NOT BORNE OUT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 223, 20 September 1935, Page 9

NOT BORNE OUT.

DRINK AT CABARETS.

COMPLAINT INVESTIGATED.

COUNCIL MAKES INSPECTION.

Allegations that there was a lack of proper supervision of the cabarets and dance halls under the control of the City Council and also that considerable drinking of intoxicating liquor was indulged in by women were not supported in a report presented to the City Council last evening by the chairman of the legal and finance committee, Sir. W. T. Anderton, and the acting-chief traffic inspector, Mr. Bland. Letters had been received from the New Zealand Alliance and A. E. Smith, who each suggested that action should be taken to stop the practice. .

The report stated that four of the principal cabarets in the city had been visited on September 7 and in each case it was found that the establishments were being conducted in a satisfactory manner. There was no evidence of the consumption of intoxicating liquor to the extent indicated in the complainants' letters, although there was no doubt that liquor was being taken into such places by patrons and consumed on the premises. It was pointed out that it is not unlawful for persons to take alcoholic liquor into cabarets or similar premises, nor did there appear to be authority under which the council could endorse such conditions on the license issued. The administration of the laws relating to the sale and consumption of intoxicating liquor was more within the province of the police department than with the ! council, and the matter of enforcement could be safely left in the hands of the police.

The report was referred back to the committee without comment. Protest by Women. The Auckland district convention of the Women's Christian Temperance Union passed a resolution stating that the branch viewed with alarm increased drinking of intoxicants in and around dance halls in Auckland and urged the City Council and Police Department to exercise stricter supervision. One delegate stated that after having granted a license the City Council could not take any action unless a specific date on which drunkenness was alleged to have been prevalent was given, together with witnesses prepared to give evidence.