Page
136
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE
COUNCIL.
A meeting of the Hongkong Legislative Council was held on the 13th inst. in the Council Chamber.
The following were present:-
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR, SIR FREDERICK JOHN DEALTRY LUGARD, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O.
Hon. COLONEL DARLING, R.E. (Acting G.O.C.).
Hon. Mr. A. M. THOMSON (Acting Colonial Secretary),
Sir HENRY BERKELEY, K.C. (Acting At- torney-General),
Hon. Mr. C.MI. MESSER (Colonial Treasurer). Hon. Mr. P. N. H. JONES (Acting Director of Public Works).
Hon. Mr. A. W. BREWIN (Registrar-General) Hon. Mr. F. J. BADELEY (Capt. Superinten. dent of Police).
Hon. Dr. Ho KAI, K.C., C.M.G.
Hon. Mr. E. OSBORNE,
Hon. Mr. W. J. GRESSON
Hon. Mr. E.-A. HEWETT,
Hon. Mr. MURRAY STEWART,
Hon. Mr. WEL YUK, C.M.G.
Mr. C. CLEMENTI (Clerk of Councils).
MINUTES.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.
FINANCIAL MINUTES.
The COLONIAL SECRETARY, by command of His Excellency the Governor, laid on the table Financial Minutes Nos. 33 to 36, and moved that they be referred to the Finance Committee.
The COLONIAL TREASURER seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
FINANCIAL.
The COLONIAL SECRETARY, by command of His Excellency the Governor, laid on the table the report of the Finance Committee (No. 11) and moved its adoption.
The COLONIAL TREASURER seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
LIQUOR LICENCES.
rise
to
The COLONIAL SECRETARY-Sir, I to move the resolution standing in my name. I propose, Sir, to take the schedule as read, as it has been in members' hands for some time. I may, however, point out that the general principle of the ordinance has been practically double the revenue hitherto derived from liquor licences, and advantage will be taken also of the opportunity to make a larger sliding scale in regard to publicans' and adjunct licences. I may add, Sir, that the extra revenue is practically necessitat- ed by the fact that next year, 1910, we cannot calculate on the four lakhs we received this
year on account of the Widows and Orphans' Pension Fund, and that this addition to the revenue is absolutely necessary without taking into consideration anything in connection with the Opium Farm.
The COLONIAL TREASURER seconded.
The resolution was as follows:-" Resolved that the Second Schedule to The Liquor Licences Ordinance, 1898, named Schedule S in Section 2 of The Liquor Licences Amendment Ordinance, 1902, be repealed and that the following Schedule be substituted therefor, with effect in respect of each licence that is now or may hereafter be in force from the date of the renewal or of the grant of such licence as the case may be pro- vided always that in the case of licences which are renewed or granted subsequently to the date of this Resolution and prior to the first day of January, 1910, the fee thall be, in respect of the period between the date of issue and the thirty-first day of December, 1909, at the rate previously obtaining, and in respect of the period from and after the first day of January, 1910, at the rate set out in this Schedule.
Schedule of Fees for Licences payable under the provisions of The Liquor Licences Ordinances 1898-1908 The following fees shall be paid for the licences hereinafter mentioned and in the manner hereinafter specified, that is to say: -
Nature of Licence.
Distillery Licence ...... Temporary Licence.-At the discretion of the Governor
S
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Publican's Licence :-
(a) In Victoria :-
When the valuation of
the premises occupied ig
Not exceeding $1,000..
$1,500
Not
Exceeding exceeding
$ 1,000 $ 2,00
$2,000
2,000
3,000
2,500
3,000
4,000
3,000
4,000
7,000
4,000
7,000
10,000
5,000
10,000
20,000
6,000
and an additional fee of $1,000
for every $10,000 or part thereof in excess of $20,000.
(b) Elsewhere in the Colony the publican's licence fees shall be less by one quarter than the fees obtaining in Victoria. Adjunct Licence :-
Annually in advance, subject to the provisions of The
Liquor Licences Ordinance 1898.
The fees shall be less by one- half than the publican's
licence fees above set out. J Removal Licence ........$ 40 in advance
Note. If the new premises are of a higher annual valuation than those from which the licence is removed a propor tionate part of the ext fee, if any payable in respect of such difference of valuation, must also be paid.
Transfer of Publican's Li-
conce
Transfer of Adjunct Licence Wholesale Licence
Grocer's Licence Chinese Wine & Spirit Shop
Licence:-
(a) City of Victoria west
of the line formed by the Albany Nullah
(b) City ofVictoria east of the line formed by the Albany Nullah
[August 16, 1909.
licence, as I understand it, is to enable those hotel-keepers who do not run a public bar to provide visitors with intoxicating liquorą at their meals, and the main difference between - an adjunct licence and a publican's licence, if I understand it correctly, is that the one permits of a public bar and the other does not. Now, Sir, it may not, perhaps, be generally known, but nevertheless it is a fact, that within a stone- throw of the Clock Tower there, are three establishments under the names of cafes and restaurants which are in the habit of selling liquors openly and at all hours under their adjunct licences, and, in my opinion, in distinct violation of the intention of the certain pretence is
law. It is true that a made of serving meals with these liquors, but the victuals so provided, as a rule, are given generally after the drink is finished, so ensur- ing that they will not be eaten, and so enabling a couple of sandwiches to do duty for many meals. A charge of five cents is made at one establishment; at another establishment the
victuals are provided free; and at the third establishment there is no pretence of providing meals at all. To all intents and purposes these three establishments are public drink- ing saloons, pure and simple, and as under the resolution which has just been proposed they will pay exactly one half the fee for an adjunct licence which a publican will pay for a publican's, the unfairness of allowing this state of things to continue is obvious, and more especially so when you take into account that a hotel, if I read the resolution correctly,
the will pay on
whole rateable value of the
bed. whole building, including the
and all, whereas a drinking saloon, 2,000 Annually, rooms
masquerading in in
of the guise
а cafe, 2,000ĺ advance. will pay only on the value of its one ground floor. There is another aspect of this question, an aspect which has given rise to considerable discussion in England recently, and which I presume the Government has also given attention to here. I allude to the drinking facilities afforded by clubs. Some of them clubs merely in name-are in reality nothing more or less than drinking halls to a very large extent. If the Government is
In S 400
80 advance.
1,300
1,10
$ 800
(c) Quarry Ray, from Tsat Tsz Mui Police Station to the S.E boundary of Shaukiwan M.L. 1, (d.) Shaukiwan, from the S.E. boundary of Shau- kiwan M.L. 1 to the boundary of War De- partment land east of Al Kung Ngam... $ 800 (e.) Aberdeen and Aplichan (f) Tsim Sha Tsui Yauma- ti and Hunghom, & that portion of the Kowloon Peninsula which is south of a line drawn from Nullah Street Mong Kok Tsui, to the centre of the road betweenK K. M. Lots 52 and 53 at Shek Shan
$1,100)
700
(g.) Sham Shui Po and remaining portion of the Kowloon not includ- ed under (f.),
$ 800 (h.) Kowloon City and the remainder of new Kowloon
Chinese Restaurant Licence :—
When the valuation of the
premises occupied is— Under $500,
$500 or over, but under
$2,000
Over $2,000 Eating Houses (where no intoxicating liquors are sold) :-
760
Payable in four quarterly instalments, in advance.
Annually,
in advance.
Do.
600-
1,200 1.800
Do.
21 Do. 5 Do.
In Victoria Elsewhere Hon. Mr. OSBORNE-I rise, Sir, to move the following amendment as an addition to the resolution before us -" No intoxicating liquor shall be served on any ground floor of premises Manner of possessing an adjunct licence." The object of payment.
the resolution, I take it, is to raise revenue. 800 Annually, My amendment is not put forward in any spirit in advance of hostility to this object, but solely with a view ad to securing fairplay between those whom the france. resolution most affects. The purpose of an adjunct'
Fee.
Iu
bent
on the further taxation of drink for the purpose of raising revenue, it seems to me only con- sistent that the Club should be placed on an equal footing with the publican in this respect This question, however, is of too far reaching a principle to deal with off hand, and, therefore, I propose to confine myself to asking Council, by accepting this amendment, to secure fairplay only at present as between the publican and the adjunct licences.
HIS EXCELLENCY-Gentlemen, with regard to what has fallen from the unofficial member at the end of the table, I think that, perhaps, I should have been more correct if I had called him to order earlier in his speech, because the amendment he wishes to make is not under the resolution before the Council. It will have to be effected by a separate ordinance. The resolu- tion before the Council is entirely confined to altering the fees under a particular schedule, and it is not in order, under the present resolution, to raise a question of such wide importance as the alteration of the Liquor Ordinance. With regard to the resolution itself, it has been framed, as you will see, to increase the fees payable by vendors of intoxi- cating liquors with the sole object of increasing the revenue in order to meet the increasing expenditure. The Colonial Treasurer estimates that the revenue which we hope to derive from the operation of this imposition will amount to between two and two and a half lakhs of dollars per annum. We hope that this will not full upon
any particular section of the community. I am not aware that any exces- sive profits are being made by holders of any particular form of licence, and it is our hope that the result of this resolution will be to very slightly put up the price of liquor in the Colony and thereby the burden will fall upon the general consumer, It is, of course, impos- sible to calcalute exactly or even approximately what this increase in retail sale may amount to until the resolution comes into force, but in all probability it will not exceed ten or twelve cents on a bottle of whisky-probably considerably less. When we consider that in England there is an import duty on spirits which varies from 11/4 tô 11,6 on ordinary spirits up to 16/- and
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.