The Dunedin Licensing Commitee, which was elected in March, 1903, consists of five elected members, the local Stipendiary Magistrate being chairman, ex officio. The committee issues and regulates licenses under the Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act, and exercises supervision over the conduct of hotels within the Dunedin city licensing district. In 1894, reduction having been carried in the Dunedin electorate, a staunch temperance party was elected to the licensing committee, which, accordingly, not only refused a large number of hotel and bottle licenses, but effected considerable improvement in the conduct of the trade. The present committee is exercising its full powers in the interests of the temperance reforms movement; thirteen hotel licenses have been refused, ten o'clock closing has been enforced, proper fire escape facilities have been provided, and other reforms in the administration of the licensing laws are being vigorously prosecuted. The chairman of the committee is Mr. E. H. Carew, S. M., and the elected members are: Mr. D. C. Cameron, Dr. B. E. de Lautour, Rev. W. A. Sinclair, and Messrs A. C. Begg and J. A. Wilkinson.

Mr. Edgar Hall Carew , Chairman, ex-office, of the Dunedin Licensing Committee, is referred to in another article as Stipendiary Magistrate for Dunedin.

Mr. Alexander Campbell Begg , a member of the Dunedin Licensing Committee, is more fully referred to as a member of the Otago Harbour Board.

Mr. Donald Charles Cameron , who was elected to the Dunedin Licensing Committee in March. 1903 has for many years taken a prominent part in the work of temperance reform in Dunedin. He was the proprietor and manager of the “Temperance Herald,” and of its successor the “Temperance Standard” which were in circulation in Dunedin and throughout the colony for about twenty-three years. Mr. Cameron was born in Inverness, Scotland in 1850, and as a boy sailed with his parents and a brother and sister for Victoria, where for a short time he attended the public schools in Geelong. At the age of twelve he arrived in Dunedin, and after completing his education at the public schools there he served his apprenticeship to the cabinetmaking business, which he relinquished upon being specially urged, in 1875 to accept the position of Grand Secretary of the Good Templar Order. Later on, however, he also turned his attention to journalism and commercial life and in this capacity has done good service for the temperance cause. Mr. Cameron is the lessee of the Choral Hall, and he is still the Grand Secretary for New Zealand for the for the Independent Order of Good Templars. For about thirty years he has also been an active member of the Independent Order of Rechabites, and the Sons and Daughters of Temperance Benefit Societies. He was married, in 1874 to Miss C. McNeil, of Dunedin, and has nine sons and three daughter. Mrs Cameron is also an enthusiastic temperance workers, and for some years has been G.S.J.T. of the Independent Order of Good Templars.

Dr. Bertrand Edgar de Lautour , M.R.C.S., Eng. who was elected a member of the Dunedin Licensing Commitee in March 1903 is the present President of the United Temperance Reform Council of Dunedin. He was born in the province of Bengal India, in 1851 and is the youngest son of the late Mr. Edward de Lautour, formerly a Judge of the Supreme Court in Calcutta. He was educated in England, first at Cheltenham College, Gloucester, afterwards at Edinburgh University, where he matriculated and finally at King's College Hospital, London. Shortry after gaining the degree of M.R.C.S., in 1877, Dr de Lautour commenced to practice his profession for New Zealand. He gained his first colonial experience in Port Chalmers, where he practised for five years, and then removed to Tapanui, in the Clutha district, where he remained for fourteen years. During that long period he was closely associated with public life in the district, and was instrumental in obtaining for it a local high school, which was the first of the many country high schools now established in various parts of the colony. Dr de Lautour commenced practice in Stuart Street, Dunedin early in 1901, and has now a very large connection. In 1891 he was married to Miss Dollina Forbes, of Dunedin, and has several children.

The Rev, William Andrew Sinclair , who was elected a member of the Dunedin Licensing Committee in March, 1903, is vice-president of the Dunedin United Temperance Reform Council, a member of the Dunedin Society for the Protection of Women and Children, and President of the Dunedin Council of Churches. Mr. Sinclair was born in 1868, in Christchurch, and is a son of Mr. James Sinclair, who now lives in retirement there. He was educated at the public schools and afterwards spent six years in the teaching profession, which he left in 1888 to study for the Wesleyan ministry. Shortly afterwards he went to Auckland and matriculated at the Wesley College, Three Kings, and later on attended the Auckland University for two years. Mr. Sinclair was then appointed to take charge of the Wesleyan circuit at Hastings. Hawke's Bay, and afterwards held a similar position in the Tauranga district. In 1895 he took charge of the Helping Hand Mission in Freeman's Bay, Auckland, and, after four years successful ministry, he became Superintendent of the Dunedin Methodist Central Mission. Mr. Sinclair was married, in 1896, to Miss Ormiston, daughter of the late Mr. Ormiston, of Auckland, and has two children.

Mr. John Arthur Wilkinson , who was elected a member of the Dunedin Licensing Committee in March, 1903 has been for many years closely identified with the temperance movement in Otago. Mr. Wilkinson is a son of Mr. Alfred Wilkinson, engineer, and was born in Dunedin in 1867. He was educated at the local public schools, and afterwards trained to the wood-turning trade in Dunedin and Christchurch. In 1888, in partnership with his brother, Mr. James H. Wilkinson, he took over the business formerly conducted by his father. Mr. Wilkinson is an office-bearer in the King Street Congregational Church, and has for several years been a member of the Otago District Committee of the New Zealand Congregational Union. He was married, in November, 1891, to Miss J. M. Abernethy, of Dunedin, and has one son and one daughter.