LICENSING COMMITTEES.

Evening Star, Issue 6919, 4 June 1885, Page 2

LICENSING COMMITTEES.

DUNEDIN,

The adjourned annual meeting of the Committee was held in the Town Hall at noon to day j present—Messrs G, E. Eliott (chairman), G> Fenwick, J. Barnes, A. Sligo,

and R. Chisholm,

RENEWAL)".

Australasian Hotel, Maclaggan street.— The Chairman intimated that a renewal of the license till ten o'clock would be granted the applicant (John Toomey). London Hotel, Jetty street. —Mr Solomon applied for a license for the Jetty street bar and also for an additional bar in Princes street. At the express wish of a previous licensing committee Mr Cornish, the applicant, had spent LjJ.OOO on the builing in order to add tije Princes street frontage to it. Were the second bar now taken away this expenditure would be rendered almost useless.—The Chairman : A renewal of the two bars till ten o'clock is granted; Mr Chisholm dissenting. Glasgow Pie House, Dowling street.—Mr Bathgate said that Mr Donaldson also asked for an additional bar. He understood that there was an objection by the Committee to the bar at the rear of the confectionery shop, and applicant would be willing to close this if he were granted one eleven o'clock license.— The Chairman: The license is renewed for one bar till ten o'clock. W'-ViN's hotel.

Wain's Hotel, Princes street.—Mr Haggitt said that the applicant had been served with a notice by the Committee fts to the business relations between. lumspM and Mr E. Wilson, who conducted the Manse street bar. The relations were simply these : Mr Wilson was Mr Wain's servant, and the Manse street portion of the house was as much under Mr Wain's aupovuitenclence as any other portion, of the building, Job Wain, jun., having been sworn, the Chairman asked:

Are you prepared to swear that there is no arrangement between you and Mr Wilson other tljan that of man and servant ?—Mr Wain :' I am prepared to swear that there js no other arrangement than than that he is engaged by my manager, with the exception that he gets a percentage on the takings. He is my brother-in-law. There is an agreement engaging him as manager for five yeara. You have a lega} agreement w}t|i him to that effect ?—Yes"; terminable at a month's notice. . .

Mr Haggitt: If the Committee wish to see the agreement, I will hand it to them. The Chairman: The Cgmnuttee have decided to grant a renewal till ten o'clock. Mr Haggitt; Is, that as to the whole of the hotel, or only the Manse The Chairman : We have nothing to do with the hotel, but only the license, i...

Mr Haggitt: Do the Bench mean that Wain's Hotel, the oldest house in the City, is to be closed at ten '!

The Chairman : I may say that the Committee have been guided in this decision by the manner in which the bar in Manse street has been carried on. Since the Committee have met here today a letter has been put into their hands raising a very serious charge against Mr Wilson, the conductor of the bar. We will not take any notice of it, but I shall hand it over to the police for them to take such notice of it as may seem to them proper. Inspector Weldon : We know all about it. Mr Haggitt: .Surely some notice of objection should have been served on Mr Wain. The only question raised today was as to the business relatione of Mr Wilson as to the Manse street bar, and the only evidence the Committee sec mid to care about on that point was that of Mr Wain, which was to the effect that Mr Wilson was liable to be dismissed for misconduct at any time at a month's notice. Surely under these circumstances I have a right to ask you what you are doing. This is the largest hotel in the place—it does a very extensive business, and has a large number of boarders constantly in the place —and it is proposed to shut it at ten o'clock on some ground of complaint which you do not care to make public, and which is not supported by evidence, except by a letter which you have expressed the opinion that you will not act upon. I submit that, inasmuch as this house has always held a twelve o'clock license, and has been used by the travelling public of all classes, I have a right to ask your Worships if you know what you arc doing in treating the house in this way; especially as the only ground of complaint is connected with that portion of the house over which Mr Wain has had little or nothing to do in point of fact. By your Worships' own action you have classified the hotels, and I submit confidently that nothing has been shown to justify this house being treated as a secondclass one. If there is any objection to the arrangement that exists between Mr Wain and Mr Wilson, you have only to say that Mr Wilson must go The Chairman: It is not for the Committee to take a step of that kind. Mr Haggitt contended that the Committee had no right to depreciate the value of a man's property without giving him an opportunity of rectifying a mistake, if one had been made. If there was any objection to Mr Wilson lie would suggest thai Mr Wain be granted an eleven o'clock license for three months, on the understanding that if Mr Wilson was not got rid of by that time the hours of selling would be reduced. He might mention that Mr Wain had just taken over his hotel from the late tenant, and had not yet had an opportunity of inquiring into the way in which the house had been managed He (Mr Haggitt) submitted that it would be extraordinary justice to mete out to a person who had always held a first-class reputation in conducting hotels to reduce the class of his house by limiting the hours of selling. The Chairman: The Committee have arrive! at the decision that the bar should be close:! at ten o'clock, and the law precludes oi;r reconsidering the matter. At the next quarterly meeting Mr Wain can apply to have his license extended.

Mr Haggitt asked, with a view of meeting the Committee's objection, that an eleven o'clock license be granted, conditional on the Manse street bar being closed at ten. The Chairman: The Committee are not disposed to enter iuto an arrangement of that sort. They have come to a decision, and are prepared to abide by it. Mr Wain can renew his application at the next quarterly meeting.

RENEWAL REFUSED,

Golden Age, Stafford street.—Mr Solomon appeared for the applicant, James Harris. As to the objection on the part of the Committee that the premises were out of condition, he mentioned that the lease had twelve months to run, and that it was considered inadvisable to expend money on the place till the lease had expired. The Chairman: The Committee refuse the license. They consider the house unfit to be licensed.

THE LEVIATHAN".

Mr Bathgate supported the application of John Toomey for a transfer of his license for the Australasian Hotel to tiie Leviathan Hotel.

Mr Denniston urged that the Committee had acted wrongly at their last meeting in not receiving a memorial against the license of the Australasian Hotel, and

Mr Bathgate (for Toomey) replied. The Chairman: The transfer is refused

Mr Bathgate: I have not been heard on the subject. The Chairman : You have spoken already. Mr Bathgate : Only in reply to my learned friend as to the informality of the memorial. Your Worships have held that the memorial was informal.

The Chairman : We do not say anything in respect to the memorial. Mr Bathgate said the remark which had just fallen from the chairman—the refusal of the license—had surprised him very little. —(Great laughter.) He meant had surprised him very muoh. Mr Haggitt had suggested that he had let out the truth by mistake, but that was not so. Counsel then argued at considerable length that the transfer should be granted. Although the Australasian Hotel was of its class a good building, yet it was not to be compared with the Leviathan, which had sleeping accommodation for Beventy-two persons; besides which it was a well-known fact that the tendency of the town was to remove towards the reclaimed ground. He denied that the removal of a license was contrary to the spirit of the Local Option Act, and people who held that opinion must be afflicted by blue ribbon sophistry. Mr Denniston asked whether in the face of the opinion already expressed by the Committee it was necessary for him to reply to the arguments just advanced, The Chairman i Notwithstanding the powerful advocacy of the cause on behalf of the applicant by the learned counsel, the Committee are still of the opinion that they should not grant the application. The application is refused. EXTENSIONS OF LICENSES.

Mr Denniston applied that the license of JaneGebbie, Shamrock Hotel, Rattray street, for which a ten o'clock license had been gran ted on Monday, should be extended to eleven. The hotel was much used at night by persons travelling by the Roslyn tram-line.— The Chairman: A decision having been given to grant a license till ten o'clock, the Committee are not disposed to renew the application at present. It can be renewed at the next quarterly meeting. Mr Haggitt applied for a similar extension for Watson's Hotel, High street.—The Chairman : The decision just come to guides all the cases. We are not disposed to re-open any qf them,—Mr Haggitt urged that there were exceptional circumstances in Mr Watson's case. If the Committee said M We are determined," it would be useless for him to talk. Apparently that was the position taken up, although the Committee would not confess to it. In considering applications, the Committee had to consult the benefit and convenience of the public, and both would he consulted by an eleven o'clock license being granted to applicant. In his hotel there was a large readingroom which was kept open till 11.15 p.m., and a supper-room Chairman : The Committee are of the same opinion as in the previous case—that application may be made at the next quarterly meeting. They cannot re-open the matter now.

Similar applications on behalf of John Sibbald (Provincial Hotel) and R. T. Waters (Baldwin) were then withdrawn.

RAYENSBQURNE,

The Rayensboume Licensing Committee met at noon torday. There weye present— Messrs D. Young (chairman), T. C. Do Lacy, and W. Hunter.

The only business done was the renewing of John Harrold's license (p? ftavensboume Houap, _,.'"•. The Chairman said he had been told that Sunday trading had been carried on by the licensee, but Constable Higgins assured the Committee that there was no. truth in the statement;.

[By Telegraph.]

„ . WELLJNCTPN,.J*** 4. The Te" Aro Licensing, Committee to-day reduced all licenses to eleven.,o'clock. Two

applications were adjourned to enable alter at ions to be made in the buildings. AUCKLAND, Junk 4.

The City East Licensing Committee have renewed the licenses for one Var in each hotel only, in order to the removal of all partitions in bars. The Archill (sic) Committee renewed all licenses iu their district, but intimated that if elected next year they would close all licensed houses.

BLENHEIM, JrxE 4.

The Committee renewed all licenses till eleven o'clock, notwithstanding the strong opposition of the police, who urged that, the town hot being sufficiently lighted, it would tend to increase crime. The Committee granted applications to extinguish hotel lamps at midnight. They were divided iu opinion about this matter, but the chairman announced that the majority considered that even assuming that Bleuheim was insufficiently lighted, It was the duty of the Borough Council, and not of the publicans, to light the place. CHRISTCHURCH, ivy?. 4.

The Christchurch South Committee refused one license and adjourned several applications.