The Licensing District of Wairau is, like other licensing districts throughout the colony, coterminous with the parliamentary electorate. The licensing committees are elected for a term of three years, and they hold their meetings quarterly, when matters affecting the licenses of the district —such as renewals, transfers, or removals—are adjusted. The members of the Wairau Licensing Committee are: Messrs T. Scott-Smith, Stipendiary Magistrate (chairman), H. C. Seymour, H. D. Vavasour, W. Ching, W. P. Simmonds, and J. T. Griffin. The meetings of the committee are held at the courthouse, Blenheim. There are eight hotels in Blenheim, and the hour of closing is eleven o'clock.

Mr. Thomas Scott-Smith , Stipendiary Magistrate, is chairman of the Wairau Licensing Committee. He is further referred to in the Legal Section of this volume.

Mr. William Ching is a member of the Wairau Licensing Committee. He is further referred to as a member of the Blenheim Borough Council.

Mr. John Thomas Griffin , J.P., was elected to the Wairau Licensing Committee in the year 1903. He was born in September, 1860, in the Isle of Man, where he was educated, and brought up to farming. In 1884, Mr. Griffin came to New Zealand, and landed on the West Coast. He resided for ten years in Greymouth, where he was engaged on the Harbour Board extension works, and afterwards in private business as a customs and forwarding agent. In 1894, Mr. Griffin removed to Blenheim to take charge of Mr. W. B. Parker's grain stores. Two years later he started in business on his own account as a grain and produce merchant, and during the South African Boer war he successfully contracted for the supply of provisions to several of the troopships. Mr. Griffin's grain sheds are conveniently situated at the junction of the Omaka and Opawa rivers, and he does a considerable export trade to Wellington, Greymouth and Hokitika. Owing to the rapid increase of trade, new stores, together with a private wharf, are ere long to be erected on a more central site, a little further up the river. Mr. Griffin has been for several years a member of the Borough School committee. He has been a local preacher in the Wesleyan connexion for over twenty years, was Superintendent of the Methodist Sunday page 321 school for some time in Greymouth, and has for ten years been Superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school in Blenheim.

Macey, photo. Mr. J. T. Griffin.

Mr. Herbert Cam Seymour is a member of the Wairau Licensing Committee, and is a brother of Mr. A. P. Seymour, a former Superintendent of the province. He is the proprietor of “Tynesfield,” an extensive sheep station in the Omaka Valley, nine miles from Renwicktown.

Mr. William Percy Simmonds , a member of the Wairau Licensing Committee, is further referred to in this volume under the heading of Havelock.

Mr. Henry Dunstan Vavasour is a member of the Wairau Licensing Committee, and is further referred to as the proprietor of Ugbrcoke station.