THE LOCAL OPTION POLLS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 669, 31 December 1902, Page 22

THE LOCAL OPTION POLLS.

AN INTERESTING POINT. It will be remembered by our readers that in connection with the petitions against the prohibition and reduction votes carried in Otago, Mr Adams, a Dunedin solicitor, gave it as his opinion that in the event of the polls being declared hull, no license could be granted in the districts affected. At the request of the Dunedin Star,” Mr Adams made a detailed statement, which our contemporary prints; as follows,.—•“ The crux of the position is really section* 21 of the . Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act of 1893. That section has an interesting history. It was introduced into the Act whilst the celebrated Sydenham appeal case was pending, and it was hoped by the liquor party that the section would have the effect of enabling them to suc- . ceed in the Court of Appeal in that case. The temperance party have al- . ways had a strong opinion that had there not been an appeal pending at the time when that Act was passed section 21 would have been enacted in a slightly different form. The section reads as follows.—‘2l. Where a district constituted under this Act or the principal Act has been abolished ,or altered, and has been constituted or divided nto new districts, the poll in force in such first mentioned district at the x time of such abolition or alteration shall continue and remain in force in such new districts until the period arrives for taking the next triennial poll, and shall • have the same force and effect as if such poll had. been taken in such new districts.’ Section 3of the 1895 Act provides that ‘No license of any description shall be granted or renewed until the electors of the district have previously determined,’ etc. Now, as Dunedin, Caversham, etc., are now new districts, the electors of those districts have never had any opportunity _of coming to a de- ' termination under this Act until the first poll after the alteration of the boundaries this year. The poll taken on ' the 25th November was therefore the first poll taken in those districts under the Act. If this poll stands, then licenses may be granted where only reduction is carried. . If it does not stand, ; but is declared void, and, as Mr Thornton puts it, is thus a nullity ab initio, the electors of “ the district ” have not determined anything, and section 3 of the Act of .1895 therefore prohibits the granting of any licenses. The trade, Consequently, are on .the horns of a dilemma. They may either accept the present situation, and submit to reduction with the best grace they can muster, or they may press their petiions, with the risk of succeeding and preventing any licenses being granted at all. Ido not wish to be understood as saying any- • thing at all as to the merits or the probabilities of success in connection with the petitions. They are sub judice, and it would be manifestly improper for me to express any opinion. The position is different in different districts. In Dunedin and Caversham reduction only was carried ; in Chalmers, Bruce and Mataura no-license was carried. Obviously the effect of the above will be different in the cases of reduction and no-license. It will be, suggested that the liquor party have nothing to lose in pressing their petitions in Chalmers, Bruce and Mataura, as licenses are bound to go in any event. But Ido not think it will work out so at all. For instance, if in Chalmers the 'party were to succeed on their petition and have the poll upset, then, if my interpretation of this Act is correct, no licenses can be granted -in that district. And this singular result will follow The licenses will be extinguished. At the next licensing poll the questions to be submitted to the voters will be the same as at present, viz. :—(1) Continuance, (2) reduction, (3) no-license. Suppose the poll to be taken and ‘ continuance ’ carried, that means that ‘ the number of licenses in the district shall continue as at present,’ and as there will be no licenses in the district none can be granted, and no vote for restoration can be taken, therefore licenses are for ever excluded from the district. It looks as though the peti- . tioners will be ‘ hoist with their own petard.’ ” i In connection with the same subject Mr J. McGregor writes to the “ Star ” . —“ For the information of your readers it may be worth while quoting section 3.: No license of any description shall be granted or renewed until the electors of the district have previously determined—(l) Whether the number of licenses existing in the district is to continue ; (2) whether the number of licenses existing in the district is to be reduced ; (3) whether no licenses are to be granted ini tion must be aware that the Dunedin district, for example, was altered just before last election ; consequently the electors of the new district had never * nreviously determined . the questions stated. There is therefore no ‘ previous determination,’ and a thing that has never existed can hardly stand.