WOMAN AND DRINK.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 212, 6 September 1911, Page 6

WOMAN AND DRINK.

■ ■' ■ ii ■ ■ PUBLICAN'S REVOKED PROMISE. ' LICENSING BENCH DISAPPOINTED. At the quarterly meeting of the City of Auckland Licensing Committee this morning, several interesting and perhaps significant statements were made, rei specting the serving of women in any t I hotels with liquor for consumption on the • I premises. Reporting on the hotels on ' the Newton sub-district, Senior ifergeaut . Treanor stated that no inst'inees ol mis- ( conduct had been reported. la the ; Caledonia during most of the Sergeant's [ visits one or two women were found , drinking or obtaining 'iquor. The Rist ing Sun was very much improved from , I what it used to be months t-3 I ing on the Edinborough Castle Hotel, , j Sergeant Ferguson stated that woine.l , were visiting the house in about me » same numbers and under the same con- | ditions as described in his report of May » last. He visited the hou-e at S.HO p in. r on 12th August, and found ten women , and one man drinking liquor at The i table, while one woman was waiting to a !be served. . I Respecting the Caledonia Hotel, Mr Mowbray (for the licensee) stated that t the licensee had been there six months, j and had endeavoured to ?arry out the recommendations of the Committee in regard to serving women. Of course, it was not illegal to serve women. The I licensee stated, however, that since he had been in the hotel no women had been ' I served with liquor for consumption on ' the premises, and only two or three wo- , men a day with liquor for consumption . , off the premises. " | Sub-Inspector Hendrey said in respect I to the Edinborough Castle Hotel that it j would be remembered that it was reported at. last meeting that a large number r , of women were using the hotel, and that " j there was a special bar for them, and ! special attendants to •wait on them. On ) that occasion he understood that the ' licensee stated that the practice of cater- ' | ing for women would cease, so far as supplying them with liquor for consumption on the premises was concerned. On 1 the last occasion the police had reported that the women who frequented the hotel were sober and respectable. On this occasion, information had come to him of a different nature; that several of the women who patronised the hotel could not be so described. He should say that the licensee was not aware of the fact, though there was one woman among them whose appearance ought to have apprised him of her calling. Mr Louis Cohen, of Wanganui, appeared for the licensee (Mr Palmer), and stated that he was quite aware of the reason's that actuated the Licensing Bench in expressing in March of last year , the opinion that the supply in the hotel for ' consumption on the premises was in some ) way opposed to public opinion, and that i they would view somewhat gravely a I practice which, though quite lawful, was ; in the opinion of the Bench, in some way - opposed to public opinion. So far as he i could extract, that opinion came from - the Bench in considering a very strong > and unwholesome report in respect to another hotel. So far as public opinion i was ever expressed, and the only channel through which it could express itself, It .' was the result of some organised view i by the wholesale trade. He understood [ that a couple of years ago, the whole- . sale trade in their view of making the j liquor trade acceptable to those persons j who did not like that aspect of the trade, ! however well it was conducted, announced that it was part of their platform I that liquor should not be supplied in , hotels to women for consumption on the | premises. In so far a3 that might be l an expression of public opinion, it did not , come through the channels to which the great proportion of the public looked for guidance in those matters. Mr Palmer proposed stating to the Bench the position he was in owing to the expression which had come from the Bench in that particular matter. When it was before the Bench at last annual meeting, attention was directed particu- " larly to two hotels, and Mr Palmer saw his way to fell into line with what was considered to be a fair undertaking, and made a promise which subtracted from , his legal right. But sinee then he had found himself, in attempting to carry out the undertaking, in a quite isolated ' position in Auckland. The burden fell ' on his shoulders alone, with possibly one • comrade, Mr Foster. He found the trade ' of women who went into the hotel to take liquor away slipping away from him ' on account of his refusal to supply them 1 with some to drink on the premises. It ' was goinjr to such an extent that he found : the burden of his promise to the Bench out of proportion. The women who could not get drink when they went in went . elsewhere to get their supply to take away. Mr Palmer consequently instructed his solicitor in Auckland to intimate to i the Bench at the first opportunity that the assurance he had given was one he . could no longer hold to. Mr Palmer I had a grave sense of his duty, and his conduct of his hotel was not open to any . reproach. Regarding the rumour as to , a noted character, he had written to the police and invited them to give hun in- '. formation, and they had replied, perhaps ! quite properly, that they would give in- [ formation in particular instances, but , that the general responsibility was on his shoulders. He was instructed that the report as to the evening of 12th August J was wrong. On that Saturday night, when the sergeant called, there was a " man and his wife drinking and nine women waiting for their Saturday night supplv of liquor. Mr Palmer had instructed his solicitor to eomkdorstte ' Bench and state that he wished the Com- ' mittee to no longer rely on his former 1 assurance, which he had hitherto, as a ' matter of honour, endeavoured to keep. : An occasion was not more than three months off which was of some importance to the life of those in Mr Palmer s trade, and it might be said that it was injudicious on the part of Mr Palmer to 1 revoke his assurance, that it was bad 1 P °The~Chainnan: "We don't want Jo ; analyse Mr Palmer's reasons We can only say we are disappointed. Mr Grundy stated that Mr Foster, of the Queen's Hotel, had carried out Jus b promise, and that he intended to keep it ;- in the future. . ... Sub-Inspector Hendrey said that autne / reports were thoroughly satisfactory a, « this respect with the exception of the one a hotel. There was no complaint against / the Queen's. He was rather surprised, A and also disappointed, at Mr Palmers e positionI =