846
Objects and Reasons.
1. When the Liquors Ordinance, 1931, was submitted to the Secretary of State, he suggested in his dispatch of the 1st April, 1932, that certain minor amendments were desirable when a suitable opportunity of amending the Ordinance occurred. His suggestions (with one exception) are carried out in Clauses 2, 3, 4 and 6 of this Bill.
2. Clause 2 inserts in section 2 of the principal Ordinance a definition of "distillery licence" which has been drafted after consultation with the Superintendent of Imports and Exports.
3. Clause 3 provides for meetings of the Board, annually in November and on other occasions when necessary.
4. Clause 4 by adding the words "address and" in section 15 of the principal Ordinance gives persons living in the vicinity of premises in respect of which application for a licence is made a better opportunity of identifying the premises in case they wish to oppose the application or to appeal to the Governor in Council against a decision of the Licensing Board under section 13.
5. The effect of the words added by clause 6 to section 61 of the principal Ordinance is to remove a conflict between that section and section 4.
6. Clause 5 substitutes for section 18 of the principal Ordinance a new section the provisions of which have been found by experience to be necessary.
The law as it stands precludes the transfer of a licence without the consent of the original licensee, and hence the licensed nominee of a firm or company owning licensed premises could, if dismissed, bring the whole business to a standstill by refusing his consent to any transfer of the licence. Again, if a licensee leaves the Colony in breach of a condition of his licence the same impasse arises, since the Ordinance makes no provision for forfeiture of a licence except under section 85 on a second or subsequent conviction of the licensee by a magistrate.
The new section by sub-section (1) empowers the Board on good cause shewn to direct the transfer of a licence; by sub-section (2) further empowers the Board, on the breach of a term or condition thereof, to order the cancellation of a licence; and by sub-section (3) the right of appeal to the Governor in Council against a decision of the Board under this section is given to
(a) an aggrieved applicant for transfer under sub-section (1);
(b) a licensee whose licence is directed to be cancelled under sub-section (2); and
(c) in either case, to twenty interested householders living near the licensed premises affected.
August, 1934.
R. E. LINDSEll,
Attorney General.
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