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THE WELSH SUNDAY uDSItftf…

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THE WELSH SUNDAY uDSItftf ACT. TEST CASES IN CARNARVONSHIRE, At Monday's Llandudno petty sessions, before Messrs. H. Kneeshaw, E. Moore, J. K. Hazledine, Dr. Nicol. the Revs. Venables Williams and D. Jones, Samuel Hughes, Mostyn Arms, Llanrhos, appeared to answer seven summonses charging1 him "With opening his house on Sunday for the sale of intoxicating- liquor. Considerable interest was evinced in the proceedings, the case being a test one taken up by the police.-Major Clayton, the chief- constable of Carnarvonshire, was present, and Mr. Allanson (instructed by Mr. Harwood, the honorary secretary of the county Licensed Victuallers Associ- ation) appeared for the defendant. It was decided that the first summons, that of opening on October 16th, should govern the remaining six.—Superin- tendent Williams, who prosecuted, said that the annual licensing- session for the Conway petty sessional division, which embraces the parishes of Llanrhos and Llandudno, was held at Conway on September '5th. The justices then expressed no opinion as to whether the Sunday Closing Act for Wales would immediately come into operation but the chief-constable, as had been done in some other petty sessional divisions of the county, directed printed notices to be served upon every publican in the division to the effect that the act had come into force. With the exception of Mr. Hughes, these notices had been regarded by the whole of the hotel proprietors and publicans in the division, and as he persisted exclusively in opening his house as usual on Sunday, whilst the other public houses in the district were closed, the police found it necessary to obtain the decision of the magistrates upon the question. Evidence as to the opening of the Mostyn Arms was given by Police-sergeant Morris, who stated that Mr. Hughes made no secret of the matter, and willingly rendered every facility.—Mr. Allanson addressed the court at great length, and contended that the act, according to the construction of the clause relating to "the day next appointed," could not come into force in the Conway petty sessional division until 1882. Even should the magistrates decide upon a conviction, there was no power on their part to inflict any penalty, there being no mention of penalties in the act of 1881. He quoted the opinions of Sir Henry James, Mr. Besley, and Mr. Poland, and pointed out that Mr. Bulkeley Hughes, the Liberal member for Carnar- vonshire and a justice for the division, had at the Menai Bridge licensing session followed the xample of other magistrates by declining to express any opinion as to the date the act came into force, although he had voted for its becoming law. It Was true that Mr. Morgan Lloyd and other members of Parliament had given their opinion as to the immediate operation of the act; but these gentlemen had, it should be remembered, almost without exception voted for the measure, and they would hardly care to tell their constituencies, through the media of police prosecutions, that through some blunder for which it appeared nobody was said to be responsible, there was a grave doubt about one of the few clauses which made up the measure. Having regard to the uncertainty which existed, he called upon the magistrates to give his client the benefit of such doubt, and to dismiss the charge against him. After a consultation extendi ng over a quarter of an hour, Dr. Kneeshaw said that the bench, after a very careful consideration, had decided upon dismissing the summons. Superin- tendent Williams then withdrew the other six summonses. The decision was received with applause in court, and it is probable that its effect will be the opening of all the licensed houses in the division on Sunday next. A test case from Pentir, which is in the Carnarvon (county) petty sessional division, will be heard at Carnarvon on Saturday.

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FARMING AND THE CORN TRADE.

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LOCAL & DISTRICT NEWS.