TEN v. ELEVEN O'CLOCK CLOSING.

Evening Star, Issue 11890, 19 May 1903, Page 7

TEN v. ELEVEN O'CLOCK CLOSING.

TO THB KDITOH Sir, —I observe that nearly all of the applicants for liquor licenses in Dunedin are asking that their time of dosing shall be extended to eleven o'dock. The granting of the additional hour is at the discretion of the Licensing Committee. The statutory time of dosing is ten o’clock, but power is given to the Licensing Committees to extend in special cases the hour till eleven o’clock, if it be deemed necessary so to do to meet the requirements or convenience of the public. Do such requirements obtain in Dunedin? I think not. .It is interesting in this connection to note what is doing in this matter in some of the populous cities in the Old Country. By a recent mail I received a paper from Glasgow containing »ome interesting items bearing on this subject. A new Licensing Bill for Scotland has been introduced in the Honse of Commons. It appears that under the existing law the local authorities in all Scotland, except in seven of the larger towns and cities, have power to cause the dosing of public-houses at ten o’clock p.m. The result of the granting of this power has been, according to a statement oy Sir Samuel Chisholm, Bart., that with the exception of the seven places exempted by statute, “ the public-houses of the laud were closed at ten o’clock.” Now, the seven exempted towns and cities,' with one exception, are urging the Govrnment to introduce a clause into their new Bill repealing the exempting danse, so that the local authorities may have power to dose all the public-houses in Scotland at ten o’clock. A very large and influential meeting was held in the City Hall, Glasgow, at which the following resolution was carried unanimously:— “That this public meeting of the citizens of Glasgow urges upon the Government to include in the Scottish Licensing Bill the extension to the exempted cities and towns the -power of early closing of all licensed premises.” At a meeting at Aberdeen in a building which was : packed long before the advertised time for beginning the proceedings,” a resolution in like terms was unanimously carried. If the large populous towns and cities of “ Auld Scotland,with the native penchant for strong drink, are so desirous to obtain the power of dosing their publics ’ at ten o'clock, one would think there can be no good reason why the licensing authority in Dunedin should not give effect to the power possessed by them of insisting on the closing of all publichouses at the statutory hour of ten o’clock p-m.—l am, etc., St. Andrew. May 18.