LICENSE REFUSED

Northern Advocate, 8 July 1925, Page 6

LICENSE REFUSED

FOK NEW NGUNGURU HOTEL. ON COMMITTEE 'S VOTE. Application for an accommodation license was made by Mr. Carruth to the Marsden Licensing Committee yesterday on behalf of John Henry Grogan. Counsel declared that he was not in a position to ask for the actual granting of the license, as the stage of progress with the building of the new premises was not far enough forward, The building blocks, plates and joists were down so far, and consequently he asked the committee to adjourn the application until the next quarterly meeting, by which time the building would be sufficiently advanced to warrant the granting of the license. The contract was let to Windust and Colebrook and the building would cost about £2000. Some of the members of the committee had visited Ngunguru recently and Mr. Car ruth felt sure that they would recognise that it was a nice place for an accommodation house, while the fact that there were so many signatories to the request for the renewal showed that residents of the district were desirous of having licensed premises there again. He believed that there was every pro-

I spect of provision of a good accommodation house which Would become popular for week-end visits when the ! roads were in better order. The fact that building sites had been taken up near by showed that there would be summer residences there, where there were ideal conditions for seawater bathing without the danger of the open sea coast. Mr. Carruth assured the committee that the applicant would spare no effort to get the premises up , without further delay. Mr. R. W. Tate, S.M., who presided, said that the position was that the police had raised two points in opposition to granting the license. The first was that as there were no suitable premises there could be no license, and the other that it was undesirable to have a hotel in that district. Mr. Carruth responded that there must be a beginning to everything. As for the other point, there .had been a license at Ngunguru for many years, and it would probably have been there yet had the old building not been" burned. It would be a thousand pities to lose a license in the district at the present time.

Senior-Sergeant O'Grady adhered to hia former contention that there could be no license existing for premiss which did iiot exist. The Magistrate ruled that that point J need not be stressed any further, :vj i the committee could adjourn until prej misea were completed and then grant j a license if it saw fit to do so. j Senior-Sergeant O'Grady continued , that, as far as could be found out, j there were only, 35 Europeans and 37 j Maoris in the district, and some of those who had signed the request for removal of the license lived, as far away as 10 miles from Ngunguru, while two were resident in Whangarei. if ah accommodation house were wanted f why, he asked, should it not be a private one without a license. Accommodation licenses wfcre granted uncler certain conditions, one' of which was to help to keep roads, : and further if was a guide that a license shoulti bo granted for a population! of not leSs than 700 people. There was no road that was safe 'in the winter time at Ngunguru, and, there were very few residents. If people went to camp there they would take sufficient liquor with them for their requirements. Others holiday-making there would not want half-drunken Maoris and others around the beach. Further, there could

be no police supervision at a place like Ngunguru. Mr. Carruth said it seemed that Senior-Sergeant O'Grady was looking for trouble and was anticipating that such places as that sought were only for carousals, whereas they were meant primarily for accommodation purposes. There had not been trouble about tha license previously, and it had been '.n existence since and before ho came into the district. The young ap plicant and his wife were prepared to run the house in a proper way; otherwise they would jeopardise their license. All knew that it was better to /have licensed accommodation houses than private ones. Some of those who had signed the application and who ! were living some distance away had | bought sections at Ngunguru. It was hi sparsely populated areas especially, said Mr. Carruth, that accommodation houses were required, just as was the case at Parua Bay and at Poroti. Fur-, thor, it was known that better roads) had. to be made to Ngunguru and the j County Council had proposals in hand I to provide them. He asked that the ) matter be adjourned until the applicant J could prove that the building was erected and that it was built to the satisfaction of the committee. After a brief adjournment to consider the matter the committee resumed and the chairman announced that it had deliberated upon the matter. The result was that by a majority vote it had decided that the police objection be sustained, and the license was therefore refused.