The Thames Star. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1897. THE LICENSING ELECTION.

Thames Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 8620, 26 March 1897, Page 2

The Thames Star. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1897. THE LICENSING ELECTION.

In the course of a letter on the above subject, which appears in this issue, the Rev. S. J. Serpell says : " A local publican and also a J.P. have boasted •if the Moderates he returned they toill have eleven o'clock licenses.' I beg to call your attention to this and also to the fact that if permission be granted to open till eleven, there is nothing then to prevent the publicans remaining open till 12 o'clock." We have taken a good legal opinion upon this point, and from what we were told we are of opinion that Mr Serpell is mistaken. In the Licensing Act of 1881 the hour for closing is fixed at 10 o'clock, but power is given to extend it to 12 o'clock upon payment of an additional fee of £10. In the Act of 1882, 11 o'clock licenses are introduced, but subsection 3 of section 12 of the Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act, 1893, repeals the sections in the 1881 and 1882 Acts, in which the hour of closing is fixed, the following being substituted:—

The Licensing Committee may, at any annual or quarterly licensing meeting, grant to any holder of a publican's license, on payment of an additional fee of five pounds, an extension of the time prescribed in the principal Act for the sale of liquors until eleven of the clock at night, on being satisfied of its being for the benefit and convenience of the public. Such extension of license shall be granted by an indorsement on the certificate and license respectively.

No extension of license shall be granted until midnight, but every person holding such an extension of license at the time of the commencement of this Act shall hold the same until the thirtieth day of June, in the year one thousand eight 'hundred and ninety-four but it shall not be renewed.

It will thus be seen that it is not lawful to grant either eleven or twelve o'clock licenses. Only ten o'clock licenses can be granted by the Licensing Committee, and, in event of an extension to eleven o'clock being required, a special application, accompanied by an additional £5, must be lodged. Every application must be dealt with upon its merits. The Committee have no power to grant eleven o'clock licenses of their own volition, but should it appear that such extension would be " for the benefit and convenience of the public " the Committee may extend the time. All twelve o'clock licenses were terminated on June SOth, 1894, and cannot be renewed. That is the legal dictiin.