LICENSING TRUST

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 256, 16 August 1950, Page 4

LICENSING TRUST

__ Sir,—On February S last, Ashburton elected its first Licensing Trust and now, six long months after, the chairman has made a public statement regarding its activities, past’ and future. Admittedly, the Trust committee has been somewhat hampered by the Government’s warranted, but careful delay in providing finance, but the Trust’s record, even at this late date, is hardly an impressive one. The Government, or in other words, the people, have provided £50,000 for the Trust to play with, and it should not be difficult for the members to squander this sum in a very short time. Take only the first big deal of the Trust, namely, the purchase of the Central Hotel for £10,500. Three or four short years ago this hotel was sold by Mr J. Penman for round about £4OOO, passing the Land Sales Committee at'that figure, and now we are informed that the Trust has secured this modern edifice at two-and-a-half times its former value. Is it good business to pay such a fantastically high sum for a building that is 70 years old, when, with shrewd bargaining, it could have been obtained at round about the Land Sales Committee’s value? If this is a sample of the business acumen of the members of the Trust—well, it is not a commendable one, and shows a lamentable lack of care and foresight in spending public money, only £6OOO being thrown down the drain in this instance. Another enterprising, dignified, even comic example of the Trust’s horse sense is provided by the advertisement on the fixed waste paper bin (or rubbish container) outside the Post Office, publicising the Central Hotel (not the Devon) and its superior accommodation! Hakatere.