THE TANEATUA LICENSE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14635, 19 June 1918, Page 7

THE TANEATUA LICENSE.

PROTEST BY N.Z. ALLIANCE. (Per Press Association). WELLINGTON, last night. / The New Zealand Alliance passed the following resolution : "The New Zealand Alliance enters its most, emphatic protest against the action oft a. majority of the Bay of Plenty Licensing Committee m accepting an application for a new license at Tanoatua when it has already granted th© fudl hxunber of licenses: allowed by tiie law m the district. In adjourning its decision for a month, tho committed was fully aware , that the new license could only be granted if another license w«M allowed to laps© through deliberate failure to pay the fee. Granting a new license, probably 100 miles distant from the premises for which the license had lapsed, would be m direct contravention of the spirit, if not, indeed, of the letter of section 127 (4) of the Licensing Act, 1908, which reads : 'No publican's license or accommodation license ' shall be removed from the premises m respect to which it was granted to any other premises beyond the boundary of the borough (if undivided) or of the ward (if divided, into wards), or of the riding or county as the case may be within which, the first-mentioned premises are situated;'. nor shall it be removed to any premises situated more than half a mile from the tirst-mentioned premises if such premises are m a borough, or one mile if m a county.' line Alliance would further point out tliftt the premises for which the new license is sought are m close proximity to a public school, and are iwithiw four miles of the old confiscation' boundary and of the XJrewera Country, which is almost entirely populated by Maoris. The Alliance requests the Minister for Justice to consult the Crown Law Department immediately as to the legality of the committee's procedure, It urges that every legal means shall be adopted to prevent so flagrant a breach of the spirit of the licensing law, and it appeals to the Government to spare no power it possesses for the protection of both natives and the Europeans against this evil, which may otherwise be thrust upon them."