The Gazette 1976

GAZETTE

E/J

1976

owns a shopping centre known as

Boyne Centre, Drogheda. The ap-

plication is for a declaration under

S. 15 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act

1960 that the premises in the shop-

ping centre, when altered under the

plans submitted, will be convenient

to be licensed under S. 4 of the

Licensing (Ireland) Act 1902.

The formal proofs required by S.

4 have been duly complied with in

this case, but no effective trading

has been carried on in the premises

in the last two years. Fifty five in-

dividual licensees and the Star and

Crescent Club have objected to the

granting of the licence on the ground

of (1) The unfitness of the appli-

cant, (2) The unfitness of the pre-

mires, and (3) the number of

previously licensed premises in the

town. As to (1), this objection is

open, and may be dealt with later.

As to (2), the structure and lay-out

of the premises as proposed to be

adapted will be eminently suitable

and fit for use as a licensed prem-

ises.

Evidence was tendered to show

that there was a considerable

amount of residential development

in the district since 1940. Accord-

ing to

Re Cummins —{

1964) I. R.

67, this evidence may not be taken

into consideration, but only the pos-

ition at present. There was con-

flicting evidence as to the adequacy

of the facilities and accommodation

of the presently existing licensed

houses, but undoubtedly some are

of a very high standard and not un-

duly crowded. In

Re George Doyle

— (1946) I. R. 125, Maguire P., in

granting the licence, took into con-

sideration the fact that the new lic-

ences would not unduly increase

the facilities in the neighbourhood.

As several licences have already

been granted to shopping centres, it

would be inconsistent to refuse this

application on that ground alone.

But in this particular instance, this

objection is valid. The application

is accordingly refused.

Re Patrick Scallan and the In-

toxicating Liquor Acts—Circuit

Judge McWilliam — Drogheda Cir-

cuit Court—28th February, 1975—

unreported.

Correction: The last sentence in

the State (John Hennessv and

Chariot Inns Ltd.) v. Superinten.

dent Commons—Supreme Court

—29 July 1976 —a t page 27

should read:—The appeal is ac-

cordingly dismissed and an Or-

der of Certiorari and Manda-

mus will be granted to District

Justice Donnelly to grant an in-

terim order to carry on the trade

in the licensed premises until

the Annual Geeral

Licensing

Session.

BANKING

Bank not negligent in mistakenly

finding overdraft due and returning

cheque unpaid. There is no con-

tractual relationship between the

plaintiffs as payees of the cheque,

who happened also to be customers

of the Bank, and the Bank itself,

but only between the drawers of the

cheque and the Bank.

The facts of this case were stated

in the May, 1975, Gazette at page

108. Hamilton J. in December,

1974, held that the paying Banker

defendant, by giving too wide a dis-

cretion to Managers had negligently

failed to exercise reasonable care

and skill. He directed that an in-

quiry should be held as to the

the amount of damages due to

plaintiff. The defendant Bank

appealed. The appeal was unani-

mously allowed by the Supreme

Court, and Hamilton J.'s decision

was reversed.

O'Higgins, C. J. concurred with

the judgments of Henchy J. and

Kenny J. Parke J. agreed with the

judgment of Griffin J. Henchy J.,

having fully considered the relevant

matters in a detailed judgment, stat-

ed the facts as follows:—

At the beginning of March 1970

the services provided by Irish banks

began to be disrupted. The cause

was a go-slow campaign by the

bank officials in support of a claim

against the Banks which was being

made by the officials' trade union.

The immediate results of this dis-

ruption of services was that within

the banking system the processing

of bank transactions fell into

arrears. Whereas in normal con-

ditions the period during which a

presented cheque would be cleared

and debited against the drawer's

account would be at most only a

few days, by the end of April 1970

some two million bank transactions,

including some cheques drawn be-

fore the start of the go-slow cam-

paign, had not been processed. It

would have taken a month's work

to clear those arrears, which had

accumulated both in the various

branches of the banks and in the

central clearing house which the

banks use for clearing each other's

cheques.

A stop was put to this progres-

sively deteriorating situation on the

30th April 1970 when all the banks

shut down. There was now a total

break in banking services. This is con-

tinued until the dispute was settled,

upon which the banks restarted

business on the 21st October 1970,

but only behind closed doors.

The normal method of clearing

cheques through the central clear-

ing house in Dublin was then

adopted to cope with the moun-

taineous arrears that had accumul-

ated. It was decided by the Banks,

as a means of dealing with the back-

log of unprocessed cheques, and as

the fairest and most expeditious

method, and in order to bring cus-

tomers' accounts up to date in

readiness for the reopening of the

Banks to the public, that the 1st

May 1970 would be treated as the

date for the posting in customers'

accounts of all pending items.

Henchy J. then stated the facts

as follows:—

Palgrave Murphy Ltd., and the

plaintiffs, who are the Dublin port

authority, both happened to be cus-

tomers of the Bank of Ireland. The

account of Palgrave Murphy Ltd.

was in the O'Connell Street, Dub-

lin, branch, and the plaintiffs'

account was in the head office in

College Green. On the 26th March,

1970, Palgrave Murphy Ltd. drew

a cheque for a sum amounting to

£18,129.93 on their O'Connell Street

account in favour of the plaintiffs.

This cheque was received by the

plaintiffs on the 1st April and

lodged by them to their account in

College Green on the same day.

The account of Palgrave Murphy

Ltd. was then adequate to meet the

cheque. Unfortunately, because of

the go-slow campaign in the banks,

although this cheque passed into the

central clearing house on the 2nd

April 1970, it got bogged down in

the arrears that were accumulating

there. In fact, it did not emerge

from the central clearing house until

after the shut-down of the banks

had ended on the 21st October

1970.

Blame for this delay cannot be

attributed to the Bank of Ireland.