The Sun.
London, England, 1818-11-26 00:00:00

LICENSING SYSTEM.'

An erroneous account of the application made
in the Court of King's Bench on Friday
for a criminal information 4.rainst two Math str.o es
in the County of Middlesex, for partiality in tht it
Licensing Act, having been copied into THE Si' N
of B,lturday last, from a Morning tWer, we in-
sert what we believe to he a correct abstract of
the Affidavit's upon which the application was
founded :

" This not being the case, Mr. Gurney was ob-
liged to withdraw his motion for the present.
" The following are the affidavits on which
Mr. Gurney grounded his application :

" The affidavit of George Rands stated, that he had made
several animal applications fur a licence to open the house
tenanted by him at Shepherd's Bush, but hail always been
refused. That having had the signatures of the Church-
wardens and Overseers, besides all the rincipal inhahitates,
to the certificate of his character on former applications, he
had only taken signatures of the inhabitants on the last oc-
casion. But the Justices refused the license, alleging, that
the Act of Parliament required the signature or the Minister
and Churchwardens to the certificate of his character.
"'The affidavit of J. T. Bei her Beaumont, Esq. the Magis-
trate, stated, that the Justices had declared to him, that they
refused the license because the certificate to character had
not the Minister and Churchwardens' signatures, as required
by Act of Parliament, which be denied being so required by
the Act, or to have been required by the said Justices in other
cases; that he was ground-landlord of seventy houses in the
village; that several years ago he was urged to build this
house by his tenants, for their necessary accommodation,
there being but one public-house in theyillage, and that one
a great distance off; that he built the house three years be-
fore he was in the Commission of the Peace, at an eepence •
of nearly 40001.; that seven annual applications had been
made for leave to open the. house, .by respectable tenants,
who bad all been iefused, on various ground.s—first.tbat there_
were not new !tartars enough—then, when these increased,
that they were not all inhabited—and when inhabitants were
procured, and-re licence agreed to he issued, it was denied,
to Deponent's house, and granted for a mean thatched •
building, standing alone at an inconvenient diitance;
and that 2501. was paid to the Veitry Clerk for procuring
such license. That upon the licence being granted for the
thatched house, the land about it, which bad aeen offered.
to be let as building grOund for several years to no pur-
pose, because forthwilh taken and 'covered with houses ; and -
that Deponent's land, which had been previously freely
taken, being then denied the convenience of a pie-leittse,
front that time ceased to be applied for as huildine-eretmd.
That in the same hour when the Justices at Hammeise,itb
last refused, the licence to his house, they, granted new
licences in favour of Mr. Thompson brewer in the neieh-
hoinhoody and others, for two low tippling houstejewhich
bad been suppressed by former Justices as disorderly or un-
necessary, both of which houses were adjoining or directly
,opposite to existing licenced houses, and in the immediate.
.vicinity of several others; and that in neither of the above
cases was a certificate from the Minister produced or ite-
qUired for. He lastly declared his firm belief that the con-
tinned refusal of a licence for his house, so inconsistent with
the facility with which the said Justices grant licences for
low tippling houses in places crowded with such houses, to
serve their friends, arose from a desire to injure him in the
fair enjoyment of his estate, in consequence of the part he
had taken during several years in opposing and exposing the
errors of their cunduct, and of the present licencing system
generally.
" The affidavit of Williem Cottee stated, that he had built
..seven good houses iu Beaumont-place, Shepherd's Busii ;
,that in consequence of the want of a respectable public-house
contiguous, he and other truants of Mr. Beaumont per-
suaded him to build the public-kouse which he had done.--
There was no public-house within three quarters of a mile
of it, on the line of iVoud-lane, or within a considerable
distance on the road to London, and none near the riPage
which offered a decent lodging; that there had teen tip-
wards of one hundred new houses built within the last
seven years, and in the whole there were six times as many
houses now in the village, as there were thirty or forty years
back, but that the number of public-houses (two) remained
the saute."