LICENSING ISSUE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 67, Issue 235, 17 July 1947, Page 4

LICENSING ISSUE

POSITION IN ASHBURTON ALTERATION OP LAW NECESSARY The licensing, position in Ashburton Borough and County, a matter of considerable interest to the public, is not very clearly understood by a great many people, and with the object of interpreting it, the following statement has been prepared:—

Up till 192 S the Ashburton electorate was a “dry” area as a result of a poll in 1902. In 1928 the electoral boundaries were altered and the electorate of Ashburton ceased to exist, it being split up between the adjoining electorates of Tem.uka and Ellesmere, both of which were “wet”. The portion which was joined to Ellesmere, including the Borough of Ashburton, was given the name of Mid-Canter-bury. The two new electorates thus formed. Temuka and Mid-fan terbury, were both electorates in which licences existed, but it was held in protracted litigation, which in the end went to the Privy Council, that there was no power under existing legislation to grant any new licences in what had originally been Ashburton electorate.

A Licensed District

As a result from 1928 to the present time the Borough of Ashburton and the Ashburton County have been in a licensed district, but have had no hotels.

It was held that different considerations applied to the Ashburton Club and M.S.A. from those applying to hotels, in that the provision of the club’s charter authorising it to sell liquor was revived when the Ashburton electorate ceased to be in a no-licence district.

Royal Comission

In 1946 the special Royal Commission to deal with licensing matters recommended that where the alteration of electoral boundaries had created anomalies, a special poll should be held to determine whether the added areas should be included in the nolicence district concerned, or in-an adjacent licensing district. The report considers that the original Ashburton area, which carried no-licence in 1902, should be defined as a no-licence district with fixed boundaries. Any areas in the present Ashburton licensing district, outside the Ashburton no-licence district and its added area, should be transferred to the Selwyn licensing district or the Waimate licensing district, and the present Ashburton licensing district abolished. ,

Added areas should be constituted voting districts, so that bare majority polls could be on the question of whether those areas should be included as a whole in the Ashburton no-licence district, or in the adjoining licensing district. li We think it reasonable that electors in areas which have been added to a no-licence district without a vote, and merely by the action of Representation Commissioners, should be able to decide by a bare majority whether they wish to belong to a nolicence district or a licensed district,” added the report.

Two Polls Recommended

It was recommend that, two polls be taken this year (194 G) if possible—one on the added areas and the other on the question of restoration in the Ashburton no-licence district. The Distribution Commission it was pointed out, should not review the Ashburton no-licence district until after the vote on restoration was taken. Similarly, there should be no review of the Selwyn or Waiinate licensing districts until a vote had been taken in the added areas as to which district the electors choqse to join.

This report, a bulky one of some 900 pages, of course has no effect on the position here, which will remain as at present until such time as the law is altered. Although the report of the Royal Commission was tabled in the House during the last session of Parliament before the recent elections, so far. it has not been discussed in Parliament and the Government has not yet given any indication of its intentions with regard to the report.