The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-04-27
LICENSE BOARD IS
TURNED OUT OF
TOWN ROOMS
Cannot Meet There Without
Paying Part of Rent
OUTCOME OF STATE GRAB
II the Town Gets No Share of the Rev
enue Selectmen viii Not Fur
nish Meeting Place.

commissioners composed OF Frank II.
BATTLES, DR.. f. S. Pratt and X. b. God
frey have been kicked out of doors by
the selectmen and will hereafter have
to hold their meetings in the street
unless somebody is charitable enough
to give them shelter.
The reason is that the state hogged
the license fees from the towns. AS
the town won't get anything from the
licenses, the town refuses to furnish
a room for the license board to meet
in unless the state will pay for the use
of the room. The state through Aud
tor H. f. Graham refuses to pay for
the room
Chairman Crawford of the board of
selectmen last night demanded the key
to the town rooms of Chairman Bat
ties of the license commissioners and
told him that the license board could
not hold the meeting for hearing on
licenses advertised for tomorrow even
ing at the town rooms. Crawford said
that the best he would do is to let
them meet on The sidewalk in front
of the building. Chief OF Police Braz-
81 says they cant meet there and OBJ
struct the sidewalk
Heretofore the town has received
a revenue of about $1,000 a year from
the licenses and has furnished rooms
for the license board The license
law has been well enforced in Ben
nington and the commissioners have
met regularly and kept track of the de-
tails.
After the commissioners were APP
pointed this year they spoke to the
selectmen and were told that they
could have the rooms by paying for
them After some hagglng they We're
allowed to meet al the town rooms
until the auditor should rule on the
matter. o. NJ. Barber, counsel for the
town, took up the question with the
state auditor and this week received
the following letter:
Craftsbury, VI, April 20, 'O9.
Hon o. NJ. Barber, Bennington, VT
Dear Sir. / have your letter of
April nth in re License Commission
| er matter
| hold that the state should pay the
per diem and actual necessary expen-
ses of the License Commissioners in
cured in the performance OF their
duties. The only change is, that now
the source of payment is the state
treasury through the auditor of &C
counts instead of the town or city trea-
sury as heretofore
All blanks and stationery should be
obtained of the printing commissioner
| or with his approval. Postage and
necessary adertising are proper char
ges. The commissioners should be
careful to follow Sections No. All and
No. Alp of the Public Statutes, in in
curing bills and rendering accounts.
The question of Office rent will be
determined in each particular case as
| the occasion arises and no advance
opinion will be given by me on this
| subject. The facilities for which the
town or city offers to its officers for
doing the public business, will ITO
some extent govern my action.
In conversation with the attorney
general last week, he was of the opin-
ion that license commissioners should
apply to the states attorneys for ad
vice in the first instance
Yours very truly,
Horace F Graham,
Auditor of Accounts
The result of the letter is the action
of the selectmen above noted. The
license board is in a fix. They have
advertised a hearing for tomorrow
might at the town rooms and now cant
have the rooms.
The action of the auditor seems to
be particularly unexcusable in view
of the facts in the case as the town
is plainly justified in refusing to fur
nish rooms, light and heat after the
state has taken away all the fees.
The license commissioners are consid-
ering the matter of granting the rest
of the licenses as soon as possible and
then resigning.
The license board also has a griev-
ance against the state printing com
missioner. Seven weeks ago Chair
man Battles put in a requisition for
the necessary printed blanks for post
ing and other purposes. He has writ
ten him twice since and is unable TO
get either the blanks or a reply.
In the meantime there have been a
large number of postings this spring
i'm addition to other routine business
and each posting alone requires the
writing of eight notices to as many
different liquor sellers and having
these written each time has cost the
state already several times as much
as it would to have had the blanks
printed in the first place as requested
Whether this part of the delay is the
fault of the printing commissioner or
whether he has been held up by the
auditor or some other state official is
not knon here. AS a whole the thing
has been handled about as inefficient
ly and without attention to business
methods on the part of the state as
can be well imagined.
Very Low coIonist Rates Via. Nickel