LICENSING AND COMPENSATION.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 813, 5 October 1905, Page 23

LICENSING AND COMPENSATION.

THE ENGLISH LAW AT WORK

No temperance experiment in the Empire is being watched with keener interest by reformers than the Balfour Licensing Act passed last year by the Imperial Parliament (says the ‘ Launceston Daily Telegraph.”) Though denounced by extreme teetotallers and by many Anglican bishops as a concession to the “ Drink Trust,” it is generally regarded as a distinct advance on previous legislation. The Act is now in full operation, being administered in England by the bench of justices in each licensing area. Already experience has been gathered which should prove valuable to Australian reformers and legislators. Under the Balfour Act the justices, as the compensation authority, have to collect and administer a fund obtained by a levy on every tenant or licensee of a licensed house, based on a sliding scale, which has been summarised by a correspondent of “ The Manchester Guardian” as follows : —

Under £l5 annual value, levy £1 a year.

Under £5O annual value, levy £lO a year.

Under £lOO annual value, levy £l5 a year.

Undei* £5OO annual value, levy £5O a year.

Over £5OO annual value, levy £lOO a year.

In the case of brewery companies controlling a number of houses, the levy has worked out to about 2 per cent, on share capital. The money is distributed amongst houses selected by the justices foi’ closure in accordance with a somewhat involved plan. Each year a certain number of houses is selected for closure by a committee of the bench of justices. The list is made known, and the license-holders affected appear personally or by representative, and debate it with the whole of the justices in open court Sometimes further consideration is necessary at another meeting. Finally, the justices decide the conclusive composition of the closure list, and refuse renewal of the licenses affected. They thus reach the compensation stage of the proceedings, when two sets of valuations come before them—one prepared by their own valuers, and the other by the claimants for compensation. In the city of Bristol, where the year’s work under the Act is complete, eleven houses were scheduled for closure. The licensees claimed £11,500; the official valuer estimated compensation at £6l6s—a difference of £5335, or 46 per cent. There was a dispute, and the Commissioners of Inland Revenue have been asked to adjudicate. In 'Warrington £3OOO was claimed for one house in a leading thor- ; oughfare—monopoly value. The corporation owned the site. The compensation granted was £2210, out of which the tenant received only £7O. In Bolton three official valuers were necessary. The claims have not all been settled at time of writing. They include a number of small houses and two big ones, both belonging to the municipality; the rent of each alone is £2OO a year. Only one case is on record as yet in which the claimant’s and justices’ estimates of compensation were identical. In Manchester, in a large number of cases, the claimants accepted the justices’ compen-

sation proposals. In this great midlan centre two-fifths of the houses to b closed belonged to private persons, th remainder being owned by brewers. The principles- guiding valuation fo compensation purposes may be illustrate by a couple of examples taken from Mar Chester’s experience. The value of pr( perty adjacent to or in close proximit to the public house or hotel to be close is used as being of assistance in assess ing its value after the license is witl drawn : “ (a) A beer house and adjoining dwel ing houses fronting a main Mancheste tramway. The market value of th former was 24| years’ purchase of th rent, equivalent to a return of 4.1 pe cent., whilst the market value of the ac jacent houses was 8| years’ purchast equal to 11.7 per cent.; the difference i the monopoly value, which in this cas is larger than the average. In bot cases deductions, from the rentals woul have to be made, which are too technic? to be quoted here, and which would, t some extent, but not materially, modif the figures. In many cases the diffei ence is much less; in others it is greater. “ (b) A public-house, fully licensed, i a side street; rent £45, without chit rent. In this case the market value wa only sixteen years’ purchase of the rei tai, equivalent to a yield of 6.2 per cen Adjoining small weekly houses, the typ of the district, were of ten years’ pui chase market value, but from the latte chief rent, rates, and so on have to b deducted. Until the end of 1905, when the off cial statistics for the whole of Englan will be available, it is not possible t estimate what the gradual method of e: tinguishing licenses under the Ballou Act will cost “the trade” annually. Th foregoing will be sufficient to show th? the Act is being worked on business line: The “ trade,” which in a measure hem fits by the reduction in the number < licensed houses, has to pay the compel sation to those of its members who ai dispossessed by what, with all its defect; is on the whole an impartial tribuna The lower valuations of premises one licensed as public-houses will affect th rates slightly, but otherwise the pubii nurse will not suffer.