§ MR. BEITH (Inverness, &c.)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been directed to the report of the Licensing Court, Inverness, in The Highland News of 13th and 20th May, when MR. Kenneth Maclennan, Greig Street, applied for a grocer's licence for premises then in the initial stage of erection in Petty Street; is he aware that the application was accompanied by a Report, signed by John Fraser, Magistrate, stating that he had examined "the plans" of the said premises, then non-existent; that the Licensing Court adjourned consideration of the case for a month, and then granted the licence, although the building above ground consisted only of three or four iron pillars with a beam overhead; and that, at a Licensing Confirmation Court on 17th May, further consideration of the case was adjourned for a month, to give applicant time to have the premises built; whether, in view of these circumstances, the Magistrate's Report upon "the plans" only was in accordance with the statutory form, and the action of the Burgh Magistrates in granting the certificate for licence therefore ultra, vires; whether the Confirmation Court had any discretion other than to confirm the certificate granted; and whether the whole proceedings in both the Burgh and Confirmation Courts were in accordance with the provisions of the Licensing Acts?
§ * The LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. Balfour,) Clackmannan, &cBy the 8th section of the Public Houses Amendment Act, 1862, it is provided that no certificate shall be granted without a 1060 Report by a Justice or Magistrate to the effect that the premises to be licensed "are of suitable construction and accommodation for the purposes applied for;" and the form given in the Schedule appended to the Act, of the Report which the Justice or Magistrate is to sign before the certificate is granted, contains the same words. I have not seen The Highland News of the 20th May, but I do not think that a Report by a Magistrate stating that he had examined merely "the plans" of premises not yet in existence would be a sufficient compliance with the requirements of the Act. It appears to me that if objection was taken on this ground before the Confirmation Court, it might competently have been dealt with by them.