CLOSING OF HOTEL BARS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25139, 21 March 1947, Page 3

CLOSING OF HOTEL BARS

NO GENERAL TOLERANCE FOR PUBLIC * The Press ’’ Special Service AUCKLAND, March 19. “The six minutes’ tolerance allowed recently by a Wellington magistrate for clearing a hotel bar is not a tolerance to the public to remain in a public bar after 6 o’clock,” said Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., when dealing with a liquor prosecution in the Magistrate’s Court at Waiuku. The police prosecutor said that a farmer, who appeared on a charge of failing to leave licensed premises, had claimed that he had six minutes’ grace by law and refused to leave the hotel. “The licensee is bound to keep his bar open until 6 o’clock, and to sell liquor up to that time,” said the Magistrate. Of necessity, larger bars "were different from smaller ones, and where there were larger numbers in the bar' it would take longer to clear the premises, and six minutes, or even a longer tolerance, might be reasonable, according to the circumstances. . Two minutes, or even one minute, might also be reasonable and sufficient time. It was the licensee’s duty to clear the bar as soon as possible, and as long as he was taking the necessary steps he was quite within the law. “Anyone ’ who refuses to quit licensed premises after 6 o’clock is liable to prosecution.” he concluded. I The offender was fined £4 and ordered to pay costs.