IS IT OF USE ?

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 118, 21 May 1945, Page 6

IS IT OF USE ?

CLOSING OF HOTELS

POLICE SERGEANT'S VIEWS

"The 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. closing on Saturdays was of no benefit when the Allied servicemen were here," stated James Le:cester Adams, police sergeant, in charge of the special duties section, when cross-examined by Mr. H. F. O'Leary, K.C., representing the National Council of the Licensed Trade of New Zealand, before the Royal Commission on Licensing this morning. There had been many sly-grog cases during the Saturday closing period witness said. He had obtained convictions for sales during this period.

Regarding the position since the Allied servicemen had left witness stated that the bars were not so overcrowded as they used to be on Saturdays between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. It was a matter of opinion whether the Saturday afternoon closing was useful or otherwise. Mr. O'Leary: Perhaps it needs a longer period of experiment than that since the Allied servicemen left? Witness: Yes. Mr. O'Leary asked witness if he had ever heard of any hotelkeeper using dregs in beer which was sold. Witness replied that he had never received any such complaint. Disapproval of any concession to cabarets to allow liquor on the premises when private parties or reunions were in progress was expressed by witness, in reply to a question by a member of the commission, Mr. G. W. Hutchison. Cabarets were under control now, and he thought they could "get along all right" under the existing laws.

Mr. Hutchison: You know that under the existing laws drink is there just the same? Witness: It may be, surreptitiously. But I don't think drink and dancing mix. Witness said that the lack of any facilities to enable men to have a drink after work in outlying areas, most of which were not licensed, resulted in congestion in the city, and also in Newmarket, where many workers stopped on their way home. Others could not get into town in time to have a drink at all. The opening of hotels in the evening would remedy that. Mr. Hutchison: Would you approve of a canteen being licensed to sell liquor after 5 p.m. in a large industrial area? Witness: No, I don't think that would help. It would be better for men to be able to 'come into town to have a drink in the evening. Witness said, in reply to a question by Mr. Justice Smith as to the extent of after-hour trading not detected by the police, that he supposed it -was carried' on, but the police did not have many complaints, and there was no evidence of it at present.