DATE OF RESTORATION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LI, Issue 16895, 27 November 1925, Page 4

DATE OF RESTORATION.

EFFECTIVE ON JULY 1

POSITION IN THE MEANTIME. RESTRICTIONS > CONTINUE. The generally accepted view that restoration of licenses with the re-open-ing ol 1 the hotels would take effect it) Ohineinuri on February 5 is apparently due to a lnis-reading of the Licensing Amendment Aet of 1910, which hears on the subject. Actually (says the Auckland Herald) the effective date of restoration will be July 1 of next year, although the slide of no-license ends on February 5. The Act provides in Section 9, subsection 2, that “every such determination (in favor of restoration) shall come into force on the expiration of three months after the day of the general election at which the poll was taken.” That makes the date February 5, but hotels cannot he opened or the sale of liquor - commenced until licenses ale granted by a licensing committee. Provision is made for the first election of a licensing committee on a date to be fixed by notice in the Gazette. In other respects the procedure of the committee is governed hv the Licensing Act, 1908. Licenses are to ho granted at the first annual meeting of the licensing committee, and it is provided that such annual meeting shall take place in the first week in June. It will therefore he June before any applications for licenses can he granted, and an expert on licensing matters considers that such licenses cannot be made operative before July 1. A further point has been raised as to whether, restoration having been carried in Ohineinuri, residents have the right to import liquor into the district without the restrictions imposed under no-license. As already explained, nolicense with all its restrictions remains in force until February 5. On that date the state of no-license ends, hut the restrictions remain in force until licenses are granted and operating. The Licensing Act of 1908 is quite clear on the point. It says: “With respect to every district the electors Whereof have duly determined in manner prescribed by this Act that no licenses he granted therein, and so long as, pursuant to such determination, no licenses are in force therein, the following provisions shall apply . . .” There follows a list of the restrictions with respect to liquor with which residents in no-license areas are familiar. As licenses will not he in force in Ohineinuri until July 1, it follows that, in effect if not in law, the state of no-lieense will continue in Ohineinuri until July 1.