MOUNT IDA LICENSING COMMITTEE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 18

MOUNT IDA LICENSING COMMITTEE.

* The usual quarterly meeting of the above' * , committee was held at Naseoy on, the 6th * met., the full committee being present — fix., * Messrs J. M'Ennis, S.M. (chairmen), B. f Inder, J. Mitchell, D. C. Stewart, J. 3 M'Knight, and P. Kinney. TBAKBFKES.— AW UNUSUAL CASE. r John Richards to Henry Drake. — Appliea- * , tion to transfer publican's license in respect 9 of the Jockey Club Hotel, Omakau.— Mr T. 7 ) B. 2'Neil appeared for Drake in support of > , the application and Mr J. R. Kirk for - Richards, to oppose it.—Mx M'Neil applied - for an adjournment, but this being opposed r by oounsel for Richards, Mr M'Neil asked i that the application, be granted. f Mr Kirk said thai the situation was an i unusual one, and the facts that he would r submit would necessitate the very* careful 1 consideration of the oommittee. On the face B of it, the application by Richards to transfer j to -Drake appeared to be quite in order, but _ it would be seen afterwards that Riohards 7 ~* had -never applied to transfer the license at all, and did not now make such an applica- } tion. Richards obtained the license' originally by purchase, paying down some , hundreds of pounds for the hotel property . and giving mortgages for the balance. He -was in occupation only some months when 3 the house was destroyed by fire, and the ' insurances proved insufficient to meet his r liabilities at the time. He still had the free- » hold and leasehold land on which the hotel * had stood, however, and upon which the i stables and outbuildings still stood. The i license itself was of value, and Riohards re- - fused a fair sum for it alone. At this stage r Mr James Samson, of Dunedin, met Richards . and offered to arrange matters with the , ■ .creditors. The unsecured creditor* accepted - a composition, and Mr Samson paid £140 to r satisfy all claims which the insurance moneys i I had failed to satisfy. At this time Riohards t signed transfers of the freehold and leasei hold to Samson, who also took over the ■ liquor stock and some of the other stock. r He was fully secured, but further got , Richards to sign blank forms of application r for transfer of ths license. On the morning . of the meeting of the Licensing Committee. t at Noaeby an agreement w«a prepared beb tween Messrs Samson and A. Fraser, of the x one part, and Richards, of the other part, I whereby Samson and Fraser agreed to re- ; build and furnish the premises and let them \ furnished to Riohards for three years at 80s per week. Riohards applied for the license, which was granted, and also leavs to carry on in temporary premises. Samson and j Freser then separated, and Samson rebuilt 1 the premises. He, however, deolined to re- > furnish the premises, although the furniture " was lying at the Omakau Station, and Mr 1 Drake had been sent up to lay the linoleums. S Samson wanted Richards to vary the terms * of the lease, and Richards refused. He [ opened the bar in the new premises. Samson t then got Drake to take the license upon • 1 temporary transfer, of whioh Riohards knew - nothing until it had been granted, and he E was forcibly ejected from the premises. 9 The Chairman remarked that if this state i of things could be substantiated there was a s breaoji of contract, but that was a matter 1 for the Supn >3 Court.

! Mr Kirk stated that his instructions were) j that Mr RichardVs legal advisers in Dunedin j wore instituting proceedings in Dunedim claiming £1200 damages from Mr Samson, and that the case would be heard at ths first sittings of the Supreme Court in tha new year. Mir McNeil said that in view .of Mr Kirk's opening he felt justified in asking for an adjournment. H« had no knowledge unti* that diay that the application would be so opposed, and he requested an adjournment to tha 16th in*t«nt. The Chairman said that the committee was disposed! to adjourn the application until after th* Supreme Court case, but as oounsel tot both parties were desirous of the matter being dealt with earlier, the application woula stand adjourned- to the 20th inst., at 8 pan. Objector (Bichards) would be allowed £3 expenses and £1 Is professional fee. XXTBNBIOK 07 HOURS. John Ryan and Henry Coughkm (for whom Mr M'Neil appeared), and Emily L. Black and Thomas H. Parlane (for whom Mr Kirk appeared), applied for extension of hours from 10 o'clock until II o'clock on the grounds that such extension would be for the benefit and convenience of the public. — Evidedce in support of the applications woe given by John Ryan, but a majority of the committee was against the extension, and the applications were refused. Hugh Browne (Mr M'Neil) made a similar application for the Ballarat Hotel, St. Batians. P. Sexton, of St. Bathana, had the privilege granted to him, at last meeting, and" both the hotels should be on the same foot"^Tbe Chairman stated that it had been brought to the notice of the committee that one Grant \we<s in actual occupation of this hotel, and that Browne paid a visit to the premises once • fortnight in order to keep the license good. The act was never intended to be made use of in this way, and unless matters were remedied before the 20th inst. he would direct proceedings to be uMtitutea. The application would stand adjourned to the 20th mat. COITDITIOIfAL CICSVSBS. Bryan. Flannery (Mr Kirk) was granted * conditional license for Blacks races on the Ist and 2nd January. Patrick Sexton (Mr Kirk) was granted a similar privilege for the St. Bsthsjw races on 86th December. OENEBAL. James M'Guckin (Mr Kirk) was authorised to conduct . the business of the Commercial Hotel, Omakau until next quarterly meeting. Cornelius Flynn (Mi M'Neil) was similarly; authorised in xeapeot- o* the Victoria Hotel, ' Livingstone.