meet the requirements of the travelling public. The Court then adjourned for ten minutes. On re-assemblh}g the Chairman said : The Court have duly-ta.ken^ iAso consideration the arguments brought ■fco be%rNay gentlemen engaged. After all th«yhatl fcnly tne $ro%incial and General Government Acts to fall back upon. ' The Provincial Act, with tne exception of specially repealed clauses, was still in force; in the 35th clause of the 1871 Act it is clearly laid down that a building for which a license is applied shall contain at least two moderate sized sitting-rooms, and two bed-rooms, ready for use. In this case nothing of the sort had been done. The sth sub-sec, of the Act of 1874, says : " On any application for a new house being made, it shall be accompanied with plans of such house " This clearly refers to something erected — something substantial. The Court consideis that some building must be on the ground. Licenses could not be granted for buildings that only existed on paper. The Court does not think itself justified in granting the license. At the same time it does not give any expression of opinion as to whether another house is required or not. The present case is thrown out of Court by the Act. Application refused.

ANOTHER APPLICATION FOR NEW LICENSE. Robert Peat applied for a license' for a house erected by him in Hamilton West. Mr Hay appeared for the applicant. In opening the case he §aid he had only been instructed a quarter of an^ hour beforeHhe Court sat. He had handed in jfeplan^of Ifcbe proposed building. The ap plication was unoppose^ He it unneces sary to point at that at a licensing sitting, a license was granted for another house. John Peat being sworn deposed : I am the applicant for the license, I am a saddler by trade, I am a married man and have a wife and three children, all grown up. There are four rooms to the house at present, and I purpose adding to it, as shown in the plan. License refused.