LICENSING LAWS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29739, 5 February 1962, Page 15

LICENSING LAWS

Revision Into One Act

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Feb. 4.

A special committee set up by the Minister of Justice 'Mr Hanan > will take three or four months rewriting the licensing laws. The committee's first meeting will be about the middle of this month. It will then settle down to rewrite the 29 licensing measures since 1908, including six on licensing trusts, into one comprehensive and intelligible document. The new act that results will come before Parliament during this year's session.

The 1908 act consolidated but did not include all the legislation enacted earlier in the Dominion's history. Mr Hanan, fulfilling an undertaking given last year, has invited the licensed trade to nominate representatives to help the Justice Department with its revision—particularly where the technical knowledge of the trade may be helpful. If policy issues arise, they will also be considered where necessary. The committee is: the Secretary of Jus'ice iDr. J. L. Robson* chairman, and Messrs N. C. O. Butcher and J. Cameron (Justice Department) with Messrs K. L. Usmar, B. G. O’Connell. D. M. Young, and J. E. Ewart <all of Wellington) and W. S. Otto (Auckland) representing the national council of the licensed trade.