PACKET LICENSES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 4872, 26 January 1903, Page 5

PACKET LICENSES.

THE WANGANUI RIVER CASES,

Special to the “Timet.” WANGANUI, January 24. Further argument was heard tins mornin" in the. packet license cases, argument being restricted to points raised in the judgment of the late Chief Justice, bu' James Brendorgast, in the case oi Sturt v. Cullen, and in a recent judgment oi the present Chief Justice, Sir Robert. Stout, on the question of the power ol a licensing committee to issue licenses on a river running through a prohibited area,.

Before hearing counsel, Mr Eyre Kenny, S.M., said he would give an expression of opinion on the point raised in the present case ns to whether there was one passage or two. Ho held that the passage of the Mannwai on Boxing Day was one passage onlv. There was no agreement that passengers should be taken to any particular place, the contract being for an all-day excursion. The .passage was from Wanganui to the turning point and hack, and the stoppage was merely an incident in the' passage. Mr Treadwell, referring to the judgment of Sir James Prondergast, said what ho had to decide was whether a packet license authorised a sale at Pipiriki, the vessel being at - her stopping place and at rest. In the present case the Chief Justice had to decide whether a packet license authorised the sale of llqitor not only during the passage of the vessel, hut at any stopping place or place of resting during the voyage. Not only did the Chief Justice indicate clearly that th e steamer was not authorised to soli while moored at Wanganui or Parakiuo, but he went further and said that a packet license did not authorise the holder of it to sell while the steamer was at rest at any of tho places on the river. The judgment amounted to this, that a packet license only authorised the sale of liquor while the vessel was on her passage and actually in motion. Mr Cohen submitted that as the Magistrate had expressed the opinion that the Boxing Day passage of the Manuwai did not cease Until she returned to the wharf in town, there was no breach of the Act. as the license authorised,;, the sale of liquors duriug the passage. As to the Chief Justice’s judgment in the recent case, he (Mr Cohen) contended that the reference therein to the sale of liquor being illegal att any stopping place applied solely to tho prohibited area, and had no reference to sales effected during a passage in tho licensed area between Wanganui and Parakiuo. As Mr Kenny bud decided that the vessel was on her passage the whole dav tho sale was within the four cornets of the, Statute, and was specially authorised. Mr Treadwell replied, submitting that a packet license authorised the sale only while tho vessel was on the water, and not when mooted to the hank. The Magistrate said that as tho points raised presented some difficulty ho would give his decision at 10 o’clock on Monday morning.