Licensing Amendment Bill The Most Important Of Its Kind To Come Before House For Years

Wanganui Chronicle, 1 December 1948, Page 6

Licensing Amendment Bill The Most Important Of Its Kind To Come Before House For Years

Second Reading Debate Has Begun; CommiHee Makes Improvements

PARLIAMENT BLDGS.. Last Night (PAL—The Licensing Amendment Bill was the most important one relating to licensing matters to come before the House for a great many years, said the Attorney-General (Mr. Mason) in the House of Representatives tonight, moving the second reading debate on the measure.

The debate attracted a fair * amount of public attention, the (- majority of the spectators in the / galleries being women. J” Mr. Mason said that there would be conflicting viewpoints on the subject matter of the Bill. He had sometimes been reproached for not having followed the recommendations in the report of the Royal Commission, but where there was such conflict of views on almost every element of the subject matter it was inevitable that complete agreement would never be reached on the questions raised. The main item in which the Bill diverged a from the report of the Commission v was the question of taking over brew- 1 eries. The ill made no provision for 1 that, and anhough it had been asked s why the people could not vote on that li question the concensus of opinion was t that the sentiment of the people was v unlikely to be in favour of taking that e vote. The Government did not feel t that the benefit to be gained by con n ducting the vote would be commen- n surate with the effort and expense c that would be involved. He felt that v there would be an almost unanimous 1 opinion that the turmoil and distur- t bance that would arise w’as not war- f ranted by the slender chance of a c change in the existing situation. t CREATION OF COMMISSION. p t The central feature of the Bill was n the constitution of a Licensing Con- r trol Commission. He believed that the t creation of the Commission would be v an improvement. He did not want it a to be thought he was saying that conditions were bad in the licensing trade—on the contrary there had been an improvement in recent years. It would be less than just if he did not testify to the good accommodation and treatment that could be received in hotels in New Zealand. It would nearly always be found that there was a very good and acceptable standard indeed. However, in spite of the improvements that had been made, there were exceptional cases where there was room for improvement. After dealing with the constitution of the Control Commission and its functions. Mr. Mason said that it may perform the duties of licensing committees. There had been little interest taken in licensing committees, and the people had become rather apathetic tow’ard them. On rare occasions there was a high-water mark of nearly 10 per cent, of electors voting on licensing matters and in general a vote of five per cent, was considered fortunate. Mr. Mason said it was obvious from the voting figures that there was no interest in licensing committees and the efficiency of the Licensing Control Commission could not r?st on them. During a review of the more important provisions in the Bill, the Minister said that the need for tourist licences had been felt greatly in certain areas and the Royal Commission had no hesitation in saying there was such need- * The Licensing Control Commission, he said, would not be concerned with a piling up of profits and there would be no extravagant issue of licences. New licences would be issued subiect

to a fair price which the Licensing Control Commission would determine. Arrangements could be made for immediate payment of that price, or it could be paid by instalments. One important provision relating to new licences was made in the Bill. Peop.e in the neighbourhood of where a new licence was expected to operate could object and they cou’d demand a poll. Other objections could be made on the ground that the licence wou'd be near a church, school, or residential area. The appropriate clause in the Bill arose as the result of discussions which took pi ace before the establishment of the Masterton Licensing Trust. There was no change of a substantial nature so far as brewers licences were concerned. Real control and administration of them was very much a fiscal matter. The general scheme for club charters was that they would come under an annual charter. That provision would not affect the existing clubs, but new clubs would be required to comply with that condition, and instead of licences being granted by the Minister of Internal Affairs they would in future be granted by the Licensing Control Commission. Mr. Mason, after reviewing questions which would be the subject of polls in no-licence areas, said that trust control was still in an experimental stage and it was entirely a matter for people to say whether they wanted a trust in the event of a vote for restoration being carried in a no-licence area. HOTEL HOURS A poll would decide the question of the Royal Commission's recommendation of hotels being open for broken hours extending to 10 p.m- Any fairminded, unbiassed person would say that the people were entitled to express their opinion because it was for the people that the facilities existed and it was for them to decide from their point of view what was most convenient. Mr. Mason said Maori people had long been restive about differences in the licensing law between Maoris and Europeans. These differences offended their sense of race and were embarrassing on occasions of social functions, although these differences were originally intended for the protection of the Maoris and not to impose any disability on them. The Bill now removed those distinctions. Mr. Mason said the whole subject of licensing laws covered a vast field. Provision had to be made for ideas and customs of the people. Those customs changed from time to time. The Minister said he did not subscribe to the view that if we had the same law’s as did other countries we would have the same social habits. On the contrary, there was a tendency for laws to adapt themselves to our habits and social ideas. The Bill was a better one for the attention given it by the Select Committee, which heard a great detail of evidence, but it was possible a few further minor changes might be Introduced when the House went into committee on the Bill.