LICENSING TRUST

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 85, 11 April 1945, Page 6

LICENSING TRUST

CHURCHMEN'S VIEWS INVERCARGILL EXPERIMENT P.A. INVERCARGILL, this day. The Presbytery of Southland, after considering the report of it's public questions committee, has put on record an interim report on the Invercargill Licensing Trust. The principal clauses in the report are: "We recognise that the trust has operated under war conditions and has faced great difficulties in implementing its policy, and also that there are regrettable features of drinking' liquor which are inseparable from the habit, quite apart from any form of control. "We notice that taxation statistics reveal a large increase in the wholesale legal sale of liquor; and the indications are that the trust will expand, rather than restrict its own sales. The evident danger here is that, trust control may -give way to trust salesmanship. We do not think that this is the present policy of the trust, but we are aware of this constant menace, which depends on the outlook of the board and its managers. There has been an increase, and not a decrease, in consumption over the months, and the extent to which trust control has checkel illegal sales is not yet apparent. "We regret that tne trust insists on developing liquor facilities in suburban areas, despite strong opposition revealed in a plebiscite. After-hour Sales Eliminated "After-hour selling on trust premises is undoubtedly eliminated, and we commend the trust for this valuable advance. This is one of the most insidious evils in many other licensed premises, as it destroys respect for the law, breeds a sly, back-room atmosphere, and lead to extreme intemperance. "Conditions in the bars are fair, but the atmosphere of the trust's temporary drink shops does not add to civic pride. "We watch the Brown Owl experiment with interest, yet not without misgivings. Conditions improved there after the first hysteria had passed, and liquor seems to have become more of an accessory than an end in itself. There has been a distinct advance in the conditions of sale, and the restaurant has maintained its food services effectively. This seems at present to be the least objectionable of the various local forms of sale. We issue a warning that it may become a most dangerous method of creating the drink habit, particularly among young people. "We deeply regret the number of women who take liquor on the premises of the trust. One woman was observed, for instance, being supplied with eight consecutive drinks in the Brown Owl. We believe that the consumption of liquor and the physical and mental qualities desirable for motherhood are irreconcilable. We believe that it is a public duty to the children of the future that the trust should— difficult though it may be—discountenance immoderate drinking among women." The presbytery emphasises that it can see no reason to alter its stand in its desire to see the total abolition of the liquor traffic in New Zealand, but that it has tried to make a careful, fair and unbiased approach to a study of the system of control operative in Invercargill.