NEWTOWN APPEAL.

Western Star, 20 May 1904, Page 3

NEWTOWN APPEAL.

Wellington, May 17. A special meeting of the Newtown Licensing Committee was held this afternoon to deal with applications for licenses for the fire hotels in the electorate. The Chairman announced that the committee recognised that they had been wrong in law and were not at present, preparad to offer any objections to the renewal of licenses. A statement was then read on behalf of the committee, stating that the liceoses had been refused by the committee, not as prohibitionists, but because, according to their interpretation of the Act, they considered they had no jurisdiction. In this view they had been suppor.ed by many lawyers of great experience. Tl ey were now prepared to accept the new position with good grace. The committee then granted renewals of licenses until the annual meeting on 4th June to the licenses of the Park, Grosvenor, Kilbirnie and Island Bay hotels. Two applications were received for a license for the Newtown hotel—one from the former licensee, whose lease had been terminated since the hotel was closed, and tae other from the new tenant. These applications were adjourned until Monday. The committee came to the conclusion that it would not be fair to mulct the licenses in the whole of the license duty for the present year ; one third of the fee they thought would be sufficient. Mr T. E. Taylor, M.H.R., states that the Newtown decision has roused the Prohibition Party. Every constituency will be contested by it at the next election, and no stone will be left unturned to secure victories from end to end of the colony. He states that the result may be the election of Prohibition House of Representatives. London, May 18.

Lord Halsbury, Lindley, Kinross, Ai ohur and Wilson heard the Newtown licensing appeal case. Lord Lindley delivered the unanimous judgment of the Court, allowing the appeal. The intention of the Legislature was to continue every district and new districts formed therefrom, and all licenses rntil a poll decided which of the three courses under section 3 of the Act of 1895 should be pursued. Subsection 4 of section 8 showed that existing licenses might be continued beyond the day appointed for taking a poll. Section 21 of the Act of 1893 points to a time rather than to the'event which is to happen at that time, but the event, namely the result of a poll, is the governing factor. To ignore that would run counter to subsection 7 of section 5 of the Interpretation Act, j Says tho Southland Daily News : The developments that are now

I bound to ensue will unmistakably force ! into the forefront of politics the licensing question. Had the Government passed a simple commonsense amendment of the law to prevent the expressed will of the electors being thwarted by some trivial irregularity of a returning officer or his deputy, and to provide for a second poll where the first was declared void, a vast amount of litigation would have been obviated.