BRUCE LICENSING COMMITTEE.

Evening Star, Issue 12208, 28 May 1904, Page 11

BRUCE LICENSING COMMITTEE.

WRIT OF MANDAMUS ISSUED. In Banco yesterday afternoon Mr Justice Williams was called on to consider a mot.mi for a writ of mandamus directing the Bruce 1 icensing Committee to grant the license applied for in June last by Frederick Bastings in respect to the White Hur.'O Hotel, Milton, or, in the alternative, to hear and determine the application. The principal grounds on which the application was bas.id were that the plaintiff was entit ed by law to a certificate of renewal ot his license; that Committee wrongiully declined jnr'sdiction to grant the renewal, and wrongfully refu-ed to grant the certificate; and that the Committee had jurisdiction to grant the certificate. Mr Sim (instructed by Miss Ethel Benjamin and Mr l'atsrson) appear-.':! .for the plaintili, Frederick Bastings, of Milton, hotelkeepcr; Mr A. S. Adams for James Adam, Archibald Dunlop, Hemy Frazer, P. B. Fiaser, and P. M'Skmmng (members of the Bruce Licensing Committee). Mr Sim said the motion was one for a writ of mandamus commanding the defendto hear and determine the plaintiff's application for a lenewal of his I'tense, The application was made by the phintlf in June of last year, whan he lodged lis appl.cation for a renewal in the ordinary way. The application came before the Committee on the sth June, when they rdus2d f o deal with it on the ground that there was no jurisdiction to do so. Prohibition had been carried in Bruce, but the poll was held by the magistrate to be invalid. The statement of claim, which was ver'fied by affidavit, set that out. There was really ro dispute as to the facts. The Committee declined jurisdiction. There was really no hearing. This and the o:her applications c;.me before the Committee on the sth June, when they held they had no jurisdiction to dral \y'.A\ them. That was the view the Court of Appeal upheld in the Newtown case. The application in the present case was filed shortly after the refusal of the Committee, and it was arranged between the parties to let the matter stand over pending the result of the litigation in the Newtown cas'e. His Honor: They have jurisdiction apparently now. Mr Sim: Yes, according to the view of the Privy Council they have jurisdiction, and therefore I submit we are entitled to an order similar to that made bv Mr Justice Johnston in Regina v. Hurse. The order in that case was in these terms: "The judgment of the Court is that a mandamus do is.-ue commanding the defendants within a reasonable time to ho'.d an adjournment of the general annual licensing meeting for the d strict, and, after notice to the plaintiff, to hear and determine his application for a renewal of his license." That is my authority for saying that although the date fixed for granting the license has e,one by—namely, the month of June la-t—the Court has jurisdiction to d rect the Committee to hear and determine the application of the plaintiff for a lenewal of his license. His Honor: There is a fresh licensing mretinjr to be held shortly, is there not? Mr Sim said that was' so. The meeting was to be held next Friday. A request had been made to the Committee to hold tne mset'ng earlier, but they apparently were not agreeable to it.

His Honor: What have you to say, Mr 'Adams ?

Mr Adams said they had been advised that the Privy Council had held that section 3 of the Act of 1895, which said that no license of any description should be granted until the electors had determined, musrt be read to mean that all licenses must be granted until the electors had determined, and as that was the ruling of the highest Court in the Empire, thsy must submit to it. In the face of the judgment it would be useless for him to sav that the plaintiff had not the right he claimed. He had only to ask that under the circumstances no costs shoii'd be allowed. In the first instance the Committee were advis-d by their chairman (the stipend'ary mng : stratc) that th»y had no jurisdiction. The chairman erred in good company, although it seemed he did err. His Honor sa : d the Privy Council had made the Newtown Committee pay costs. Mr Adams snid that was so, but in that "ase the cha ; rmnn ruled the other way. He was sufficient'y far-sceng to anticipate the judgm-nt of the Privy Council. At any rate he (Mr Adams) understood his friend did not intend to ask for costs. Mr Sim said he did not ask for costs. Although this way a motion in respect to the application of Mr Hastings onlv. he took it thrtt the order he asked for would extend to all the applicafons before the Comnrttee on the sth June. Mr Ad-ms understood that statements of clam had been filed m all the other ca*es althou-n they were not served, and he had no objection to the order being made to cover all the cases. His Horor mide an order for a rmndamns to issue commanding the defendants within a reasonable time to hold an adjournment of the general licensing annual mo e t : ng of June. 1203. and, after notice to jthe parties to hear and determine the pVntiff's appl : cn" t-on for a renewal of his license, and p!l the o v her applications that w<re b'-fnre th» Licensing Committee on the sth June 1903"