MEMORANDUM EXPLANATORY OF THE LIQUOR ORDINACE 1948
OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY.

No. 1 of 1948
______________________________

	The proposed Ordinance to amend the Liquor Ordinance 1929-1946 has been prepared after a general and comparative review of the position regarding licensing provisions of the Territory and the necessity to improve and amend the law to meet present day requirements.

	The principal proposed amendments provide for the removal of the existing limitation of the number of residential hotels in the City area to five; the stipulation for increased residential accommodation for the public; for the granting of restaurant licences under which eating houses of a certain standard may be permitted to supply light wines, beer, ale, porter or stout in sealed bottles for consumption as part of a bona-fide meal on the premises; for improving the law in regard to booth licences and permitting the granting of such by the Licensing Court to approved organisors of functions, thus removing the present restriction which limits the granting of such licences to the holders of a residential hotel licence; for clarification of the law in regard to the serving of liquor to travellers, lodgers, boarders and their guests; for permitting hotels to be open to the public on the afternoon of Anzac Day; for the appointment of a Deputy Licensing Magistrate to avoid delays in the hearing of applications; and making other minor improvements considered desirable in the public interest.

______________________________