HOTEL GOOD-WILLS.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXII, Issue 141, 20 June 1910, Page 8

HOTEL GOOD-WILLS.

EXPLANATION BY MR MCCARTHY, S.M. At the Magistrate's Court, Hastings, on Saturday, Mr S. E. M'Gairithy, S.M., said: Before proceeding with the business of the court, I wish to make a slight correction of a /statement made by me last week as ichairman of the Hawke's' Bay Lacensiing Committee. The statement made was that the children-.;of :& Avidow had been deprived of the, goodwill in cer'tain hotel premises.' This was mot •strictly accurate. The'facts are thaitt somewhere, about the year 1896, the hotel was taken up by the liusband of /the .widow at a rentalof;about £3 per ■week. Then came tlie »floods, and, as ia consequence of the -damage done, ncltl only to the -hotel- but to the district, the rent was reduced. After a while the owners were compelled to (rebuild portion of ihe-.premises, by the Licensing Coniimttee. Afrerwards the rent was raised from time to itime Until it readied;-£8 to £9 per month. During tflie whole time there -was no lease, and all the interest the j husband, and subsequently his widow, lield in the business ; w:as the monthly tenancy. To- that extent- and tb that extent alone would it lie correct to say tliat there was no goodwill. It is, however, witihiin my own knowledge, that tenants:.-, with monthly tenia ■lioie-s have sold out a goodwill, sfinding persons willing to take the lousiness on these terms. ' After the widow's death, the executors had arranged to sell out, including the furniture and good-will, at .somewhere about £SOO. The owners interfered, and pointed out that there was no good-will, and the sale was not completed. That transaction subsequently fell through. Ultimately the owners leased the premises to , the person with whom the executors had been in treaty, and the executors got only about £l5O for the furniture. The Licensing Committee wished to emphasise' two things—first, that the persons who carried on or created the business should be the ones, and the only ones, entitled- to the good-will; second, that by the umisually high rents and premiums, and the serious disabilities the licensees of tied houses are under, there is a strong temptation for licensees to carry on an illicit trade and for owners to wink at that trade. As matters now stand, in order to meet their financial engagements, licensees had to push the sale of intoxicating liquors far beyond legitimate limits-. From these two points the committee did not recede.—Herald.