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Otago Daily Times, Issue 12639, 17 April 1903, Page 4

THE LAW AND LOCAL OPTION. Gives an imperfect and carelessl} drafted statute, and tlie will of tin people may be completely thwarted l>y the negligence or the ivilfiilaosa of the individual. Of such, 211 instanc« was afforded in the reply given »y the Premier to the deputation from the Newtown Patriotic League which waited upon him on Tuesday last to represent, the unsatisfactory con* ditiou of licensing matters in that electorate. • The voiding of the local option polls in Newtown and Bruce has created au exceedingly unsatisfactory condition of affairs, which appears, to be in nowise bettered by the election of that seeming contradiction. Licensing Cfinmiittoq absolutely pledged jq issuui

jio licenses. But although there is littlo doubt, judging by the present temper of both the Prohibition party and the Licensed Victuallers, that the battle will be fought out in the law courts to the bitter end, yet the Prohibitionist position is considerably prejudiced by-the Premier's latest announcement., Mr Seddon states in effect that the Crown Law Office has advised him that licenses can be 'granted in Newtown and Bruce, these districts having now reverted to the position in which they stood before the original poll which has been declared void was taken. Some three months ago Mr John MacGregor, who is no mean authority points, published an interpretation of the law, which, if maintained, would justify the Bruce and Newtown Committees in their announced determination to refuse to issue licenses, and this opinion is known to he. shared by several members of standing in the profession; but, on the other hand, the Premier has in his possession not only the, advice of the Solicitor-general, but. also two' other independent legal opinions, to the effect that there is nothing whatever in Mr John MacGregor's contention. Presumably, in the event of the Licensing Committees refusing to issue licenses, the first step will bo an application by . the Licensed Victuallers to the Supreme Court for a .mandamus. 1 Should this application prove successful, it. is more than likely that tlie committees will prefer resignation to the enforced violation of their pledges, in which case the magistrate may be called upon to act. The prohibitionists iu Newtown had some hopes, however, that recourse, to the law courts might be 'averted .through the intervention by the Government, under the Licensing Act of 1881, aud the holding of a fresh .poll in the districts where the decision of last November has been set aside as a consequence of the irregularities Reliance was placed by them on section 62 of that Act, which provides: "If from any mischance or' misadventure 110 determination'- is arrived at at the appointed time for the poll in any district. as : hereinbefore, provided, the Governor-in-Council may, on the application of any two ratepayers of such district,, and, if it seems fit, appoint some other convenient day, being not less than 14 days previous to the day appointed for the meeting of the Licensing Committee'in June of the -samo year, for the holding of another election at which a determination may be arrived at in manner aforesaid." It has been argued that by the Alcoholic Liquor Sales Control Act of 1893 all the local option sections of the Act of. 1881 were repealed with.the exception of section 52, and that it was the intention of the Legislature to make this sectiou of the 1881 v Act apply to the local option proposals of .the 1893 Act. But Premier, on

the strength of the advice of the Crown Law Office, declares that this contention will not hold good. The irregularities upon which the Bruce and Newtown polls were ( voided do not constitute "" mischancb or misadventure" within the meaning of the Act, but they arose purely from a breach of the provisions of.the Act.. In addition, the Solicitorgeneral holds .that section 62 of the 1881 . Act is repealed, by implication,' in the Act of 1895, which specially directs that tho local option, poll must be taken oil the day of the general election. Moreover, it appears that no statutory machinery is provided for taking a second poll. The Solicitor-general summarises the position as follows: "The plain intention of the Legislature, in subsection 4 of section 8 of the Act of 1895, is that if none of .the proposals are carried the committee is to be notified, and licenses must continue as they were. In my opinion this covers a void poll, for the plain result of voiding is that none of the proposals have been carried." We gather from the Premier's remarks that the Government contemplates taking stops to have the local option law amended bo as to prevent any future fiascos of'this kind; but unless some hitherto undiscovered remedy can be devised, the people of Bruce and Newtown will probably find their hopes of a reign of prohibition deferred for at least a further period of three years. It is, of course, possible that the contemplated appeal of the, electors to .Parliament by petition may succeed, for their grievance is undoubted, and some emergency legislation might be framed to meet the case; but past experience of Government shuffling and parliamentary dilatorinessdoes not encourage us to hope for much in this direction. The moral of the present extremely unsatisfactory situation is. that a little legislation calmly discussed and carefully drafted will in the long run accomplish far more in the direction of progress than the mass of ill-considered and hastily thrown together Acts which year by year are placed upon..the Statute Books of the colony.