THE PUBLICAN’S DILEMMA

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22795, 22 August 1939, Page 13

THE PUBLICAN’S DILEMMA

TO THE ESITOB OF THE PRESS. Sir, —The position of hotel licensees to-day has been brought about by the totally unbusiness-like • methods • they drifted into. The pernicious habit of the customer expecting- and demanding the third time up on the house is illogical and rotten. Does any other class of business give an extra pair of sox, a bar of soap, a loaf, of bread, etc.? No. The hotelkeeper places a bottle of his best whisky on the counter and for 6d or 9d says, “Help yourself.” Does the grocer place a tin of

sugar, scoop, and paper bag on the counter, when you ask for sixpence worth, and say, "Help yourself”? No, the grocer weighs out the quantity; the draper measures the article required; the butcher weighs his meat, and so on. _ Counter lunches grew from biscuits and cheese to, in some of our hotels, a sumptuous meal. Many* customers* spent their tanner on the longest beer procurable, visited the lunch table, and had a hearty meal, greatly to their satisfaction and the insanity of the hotelkeeper. The correct and sane way to overcome the present difficulty is to have standard glasses and prices for the quantity of liquor required by the customer throughout the Dominion. Cut out the rotten custom, of third time up and put biscuits and cheese on the luncheon counter, which is all the average man requires. . So far the Hawke’s Bay Licensed Victuallers’ Association has announced die best conditions to trade under. It has raised the price of a gallon of beer by 6d, put one penny on bottled beer, and allowed no shouting by the house. ' Let the members of the Licensed Victuallers’ Association pull themselves together, try to be unanimous for once in their lives, and run their businesses in a sensible way.—Yours. etC " CRITICAL. August 21, 1939.