THE NEW LICENSING BILL.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXIX, Issue 204, 19 August 1893, Page 3

THE NEW LICENSING BILL.

THE GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS. The new Licensing Bill contains twenty clauses and three schedules. The Electoral Districts for the time being for the House of Representatives are to be the ordinary LicensiDg Districta, and the roll of electors is to be the roll for licensing elections. Special and Native Licensing Districts are to remain until altered or ab >lished by the Governor. When the population of any tiding of a county or a road district where tbe Counties Act is suspended has suddenly increased to & large degree, and a pet.tion signed by not lesa than one hundred residents thereof respectively ba3 been presented to the Governor, prajing that power be granted to the Licensing Committee to iESue a special license or licenses therein, the Governor may, by Order-in-Oonncil, grant such authority, and thereupon special licenses may be granted m the said riding or road district by the Committee, m the ratio of one licensed house to every 700 persona residing within a radius of two miles from such licensed houses. Special licenses are to continue m force until the first annual meeting of tbe Licensing Committee after a poll, as afterwards provided for. is taken. No liquor dealers or owners of licensed houses are to be eligible as members of a Licensing Committee. Otherwise every elector, not a Civil Servant or the holder of office under any local body, znsy be elected. Committees are to consist of nine members, to be elected under tbe Begulation of Elections Act every third year. The Betnrr ing Officer for the El«ctoral District is to be Returning Officer tinder ths Licensing Act. Committees are to be elected for each district as s on after tba Act comes into force as possible. In caße of failure to elect, the Governor is to appoint. Members of Committees having more than three miles to travel are to be paid travelling expenses by the local authority. Committees ara to be elected trieanially. Vacancies are to be filled by tbe Governor. Tbe quorum is to be five. The Chairman is to have a deliberative and casting vote. The Licensing Acts are tc be read aa if •' eleotor'Jtend " electors" were substituted for "ratepayer" and "ratepayers." All costs of elections are to be paid by the local bodies m proportion to tbe share of licensing fees received, end m like proportion they are to contribute to the cost of administering the Licensing Acts and this Act within their boundaries. No member is to be disqualified for having prior to election, or at any time, expressed his views, or gives any pledge or expressed any opinion, as to th 9 licensing law or the liquor traffic, nor may the acts of the Committee be questioned or set aside because any number of members have bo pledged or expressed themselves. The present law is amended m the following respects : Any widow or any wife who has obtained a protection order as mentioned m j ibe present Licensing Acts may hold a license, but otherwise no woman either married or unmarried, is to be capable of j holding a license Every application for a license mast be accompanied by a certificate j from a Resident Magistrate as to the applicant's fitness. Women holding licenses may continue to do so nntil Jnne 30, 1894, and may m tbe interim make a valid transfer. At any meeting the Committee may grunt an ex tension of hoars to 11 o'clock on payment of an additional fee of £5, if satisfied it will be lor tbe benefit and convenience ef the public. There are to be do new 12 o'clock licenses, but such licenses already m force are to con tinue to 30th June next. All houses are to close from 11 p m. to 6 a.m., and on Sundays. During the closed hours by day or night all windows of the public bar of a licensed house are to be left unscreened, without being covered by furniture, blind, or shutter, bo tbat the whole of the interior mßy b 8 exposed to the public view. Whenever a license is granted after the taking of s poll m any district, tbe licensee shall have the right of an annual renewal of such license for the two years succeeding tbe original grant thereof until the taking of tbe next poll, nnless m the meantime hia license becomes endorsed for any breach of law m respect of the offences mentioned m this Act. If so endorsed the renewal may be refused. After this Act come 3 into force, except as heretofore provided, no new licenses are to be granted m soy district until after the taking of the next census. If that census shows an increase of population of 25 per sent, on the previous census, then tha question as to whether there shall or shall not be an increase m the number of licenses shall be submitted to a poll of electors. If such proposal is carried by a majority of threefifths of tbe total vote 3 recorded, and such number is not leas than one-fonrth o£ the total number on the electoral roll, then and m inch case only the Committee may grant additional licences m such district at the rate of not exceeding one license for every 750 people of such increase m the district. After annual meeting m 1894, no licenses of any kind are to be renewed until the •lectors of the district Bhall have previously determined — (1) Whether the present num. bar of licenses shall be continued; (2) whether the number of such licenses is to be reduced ; (3) whether any licenses are to be granted. In March next, and m every third year thereafter, a poll is to be taken upon these questions. Each elector is only to bave one vote, and the poll is to be taken under the EfegnJation of Elections Act. The first or second proposal ia to be deemed carried if there is an absolute majority of the votes polled recorded for either. If, on counting tbe vote 3, the Returning Officer finds that the number of votes m favour of the proposal that no licenses be granted m the district does not amount to three-fifths of the total number of votes recorded at the poll, but yet that the votes given m favour of snch proposal, added to the number of Tote 3 given at the same poll m favour of tbe proposal that the number of licenses m the district shall be reduced, together amount to an absolute majority of the total camber of vctes recorded at the poll, then and m such cases the proposal that the j number of licenses m tbe district be reduced •ball be deemed to be carried, and the Betnrning Officer shall notify the Licensing Committee thereof, and the number of licenses shall be reduced accordingly; but subject, m either of the above cases as follows :— lf the Returning Officer, on counting the votes, finds that the total number of votes recorded does not amount to one-half of the total number of electors on the roll, he shall declare the poll to be void, and that tha number of licenses m the district shall continue as they were before such poll was taken- If the vote is m favor of tbe reduction of licenses then tbe number is to be reduced by such number, not exceeding one-fourth of the total number of licenses of the kind, as the Committf c shall think desirable. Licenses which have been endorsed for offences are to be the first reduced; next, those the premises of which have little or so lodging accommodation ; and, thirdly, Uioes which are m close proximity to each other. The reduction is to extend equitably over the whole district. Any loss of revenue sustained by a local body from reduction of license foe 3 may be made good by an increase of general rates, provided the legal maximum is not exceeded, licensees deprived of licenses through no faolt of their own are discharged of future rents and covenants relating to the licensed wemiset. Clubs are to be snbject to inspection and to the principal provisions of the Licensing Acts, and Club charters may be endorsed tbe same as a license io case of offenwi. No new charters ere to be issued without the Bpproval of the Licensing Committee of the district. Club charters are to be subject to any determination of the electors at a poll aa to no licenses being sraDted m tbe district, and charters areto be renewed as provided m this Act with reference to the rtnawal of publicans' licenses. A number of the existing provisions of the Licensing Acts are repealed and technically amended.