CHANGE OF VENUE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18398, 16 May 1934, Page 4

CHANGE OF VENUE

LICENSING BENCH y SITTINGS AT OPOTIKI Henceforward the sittings of the Bay. of Plenty Licensing Committee, which have always been held at Tie Karaka in the past, will take place at Opotiki, and' the first sitting there will be the annual meeting of the committee, which is set down for Wednesday, June 6. This change of venue has been made in order to comply with the statutory provisions. Under the Licensing Act each committee must hold its meetings within the boundaries of its own licensing district, and it is further provided that where there is a courthouse in the district the meeting shall be held there. Up until recently a quarterly sitting of the. Magistrate’s Court was held at Te Ivaraka, and the Licensing Committee, therefore, held its meetings there te coincide with the court days, partly for convenience,. and partly because, owing to the somewhat peculiar boundaries of the licensing districts, the majority of the hotels under the jurisdiction of the Bay of Plenty committee are .really in the Gisborne district, rather than what is commonly regarded as the Bay of Plenty. Various circumstances, such as improvements in transport, contributed te the closing of the Te Karaka court, and though since then the meetings of the committee have been held at Te Karaka, this will no longer be the case. As there is a courthouse at Opotiki, the committee will meet there, and this change should not cause much inconvenience. for Mr. E. L. Walton, S.M., who is chairman of both the Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty committees, holds periodical sittings of the Magistrate’s Court at Opotiki.