VICTORIA’S NEW LICENSING LAWS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XV, Issue 881, 24 January 1907, Page 21

VICTORIA’S NEW LICENSING LAWS.

Among the measures assented to by the Governor (says the Melbourne “Age” of a recent date) is the Licens’ng Act, which therefore is now in operation. The Chief Secretary, Mr Mackey, has arranged with Mr J. S. Meagher, barrister, to immediate'v prepare a digest of the new law, first regarding its application to clubs, and secondly in regard to hotels. The digest r s not to be technical, and is to be written for laymen. The work will be done promptly, which is to say, in a week or ten days. Mr Mackey states that one point which ag'tates many people is in regard to fees. In December the hotelkeepers obtain their licenses and pay their fees for the coming year. Under the Act a Licenses Reduction Board is to be appointed, and in order to provide the compensation fund for the first year hotelkeepers will have to pay 3 per cent, on the liquor purchased. The question has arisen, When is the first payment to be made? Sub-section 5 of section no provides that for the year commencing January 1, 1907, the-com-pensation fee in respect of any license may be pa : d at any time before the last day of March in that year, and if such fee be not paid before that day the license shall become absolutely void. The fee of 3 per cent, is to be upon the gross amount of liquor purchased for the business during the twelve months ended last September. Mr Mackey points out that if the compensation fee be not paid before the end of next March the licenses will stand forfeited. In the meantime the Licensing Court will sit and fix what the 3 per cent, fee amounts to in each case.

Regarding the provisions of the new Act, it may be said that they d : ffer great'y from those originally introduced. The first division deals w : th clubs. Existing club cer ificates are to terminate after March 31. Applications for fresh licenses must be made before that date to the L : censing Court for the district, and the conditions for re-registration are that within 15 miles of the G.P.O. a club must be a bona-fide association of not fewer than 50 members, and outside that radius of not fewer than 30 members. The club must be one for “socia', literary, political, sporting, athletic, or other lawful purpose,” must be estab’ished-'’' for the purpose of providing accommodation for the members and their guests, must be maintained from jo’nt funds from which no person is to derive any profit; no payment is to be made to a manager or secretary by commission upon drink supp'ied, and a register of members must be kept. Except where they obtain special exemption from a Licensing Court the law with regard to the sale of liquor in hote’s will apply to clubs. As origina’ly introduced the Bill pronosed a registration fee for clubs of for the first 50 members, and a further sum of £2 for each additional 50 members. As passed the charge upon clubs is a registration fee of /?2, and 2 per cent, on the gross amount of liquor purchased for the year. The licenses will be annual, and the sale of liquor in an unregistered c ub carries a liab'lity of Upon obtaining a search warrant the police may inspect any c’ub and take the names and addresses of those found therein. The secretary must keep a register of members, and the rules must be sat : sfactory before, registration is granted.

The second division of the new Act deals with hotel licenses. In this regard the newest feature is the provision for the registration of the owner of the premises for which a victualler’s or Australian wine license is granted. Owners will in future be compelled to register their names and addresses with the clerk of the Licensing Court which issues the license, and they must also notify any change of address. An extension of roadside victuallers’ licenses is made. Hitherto these have been confined to mountainous districts, but in future they can be issued in districts proclaimed by the Governor-in-Council as holiday resorts. They, must not be for places within ten miles of a proclaimed village or a hotel. The third divison deals with the reduction of hotel licenses. For ten years this is to be carried out by a board of three members, after which local option is to come into effect. When the Bill was introduced it contained an elaborate scale of fees to provide the compensation, but that was dropped, and instead it was provided that a charge of 3 per cent, on the liquor purchased for the business should be made. The licensee is entitled to deduct from the rent payable to the owner two-thirds of the compensation fee paid by him to the treasurer. When local option comes into force three questions are to be submitted to the electors, viz., the continuation of the existing number of licenses, a reduction, and no license. The first two simply require a majority, but the third must have in its . favour, three--fifths of the votes given. Under the genera’ provisions of the Act the powers of the police are increased.

The servants of licensees are liable to penalties for the illegal sale of liquor. People found drinking on premises in unlawful hours, if not bona-fide travellers or lodgers, are liable to punishment as well as the licensee. Persons found on licensed premises at any time that such premises should not be open for the sale of liquor, unless such persons can satisfy the Court that they are bona-fide lodgers, travellers, or servants, are liable to a penalty. Further, in prosecutions any liquid is to be deemed “liquor” unless the con rary is proved, and every separate sale is a separate offence. It is also illegal to assist a drunken man to obtain liquor. With the exception of those previously employed, no woman under 21 will be allowed to serve in a bar.