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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9090, 26 June 1888, Page 5

The Kaitaia Licensing Committee held their annual meeting in theschoolhouse on the 9th June. There were three applications for new licenses, all of them on the main road from Manganui to the North Cape. Mr. Spanhake at Awanui; Mr. Evans at Waipapakauri; and Mr. Shannon at Hukatere. It appeared that the licenses were applied for owing to the very great increase ■of travellers on the above road, a track during the past year, and the total want of accommodation, which at times compelled people to sleep ou the sand hills. It was chiefly this well-known want which caused so many of the ratepayers to vote for an increase of license, and not a3 erroneously supposed by " Pollox" to turn the residents into lunatics. There is no accommodation house on the coast road for a distance of over 100 miles. Under thesecircuni3tances,one would think that tit least a solitary license would be granted, but, to the intense disgust of the applicants (who have gone to a very considerable expense to fit up their houses), each application was refused as it came up, without any reason being given, some of trie members showing a thorough want of knowledge of public business and merely stating "I oppose it." At one time the proceedings promised to be lively, as one of the applicants stated he heard that the person who was responsible for appointing the committee got some of them to promise beforehand that they would not vote for any license, so that they might have the honour of serving on the committee. He, however, felt sure mat the gentlemen on the committee would not do such a thing. If such u> thing was true, he did not know which to despise most —the man who gave the promise, or the man who asked for it. Unfortunately, the above report was twice confirmed in the, Weekly News by your own correspondent. Whether true or not, it was plainly manifest that some of the members should never have been put on, as they appear k> have declared thoir decision before sitting on the judicial bench without inquiring into the merits of any of the cases. Mr. Shannon, of Hukatere (halfway to the North Cape), made a strong appeal to the committee on behalf of travellers. Two of the committee quite agreed with him. They gave their own experience on the road, which shewed plainly|that an accommodation house there was an absolute necessity, A third member of the committee was quite satisfied it was required, but he voted against it because his father told him. So disgusted was one of the members with the conduct of three of his colleagues, and their opposition without being able to give any valid reason for it, together with the total disregard to the public wishes, that he stated he would not act with such people, and he is about to resign,. Great indignation is felt throughout the district that the Government went outside of the eight persons nominated (which were partly informal) to get three individuala unaccustomed to public business, or the rules which guide it; and worse still, to include a boy. It does appear extremely absurd to place them in a judicial capacity,—[Own correspondent.]