CHRISTCHURCH NEWS NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12472, 1 October 1902, Page 5

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS NOTES.

Qfaoii 'Oub' Own Corkespohdehtj i . CHRISTCHURCH, September 30.' - Another crop of ticensrnir,. 'Asses wera ati&e Magistrate's Court to-day. Tho point at issue in one case was rathe? novel whether tiie prerogative of « traveller allowed him to geu more ulian .one drink during prohibited hours, provided he went'to different notels. It was in this particular that the inspector of polios stated*, that the, ease differed from one recently, adjudicated upon by Mr Justice in which the traveller repeated Jus drinks at the same hotel, and the hotelkeeper wan Convicted. The magistrate reserved ,the point. In another case a triple .charge was preferred against the licensee of the Oxford Btotel of exposing liquor, telling , liquor, and keeping a barmaid at Work during, prohibited hours. A number of personi found in the bar solemnly swore ttiat theyr hud taken beds for the night. The bench, , after listening to a lot of corroborative detail, said the difficulties of convicting.under the present Licensing Act were tremendous. There-seemed to be hardly any demoralising act which a licensee might not commit wnkSh ho. oould not wriggle out of, if be got tut able,..enough man .to look after him." If the Legislature liked it could .probably -mako regulations which would efficiently 'control' the sale of liquor, but it seemed to him that -the/ Legislature did not wish to, do po. The present act was certainly not efficient. The accused, however, would not wriggle out on the charge of keeping the barmaid . employed after houw, even if he' •' could not be oonvioted on the other charges. On this account the accused would be fined £10 and costs. A case which was tried-in tho Magistrates s Opurt yesterday is exciting newspaper comment. A young couple setting up in Ufa for themselves, purchased furniture on the, insidious and pernicious'time-payment System, and paid their instalments regularly until tho two last were due, and then enr deavoured to hold the dealer to bis arrangement for the remission of interest by paying the reet of the money at once. The latter, relying on the fact that tho goods were sold on bailment, and that the property did not" legally vest ha the purchaser until tho last payment had been made within the due date, refused' to agree to such a course, or to give a clear receipt for the goods,' and in consequence of tho subsequent, refusal to pay the instalments the bailiffs were put in and the furniture removed and sold. The purchaser subsequently brought' proceedings for the recovery of tho value of the furniture and for damage. Judgment went for the plaintiff, who recovered tba value of the goods and damages da wefl. But tho incident shows the evils that may result from the time-payment system. "I think," Baid the magistrate, m giving Judgment, " that is about the cruellest and most abominable piece of business that I have investigated for a very long- time. That is my opinion of tho matter—utterly and absolutely cruel, abominable, and unjustifiable. 1. <k> not use very strong terms often, but I use these very terms now. The whole thing stinks from top to bottom." If all accounts are true there is only one business into which humanity ought to send it's sons, and that's the Christehurch fish, business. As every housewife knows, a fat and succulent flounder is worth more jus* now than fine gold, and the esculent blue cod is more precious than rubies. Yet the accurate chronicler of our daily news, whose voracity is to be relied upon, assures us that 1901b avoirdupois of solid floundor sent from Lyttolton and placed on tho market yesterday realised 'only 6d r>er lb. ~Who rake* in all the difference between a paltry 6d and the enormous eum tile housewife payf for her fish? Presumably the fishmonger.