CO129-365 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1910 [1-3] — Page 22

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CO

3637

RAGE 5 FEB 10,

Condosure.

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S CHAMBERS

Hongkong,..

22nd December,.

1909.

Report on Ordinance No. 46 of 1909.

I have examined the accompanying Ordinance, entitled

An Ordinance to amend the Liquor Licences Ordinance, 1c9

and the Liquor Licences Extension Ordinance, 1908, and

to repeal the Liquor Licences Amendment Ordinance, 1902

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and I am of opinim that the Ordinance is one which is not contrary to

the Governor's Instructons

This Ordinance transfers the control f publicans' and

adjunct licences from the Justices of the Peace to a Licensing

Road consisting of seven Justices of the Peace with a view ty ensuring continuity of policy in the control of publicans' and

adjunct licences and to effecting reform in the existing Public

Fouse System.

The regrement of the Principal Ordinung

Il ember into a

Enclosure 3.

3637

Remarks by His Excellency the Governor on the second-

reading of the Bill to amand the Liquor

Ordinances.

HIS EXCELLENCY Gentlemen, the Bill before the Council abolishes the existing method of granting licences for publicans, and for adjunct licencees, and it substitutes for it a Licensing Board consisting of seven Justices partly elected and partly nominated, and with a considerable anofficial majority. The object of this Bill has been stated by the hon. the Attorney-General, it appears in the minute at the foot of the Bill and it was dealt with at greater length in a paper which was laid before this Council at our last meeting.

Its object

is that a body may be instituted who may have a permanent policy-a policy which can be (carried into operation by successive instalments,

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as

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if so desired, all making for a definite objective. This Bill is in substitution for a Bill which has *been before the Council for some considerable time. In that Bill the permanent body proposed was the Governor-in-Council, but that proposal I, { understand was not acceptable, and, therefore,' the present Bill has been substituted for it. The object which we have in view in establishing a permanent board is twofold. On the one hand it is desired to secure to the taxpayers of this Colony the monopoly value of the public- aus' and adjunct licences and to prevent that public asset

being claimed right by the holders of the licence by declaring, for instance, a period at which any or all may be terminated without compensation In the second place it is desired by this method Eto facilitate public house reform. For instance, if it should be feasible to place some or all of the public houses under a trust company whose profits would be limited and any profits from the business in excess of those should be devoted to the improvement of the public house, that the manager should be placed on a fixed salary so that he should have no personal interest in promoting the sale of liquor. These, however, are only possible projects for the future and do not arise at present. The object of the Bill is to create a permanent board to deal with the question of, licensing. The present system by which licences are issued by the general body of the Justices of the Peace cannot be said to have worked very well in the past. I find that 176 Justices of the Feace in the last ten years havo never attended. The total number of Justices of the Peace is 239. The attendances in the last ten years number 117,which gives an average of half an attend- auce a year, or, in other words, one attendance in every two years. The other provisions of the Bill have already been touched upon by my hon. friend the Attorney-General. Adjunct licences it is proposed to divide into two classes, one for hotel-keepers and one for restaurant-keepers, Various restrictions are placed upon them which partly appear in the body of the Bill and partly in the forms attached, and it is hoped by these) restrictions that the abuses which are alleged to have existed under the present system will be abolished. Wholesale and grocers' liconoos also will be abolished, and a dealer's licence will be substituted prohibiting sales by commission in order to protect the interests of licencees. The

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REG 5 FEB 10

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right to appeal against the decision of the Licensing Board is also included in the Bill appeal on behalf of the applicant and on behalf of the residents in the district, to the Goveruor_ in-Conncil. The resolution which has remained on the agenda of the Council for some consider- able time past, has now been withdrawn and is - re-incorporated as a second schedule to this Bill You will find from it that the fees in certain instances have been decreased. It is proposed that those who have already taken out licences under the existing regulatious shall have the option of exchanging them for licences under the new Bill if they should desire to do so; of course, coming under the restrictions which that Bill imposes.

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