LIQUOR IN DANCE HALLS

Southland Times, Issue 23818, 16 May 1939, Page 3

LIQUOR IN DANCE HALLS

BY-LAW CONSIDERED UNREASONABLE PRONOUNCEMENT MADE BY CHIEF JUSTICE (United Press Association) DUNEDIN, May 15. A pronouncement holding that tke Dunedin City Corporation by-law which prohibits the possession of or consumption of liquor in any building licensed as a public hall and used for entertainments of which dancing forms part is unreasonable is embodied in a reserved decision of the Chief Justice (Sir Michael'Myers) in the appeal case, Frederick Page v. William John Harvey. This case was an appeal against the conviction in the lower court of Page, who, as licensee of the 1 eter Pan Cabaret, was prosecuted and tmed under By-law 23 for permitting to be brought into a public hall liquor for use at or during a function of which dancing formed a part without permission in writing from the Town ClerK After dealing with the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 192 U, which was in force when the by-law was made, the Chief Justice said, in conclusion: “I cannot think that such a by-law can possibly be held to be anything but unreasonable. More than that, if I am right in my view of what is meant by a ‘function of which dancing forms part,’ and as to &e consequences generally that would follow from the bv-law upon its true construction, it would seem to me that the b N not only not warranted by the statute, but is, indeed, repugnant to its provisions and to the general law. If 1 am not right in my interpretation of Hie words ‘a function of which dancing forms part,’ then the alternative, I think, is that the meaning is vague and uncertain and if the by-law is not certain in its terms it would be invalid on that ground. The conviction, in my view, is wrong and must be set aside. The appeal is allowed and the conviction is quashed accordingly.”