A WATERFRONT HOTEL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 133, 7 June 1926, Page 6

A WATERFRONT HOTEL.

Some adequate statement of the reasons which actuated the Auckland Licensing Committee in reversing its decision concerning the license of The Ambassadors Hotel, on the waterfront, should immediately be made by the members of that body. The chairman (Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M.) promptly dissociated himself from the action of hi 3 colleagues, expressing his direct opposition and his regret. Quite apart from i the desirability of a hotel in this location lor otherwise, the general public will be jin entire accord with Mr. Cutten, and the vote of the committee will be emphatically condemned by all sections of the community. Six months ago a license for these premises was refused by the committee I on a question of principle—that a license was not required in the neighbourhood. That principle remains unaltered, yet the same committee to-day rejects its | own dictum, and grants a license to the very building which it declared was not suitable for an hotel. In the interval a licensing election has been held. The old committee stood for re-election, basing its claim on its past record. Three other candidates who stood declined to I state their attitude on the question of | a license in Quay Street, declaring that I they had an open mind. The assumption |of the electors, very naturally, was that I tho retiring committee would stand to I its guns, and its members were re-elected I by substantial majorities on that underI standing.. The present vote is thus a gross violation of the principles of democracy and an abuse of the confidence reposed in the. committee by an electorate given every reason to be satisfied that its return would keep the waterfront clear of licensed premises. The calm assurance with which the conversion of a former warehouse into an hotel was continued after the committee's refusal to entertain the proposal would be regarded by most public bodies as a deliberate affront, and a course of action to be resented. Instead, it must have been accepted by the Auckland | Licensing Committee as fitting cause for j the issue of a license, for the committee, I after a little over an hour's discussion, . pocketed the implied insult and swalI lowed their own principles. j Again We ask that the public should Ibe given very fully the reasons behind J this strange reversal, and the names of | those who voted for this license and of I those who, with Mr. Cutten, were against it. j Amending regulations for the New • Zealand Military Forces are gazetted. A ; new paragraph provides that appointments to commissions in the.New Zealand ■ Medical Corps, New Zealand Dental i Corps, and the New Zealand Veterinary i Corps, will normally be made in the rank lof lieutenant, by selection and without examination, from registered prac--1 titionere who are below the age of forty i years. No officer below the rank of 1 lieutenant-colonel, it is further provided, I will, except under special authority from , the G.0.C., lie promoted until he has | served for periods as set out below, has j passed the qualifying examination, and, 'except in the cases of officers of the New Zealand Medical Corps, the New Zealand Dental Corps, and the New Zealand V«* i -y Corps, has attended a course of six ruccessive days, and gained .a satisfactory report:—Lieutenant, after two years' efficient service as second lieutenant; captain, after three years' efficient service as lieutenant; and major, after five year's efficient service as captain. "This is not a picture entertainment, but a service of worship," said the Rev. Stanley Morrison last evening, in explaining ,to a large crowd in the Mount Eden Congregational Church Hall why he had introduced Sunday night picture services. A queue formed early at the door of the church hall, and at 6.45 four , hundred people filled the available seating accommodation, while another fifty found standing room at the rear and in the aisles. Many of those who were turned away from the hall went into the church, where the Rev. Geo. Heishway conducted an overflow servfee. Durin. the service, hymn books were not used, the words being thrown on the screen. Passages of Scripture were shown, and congregation and minister recited them together. The film screened was a cinema version of Channincr Pollock's play, "The Fool." Everyone concerned with the presentation of the film last night gave his services free. Local' representatives of Foxfilms lent the picture, Messrs. A. and J. Thompson of the Majestic and Strand TVatres operated the machine, and players from the orchestras of' those theatres provided music, under the baton of Mr.,A. Frost. The work was supervised by Messrs. P. Hayward and C. R. Smith, of the Fuller-Havward theatres. A special screening of the picture was given thia morning for tbe benefit of social workers and ministers interested in new methods, while any | who could not sain admission last night i were welcomed.

Tlie districts between Newmarket and Papakura were without light for about ten minutes shortly before ten o'clock on Saturday evening through a fault occurring in the electric supply system between Horahora and the King's wharf power station. The switches at the Penrose sub-station were caused to trip out, and so cut off the power in all the districts fed from Horahora through i Penrose. In other districts the fault j merely caused a dimming of the light for i a few minutes. A well-known Sydney city business man has made a vow that he will never again play the Good Samaritan to little boys. The citizen was walking along a laneway in -The Rocks" district, after having said good-bye to a friend who sailed by the Hobson's Bay, when a grubby-faced urchin accosted him. "Let mc hunger off for mc, will yer, please, mister," lie asked in a pleading I voice. iThe citizen replied that he would be pleased to do so. It was evident he was not used to fireworks, but, screwing up his courage, he held the bunger at arm's length and cautiously applied a lighted match to the wick. There was a spurt of flame, and before the Good Samaritan hq.d time to throw the-buriger away it expoded in bis hand, which was slightly burnt. It was a "joke" bunger, but the citizen failed to see the humour. The shrill laughter of the urchin as lie scurried down the street, and a burst of cheering from his mates, who were hiding round a corner, did not tend to calm him. The Perth meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (Australia and New Zealand) is to. be held during the last week of August next. The president is Sir John Monash. This great parliament of science for Australia and New Zealand is held biennially, and is peripatetic in nature, rarely revisiting any one centre more often than once in fifteen years. It is now fifteen years since the last meeting was held in Sydney, and it is improbable that one will be held here until 1930. Perth, which is somewhat removed from the centre of gravity of population in Australia and New Zealand, hopes much from this visit in' August from the wise men from the east, and Sir John Monash, the president, desires that the relative isolation of Western Australia be lost sight of for the time, and that the delegates from the east may welcome this opportunity of appreciating at first hand the matters of transcendent interest which Western Australia has to show them, especially in the nature of gold mining, ethnology, botany and climatic conditions. August has been chosen for the meeting on account of the added attractions of spring in the west, with the profusion of wild flowers which may be expected to be in full bloom at this time. Important social gatherings, together with interesting excursions, are being arranged by the entertainments committee, who, with the local executive committees, are i leaving nothing undone which may contribute to the complete success of the Perth meeting. There are at present two New Zealanders on the staff of the League of Nations. Mr. J. H. Chapman, formerly of the Customs Department, is in the Statistical Section of the International Labour Office, Mr. J. V. Wilson, M.A., of Canterbury and Trinity College, Cambridge, began in the International Labour Office, and is now personal assistant to the Secretary-General (Sir Eric Drummond). Evidently the work done by these New Zealanders is appreciated, for the Labour Office is now advertising particulars of a further position which is . to be filled by a New Zealand-born man or woman (says the Wellington '"Post.") The position offers the opportunity of an exceptionally interesting and useful career. , It iapnot only doctors who differ; law- , yers, too, have different opinions on the . one matter. When the Waitemata I Electric Power Board came into being, , it took on 4S consumers of New Lynn i who had formerly been supplied by the Auckland Electric Power Board. These, i with other consumers, had to pay a 1 deposit of 10/ before they were supplied with current. One consumer, in paying his account, deducted the 10/, stating ' that the board was not entitled to retain it, and in this he was supported by the board's solicitor, who held that the 48 persons of New Lynn who had previously been supplied by another board : could not be classed as "new" con--1 sumers, and therefore the board was not entitled to demand a 10/ deposit from them. On the other hand, the solicitor of the Power Boards' Association held that, as they ' had taken power from a new body, they were "new" consumers of that • body. Vet a third and independent ! opinion agreed with that of the board's ! solicitor. The matter was discussed at ' to-day's meeting of the board, when it was decided by a majority of the mem- . bers that the deposit should be returned to each of the 48 consumers. That Ngauruhoe may break into another active eruption shortly is the opinion of Messrs. M. J. Galvin, of Taumarunui, and J. Robinson, of the Justico Department, Auckland, who climbed the volcano on Saturday and had a good view of the interior of the crater. They report tbat many large fissures are now forming in the crater floor, which must eventually fall in, when another outbreak may be expected. Climbing conditions were found to be difficult, the huge clouds of smoke compelling them to ascend on the southern side, where steps had to be cut for over a thousand feet. According to the '•Monthly Abstract cf Statistics," published by the Government Statistics Office, the retail priceindex for April, which is supposed to indicate tho trend of the cost of livin'*, shows a drop of five points compared with the previous month. The "roceries group dropped 14 points, dairy°produee rose 60 points, and meat dropped 31 points. Compared with a year ago, dairy produce and meat both show increases. The subject, "Present-day Amusements," will be dealt with to-night at the quarterly meeting of the Auckland Council of Christian Congregations which is to be held in St. David's Hall Khyber Pass Road. The discussion will be introduced by an address by the Rev. J. Pattison. Reports on the Bible-in-schools question and the runnino- G f Sunday trains will be considered. The New Lynn Town Board has informed the Waitemata E 4f.ric I'ower Board that its gas lighting agreement will terminate on June 30, and has requested the board to beam electric lighting on J.ly 1. The board's engineer "has been instructed to make the necessary arrangements to go on with the work. A return of the principal causes of death in the urban areas in New- Zealand during the month of April shows them to have been:—Diseases of the heart, 77; cancer, 57; senility, 36; apoplexy, etc.. 32; tuberculosis, 29; accident 29: Brigbt's disease, 22; pneumonia, IDdiseases of the digestive organs, 13- premature birth, 12. 1