West Coast Times. AND WESTLAND OBSERVER. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28. 1869.

West Coast Times, Issue 1330, 28 December 1869, Page 2

West Coast Times. AND WESTLAND OBSERVER. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28. 1869.

We have, in former issues, commented briefly on the new Publichouse Act, but the subject is one which seems to demand a somewhat more lengthy treatment, both on account of its intrinsic interest, and the curious opinions it has given rise to. We last week published a letter from Mr Abbott, which has some bearing on Mr Barff's unfortunate measure, and contains views with reference to tbe writer's position, as a Justice of the Peace, which are altogether wrong, and likely to mislead the public. We will deal with the paragraphs in the order in which they are written. Mr Abbott says the intention of his appointment as a Justice of the Peace was "to facilitate the performance of some of the duties of the Supreme Court in a district where it was formerly not easy to obtain the services of a Magistrate when necessary." Mr Abbott knows well, or should know, that whatever the immediate cause of the appointment may have been, the fact of his being in the Commission of the Peace makes it incumbent on him to perform all the duties of the office to the best of his ability. We ran only judge of the intention by the fact. There is no such thing as the appointment of a Justice for facilitating the performance of pome of the duties of the Registrar of the Supreme Court. Inconvenience in transacting a certain -et of affairs may have led immediately to the appointment, but the duties cannot cease at the point which removes that inconvenience. Blr Abbott was present at, and took part in, the former sitting of the licensing Bench ; be consented, we suppose, to the adjournment till last Tuesday, and no doubt, with such an interval in which to make arrangements, he could have so disposed of his business as to have made his appearance on the Bench at the adjourned meeting perfectly convenient to himself and all parties concerned.

But the real reason of Mr Abbott's absence is brought to light in the second paragraph of his letter. He says — " I went so far as to say, when warned to attend, that if I could attend, I did not think i?. desirable to do so.'» And afterwards Iwj gives his reason as follows :—": — " It is hardly possible for any uniformity of practice to be attained when any three magistrates may exercise their discretion under an Act which atfords hardly the least ground for such discretion to go on. Tbe consequent inequality must be unfair to the pecuniary interests of some applicants for licenses compared with other applicants." The meaning of this is that because the Licensing Bench may at different sittings be composed of different persons, and thus decisions of a somewhat contradictory character may be arrived at— one set of magistrates granting a license where another set would refuse — therefore it is better for the justices to decline to carry out the express provisions of the Act. If we admit the force of this reasoning, it -eems to follow that Justices of the Peace should decline their official duties, not only on a licensing day, but under all circumstances where they are railed upon to exercise a discretion on acts .submitted lo their judgment. For i here will always be the possibility of one justice, or feet, of justices, viewing similar act & in a different, light to another Jutlice or set of Justices ; until, indeed, we are bletsed with perfect legislation,

jind the minds of men are apportioned 1o them as lead is run into equal-sized bullet moulds. We cannot look for eh her consummation.

Finally Mr Abbot is confirmed in his opinions by the consideration that, in the absence of a quorum of Justices of the Peace on a licensing day, full power of dealing with applications for licenses is vested in the County Chairman. "My own opinion," he says, "is that for every good reason which I have been able to discover, he (the County Chairman) should be allowed to exercise that power alone, as the course most expedient for public interests." The real question (which is entirely overlooked by Mr Abbott) is — what is the intention of the Act ? Doubtless it is that the granting of retail licenses in Hokitika and Greymouth should reet with the Justices of the Peace. It is true that powers are reserved to the County Chairman to act in the event of there not being a quorum on the licensing day, but this is obviously done to avoid the great inconvenience which would otherwise arise, and certainly must not be taken as discharging the justices from the performance of a duty which the preceding sections of the Act have just imposed on them, and yet that is the way in which Mr Abbott would read the Act. Ais told by a proper autho- j rity to do a certain thing, if he do not \ comply B is authorised to do it; therefore, says Mr Abbott, A shall stand excused. The conclusion may be convenient, but is illogical. Urgent business, either public or private, is the only good excuse for non-attendance. Those appointed to carry out an Act should do so to the best of their ability ; and to give a statute an interpretation j pugnant to its obvious meaning is, in t uth, where the interpretation takes e.fect in the acts of the expounders, to substitute the dictates of private judgment for law. A multitude of instances could be quoted where such saving clauses are inserted in Acts of Parliament for the same reason that they are here, namely — for the public convenience. So much for Mr Abbott's letter, which we have alluded to chiefly as it touches the question of the advisability of the retail licenses being granted by a Bench of Magistrates. We have already in a former issue, expressed an opinion that, whatever may be the shortcomings and obscurities of i the Act in other respects, here at least j has been inaugurated a change for the better. We do not believe in the indiscriminate granting of licenses, and we think that the best persons, and the best place in which to investigate a case of opposed license, is a Bench of Magistrates and a public Court of Justice. A Bench of Magistrates, because the odium of a refusal is thus shifted fairly enough from the shoulders of one to those of many — the public not necessarily knowing how the majority is composed, and because, unlike the County Chairman, the Bench canj not be opeu to a suspicion of wishing to increase or keep up the | County revenue, when this desirable object might be effected by winking hard at past misconduct on the part of an applicant, or by using a little over cautiousness in weighing the contents of a police report. We beg to be understood as castiug no reflections on anything hitherto done by the present occupant of the County Chair. A public court of justice seems the most fitting place for the* investigation, as affording the greatest amount of notoriety to proceedings which should, as far as possible, be conducted according to established routine, and should, in fairness both to the applicant and the public, be open. The general adoption of this system elsewhere seems a strong argu-

ment in its favor.

Taken as a whole, Mr Barff's proC iction — for to him we are indebted i v the new Publichouse Act — is one of ti e most complicated and useless pieces oi legislation tKit we have inspected for many a long day. It is composed of shreds und patches, not even decently tacked together, and, to complete the confusion, it refers us back to an Ordinance of the Provincial Council of Canterbury. To make the Act work in any degree smoothly, the County Chairman has been compelled, to say the least of it, to stretch his authority by the issue of interim licenses ; and owing to the obscurity of the clauses the Greymouth Bench have been led into a blunder which has been set to rights by some further straining. The idea of the licensing Bench, indeed the entire clause, if we remember aright, hr.s been borrowed from the Ordinance now in force in Canterbury — but where the composer or compiler has drawr. upon his own resources, they have enabled him to give to the public something- worthy to be placed side by side with the vast productions of the Yarra Bend. Home good he has doubtless dove, in an indirect manner, as we remarked in a previous issue, by caus-

in<? the police to report fully on the state of the various houses ; but that report seems to have had no weight whatever when the question of license or no license had to be determined. It is true that the County Chairman said he should in some cases impose conditions, and that if these were not complied with he should recall the license. Here again there is an assumption of authority rendered almost necessary by the silence of the Act. The Chairman has no power to recall a license once granted, but we trust that the fear of losiug the license at the end of the year may in some degree prove a safeguard to the public.

One thing is quite certain, Mr BarfF or some one else must " try again." Wesiland must not be permanently saddled with this Act. There can be no great difficulty in getting a workable- bill drafted, which shall contain in itself all that is wanted, and repeal former legislation on the subject. The task would be a " little holiday " for the County Solicitor.

The following is the return of prisoners confined in the County gaol for the week end-, ing December 25: — Males: For trial, 4 ; penal servitude, 13; hard labor, lv; default of bail, 2 ; lunatics, 17 ; debtors, 1 ; total, 47. Females : For trial, 2 ; penal servitude 1 ; hard labor, B—total,8 — total, 11. There was 6 prisoners received and 5 discharged during the week.

There was an excellent attendance at the Princess's Theatre last night, and the Minstrels were successful in eliciting rounds of applause from the audieuee. To-night there will be an entire change of entertainment, and a number of new songs will be introduced.

The four-pound loaf is sold at 6d in Melbourne at the present time, in consequence of the fall in the price of flour.

We learn by telegram that the colonial prize firing takes place in Dunedin during April next.

Last night Thatcher gave another entertainment, and we are" glad to say that a bumper house was present. The pit and stalls were literally crammed, and the boxes were very well filled indeed. With the exception of a regatta song, of no particular merit, no new songs were brought forward ; hut Small's Stump Speech was received, as it really deserved, with outrageous laughter. The entertainment generally was exceedingly good, and was highly appreciated by those present. At the same time, if Mr Daniels could change his songs, and drop " The Sexton," "I'm Sitting on the Stile, Mary," " Simon, the Cellarer," &c, his really good singing would be more appreciated. In wine and other things, age i 3 desirable ; but in music, the oldest ears like a change, and what charmed thirty years ago, is hardly as acceptable at present. Verb, sitp sat.

A disgraceful act of violence and rowdyism was committed at Stafford Town early on Monday morning by a resident of the town and two or three of his friends. It appears that Mr De Wolf, the storekeeper of the Big Dam, was standing near the Sluicers' Arms Hotel, when one of the persons mentioned, without the slightest provocation, struck him, and received a blow in return which was followed by one of the others knocking Mr Wolf down and kicking him in the side, and baforohe could move a dog belonging to one o£ the party was set on, biting him severely in the calf of the leg, leaving three or four punctures. A raid was next made on Dr. Matthews' dispensary, the fun being to smash in the whole of a large -window, and destroy the bottles and drugs therein by throwing stones . A rush was then made at the door ; but Mr De Wolf, who had been staying at the doctor's for a few days, had got in by the side door, and contrived to prevent the men outside for a time from breaking into the place, but this they ultimately succeeded in doing by forcing the lock completely off. When inside, the party further amused themselves by smashing all they could find in the shop, Mr De Wolf in the mr:::-.tiroe retreating into an inner room for safety, while the possessors of the shop were vowing vengeance against Dr Matthews if they could get hold of him. The police, however, having been communicated with, arrested three men, one of whom is Mr M'Donagh, the local painter. The charge against the three men is a very serious one, they not only having destroyed a quantity of valuable goods, but broke into the house to finish their work of destruction. We hear that Sergeant O'Donnell has succeeded in capturing a fourth man said to be implicated.

The benefit to Mr Dias, who is lying in the Hospital, severely injured by a fall from his horse, took plac-3 on Monday, at the Stafford Theatre. The pieces played were the «' Momentous Question," and the farce of the " Artful Dodge," with an interlude song, by Mr Reed. The performance passed off very creditably, but the attendance was not so good us we could have wished, owing, partly, to its being so near Christmas, and also having a slight rainfall, the miners were taking advantage of the water. Mrs Proctor played the leading female parts, of course excellently, ana Miss Goodyer made a most creditable debut as Fanny, in the drama. The leading male characters were well sustained by Messrs Brown, Skogland, Pearson, Jolly, and Swainston.

The quarterly election of officers for Loyal "Waimea Lodge M.U.1.0.0.F. took place on Tuesday evening, when the following brothers were elected : — G.M., Bro. Procter ; N.G., Bro. Matthews ; V.G., Bro. Thompson ; Elec. Sec, Bro. Thompson ; Per. Sec., Bro. P. G. Paris. Past Grand Crighton, who is leaving the colony, was presented with a past officer's certificate by the Lodge in token of the esteem in which he was held by the Brethren, and after the business of the evening was concluded, a number of the members met to wish him prosperity and happiness in his future career, A number of toasts, songs, &c, were given, and an enjoyable couple of hours were spent.

We learn with regret that the poor fellow who was taken over to the Hospital on Saturday from the schooner Waterman, then arrived in the river, is not likely to recover.

He was second officer of the Waterman, and acted in the same capacity on board the Nightingale, when \ that vessel met with severe weather off the Buller about 18 months ago. On that occasion a heavy sea tumbled on board, and he had two of his ribs broken They were not set then, nor have they been set since, and this, coupled with a severe dose of cold received on the present passage has been the cause of his present extreme prostration.

The children attending the Presbyterian Schoolß were yesterday treated to a Picnic at the Cricket Ground. The children were in charge of the respected pastor, the Rev. Mr Gow ; and the teachers marched from town preceded by the Brass Band to the Recreation Ground, and during the day they amused themselves with swings, kiss in the ring, and other games. The little ones amused themselves until the day was far spent, when they were marched into town and dispersed to their homes.

The Jic'iey Club give notice that all horses are prohibited from exercising on the Race Course, after ten o'clock this morning, the 28th instant.

We have "seen some views of places in Hokitika and of the surrounding districts taken by Mr Perkins, photographer, of Revell-street, which for clearness and beauty of light and shade equals, if not excels, any description of this beautiful art we have as yet seen executed in this part of tlie colonies. The portiaits of several wellknown celebrities of Westland are also depicted to the life, and we should think that* as a portrait artist, Mr Perkins has few equals. He has attained tliis proficiency — at least the principal aid to his art is — through having a studio in which the light can be so regulated that visitors, in almost all kinds of weather, are certain of having a true likenses taken. An inspection of his studio will well repay the visit.