NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 209, 6 September 1886, Page 1

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

A very peculiar case, affecting the liability and risks of hotel keeping, came before Mr Justice Richmond on Saturday. , It was' that of McLollan v. Staples, in which the plaintiff sought relief for loss through the action of the Cook Licensing Committee, in cancelling the license of the Clyde Quay Hotel, of which defendant is the owner. In giving judgmentforthedefendant, Hie Honor said that no provision had been made for such a contingency f>s the cancellation of the license, and Mr Staples was therefore not liable for compensation: The case, no doubt, was a very hard one for Mr MoLellan, who had slipped into an exceedingly bad bargain. The weight of the blowfell upon him, but he was not only j, sufferer. Mr Staples also suffered from the act of the Licensing- Bench, but Mr McLellan bad the misfortune to be the heaviest sufferer. There was nothing to show that Staples had any knowledge of tbe determinatoinoftheßeßchtowithdrawhislicense. The peri! was one which any license was liable to suffer in the existing state of the law. Costs * ere given against the. plaintiff. By His Honor's judgment, McLcllan is still the lessee of tbe premises, and liable to pay a rental of £4 per week to Messrs Staples and ■ Co., although the license has been cancelled. ' The great majority of public-houses in the colony belong to brewers and others who do not directly carry on the trade, and, between theownersof tbe buildings and the Licensing Committee, publicans stand a fair chance"" of being crushed, as between the upper and nether millstone. It is unfortunate for the cause of Local Option that this should be so ; but there is no doubt that this great popular principle, once conceded to the people, must be maintained, no matter what individual grievances mayarise from its application.

Some charitably disposed persons have decided to make an effort to reduce the rampant larrikinism in Newton. With this object in view they have secured a room, and propose to start a " Boys Rest" which will be carried out on similar principles to those that regulated the Sailors' Rest on the wharf. Proceedings will commence on Friday evening next. There are now several " institutions ot this kind in the city, and the young ladies and gentlemen of the various Sunday - schools attend in rotation to amuse the boys, and ladies who would not otherwise recognise them, and would probably be frightened of wiid youths.arewil-; ling to speud an evening for their entertainment and improvement. Musical selections are rendered, and games indulged in. It seems strange that: while all these efforts are made by ladits to serve the lads, their attention is not also turned to the interest of their own sex, who surely should receive notice. After dark the streots of. the city aro thronged with girls of tender years, for whom no provision whatever is mado. If tho lads require tender care to save them from evil ways, surely the girls require it in even a greater degree, and it is to be hoped that earnest effort will, ere long, be exerted on behalf of tbe uncared for girls-'of Auckland. '.."ij l