The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20,1870.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 87, 20 April 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20,1870.

The Annual Eeview of the Licensed Victuallers was held yesterday, in the presence of Mr. Beckham and a goodly array of Justices, and was an occasion deserving at least of the notice of the Drury Auxiliary of the United Kingdom Alliance. Verily we are thirsty souls in this small community if it requires all that corps of gentlemen of " the bar" to satisfy our wants; while a considerable number of would-be recruits eagerly struggled to join the ranks of those who are engaged, according to the quaint and vigorous language of the good old divine, in retailing *' liquid lire and distilled damnation." But while wholly differing from the impossible principles of the Alliance, and believing in the necessity for the hotel as an institution of the present state of humanity, we feel that there are some features in this annual muster that are deserving of modification. It is right that the license should be anntial; but surely there is no necessity for dragging such a body of our fellow citizens before the Bench as culprits—putting them, in a manner, on their triai, and even then having their cause decided by no acknowledged principle or code, but solely by the predilections or antipathies of friends or foes on the Bench. It is not necessary for us to say that there were those on the Bench yesterday who were influenced solely by honor and conscience; but it were maudlin nonsense to say that there is no Justice of the Peace whom a welltimed glass of grog and a confidential chat across the counter would enlist in sympathy or antagonism. There are publicans who will avail themselves of these means of having a friend at Court; in fact, it is an acknowledged feature in the system, and the effect must necessarily be demoralising ; and until licenses are granted or withholden. on some explicit, well-defined, and unvarying principle, the honourable and inde-pendent-minded are placed at unfair disadvantage.

With regard to the new applicants for admission to the roll of the licensed victualler, it is acknowledged that they should be of good character; but is the mere getting-up of a testimonial from good-natured neighbours a test of this ? or the trumpery inquisition that can be held in the few minutes available, and in presence of a crowded Court? and on whom is the onus to be thrown of this unpleasant duty ? At preseut it falls on the neighbours objecting, And is productive of envy, malice and all uncharitableness. There can be no doubt that, seeing the interests involved, the special character of the trade, and the moral results to the community, the system of licensing requires a radical change. The Court, however constituted, should have really a judicial power, and not simply administrative. Through the agency of the police, who are presumed to be acquainted with the social life of their district, it should take strict knowledge of the character of those to whom it is for the first time comniifc-

ting a trust having such a bearing on the comfort, morality, and peace of the people. Not this alone; but; there are on that roll which yesterday received the approval of the Bench, those whose names should never have been there, had such strict investigation been held when they were first enrolled; and whose character and conduct, as at present known to the police, would demand their expulsion. But, of course, this is nobody's business; and, no objection having been raised, the Bench, in its formal and merely administrative action, can but pass the names or be compelled by mandamus from the Supreme Court. None are injured more by the present loose procedure than the licensed victuallers themselves, li'rom the character and conduct of some of their brethren, and the scenes sometimes witnessed in the vicinity of a disreputable tap, there is a tendency in the community to speak of publicans as the " Pariahs " of society, when there is nothing inherent in the trade itself but what is honourable and beneficial to the people. It is the hotel-keepers themselves that should move in this, and purge out the unclean thing. The ranks of our licensed victuallers contain some of our moat useful, citizens. Why have they not a licensed Victuallers' Association ? With such a bond of union, they could obtain a modification of the licensing system — respectful to the respectable trader, repressive of the low poison tap, and preventive to the extension of licenses beyond the legitimate requirements of the community. And, honestly speaking, we believe if the Drury Auxiliary of the United Kingdom Alliance would form some sort of sub-alliance with such Licensed Victuallers' Association, it would be productive of more practical results for good than all the stump orations uttered over the length and breadth of the land.