THE NEW ZEALAND ALLIANCE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10001, 19 June 1918, Page 5

THE NEW ZEALAND ALLIANCE

RESOLUTION OF PROTEST. At a special'meeting of the New Zealand Alliance tho following resolution was adopted :- "Tho Now Zealand Alliance enters its most emphatic .protest against the action of a majority of the Bav of plontv Licensing Committoo in accepting an application for a now license at Tanatua when it had already granted the full number of licenses allowed by law in the district. In adjourning it s decision for a month tho committee was fully awaro that tho new license could be granted only if another licenso wore allowed to lapse through deliberate failure to pay the fee. Tho granting of a now license probablv 100 miles distant from the premises for which tho license had lapsed would be in direot contravention of tho spirit, if not indeed the. letter of flection 127 (1) of tho Licensing Act 13CS which reads:—

(4) No publican's licenses or accommodation license shall bo removed from the premises in respect of which it was granted to any other prenvses beyond the boundary of the borou-h (if undivided) or of tho ward (if divfded into wards) or of the riding of tho county, ns tho caso may bo, within which . the first-mentioned promises are situated. nor shall it be removed to any promises ■ situate more than half a milo from the first, mentioned -premises if such premises are in a boTough, ©r one mile if j n ; i county.

n"T ll ?i^ li '" lce would further point out tnafc tno premises for winch ilie new licenso is sought are in close proximity to a public school and are within I'ou'r miles of tho old) confiscation boundavy und of tho UrcweTa country which is aim<fX entlr(, lv populated by Maoris. , " Tho Alliance reciuests the Minister for Justice to consult the Crown, Law Department immediatelv as to tho legality of the committee's procedure; it urges that every legal means shall be adopted typrcvent so flagrant a broach of the spirit ot the licensing law. and it appeals to the Government to spare no power it possesses for tho protection, of both Natives and Europeans against this evil, which mav otherwise be ti- u'-t upon them.' v