Annual Licensing Meeting.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 307, 4 June 1889, Page 3

Annual Licensing Meeting.

The annual meeting of the Licensing Committee for the Borough was held on Saturday last in the B.M. Court. Present: Messrs Lewis (Chairman), Hall, Humphries, Maynard and Greenwood (Clerk). The Inspector's report showed that nearly all the house 9 required some small repairs, and these the licensees willingly agreed to do. With reference to the question of closing up two houses, the report, while expressly stating that no fault waa to be found with the licen-

sees of the hotels, suggested that if any were to be closed it should be the Gisborne and the Boyal. The Licensing Committee, however, ignored this part of the report altogether, Temporary transfers were granted for the Settlers and Gisborne, and renewals wer o granted to all the hotels with the exception of the Masonic, tha application for which was adjourned for 21 days, In thia case tha Inspector (Sergeant Bullen) objected to the granting of a renewal of license to James Robert Scott, not from any blame attachable to the licensee, but because Mr Scott was absent from Gisborne, and had been so for nearly 12 months. Leave of absence had been granted, but it appeared that no one was responsible in the eyes of the law for any misconduct which might occur in the hotel. A case bad actually occurred in which the summons had been served on Mrs Scott, but it had been held that she (as appointee) could not be punished. It was not fair that one man could thus escape responsibility by absenting himself from his hotel. By refusing the license no hardship was indicted on the owners of the property, as the Committee could adjourn under the statute to allow another application to ba put in, Mr Brassey, for the applicant, said that the Committee having given leave of absence to Mr Scott, could not now turn round and say that Mr Scott should be in Gisborne. It wac the fault of the law and not of Scott, the appointee waa not liable to punishment. It had been suggested that Mrs Scott should apply for the license in her own name, but that waa impossible, as the law prohibited married women, whose husbands were alive, holding license. The Com mittee decided to adjourn for ths term stated, so that another application might be put in. Mr Brassey enquired the reason for the second application, and the Chairman replied that the one before the Committee was signed by “ W. Brassey, Solicitor for J. B. Scott,” in. stead of by Mrs Scott, as attorney for her husband.