LIQUOR AGENCY OPERATIONS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27308, 26 March 1954, Page 10

LIQUOR AGENCY OPERATIONS

PUBLIC HEARING OF COMPLAINTS

LICENSING COMMISSION INQUIRY

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, March 25.

Allegations that unlicensed liquor agents, including shopkeepers and small stores, have been selling liquor instead of merely receiving orders will be investigated by the Licensing Control Commission at a public hearing to be held at Wellington on April 27. Sittings of the commission wlil also be held at Auckland and Hamilton, and at other metropolitan centres if necessary. The commission will

also inquire into the use of bonded warehouses, and it is empowered to recommend to the Government; amendments to the Licensing Act. The whole question of liquor licences has been before the Attorney-General (Mr T. C. Webb) for some months, and the public inquiry is an outcome of a decision by the Cabinet. At the inquiry the Licensing Control Commission is charged with “hearing evidence and submissions on the practice of using unlicensed liquor agents for receiving orders for the sale and supply of liquor and transmitting them to licensees, including the extent of these practices and their general effect.” The commission is further charged with “inquiring into the extent and effect of the use of bonded warehouses as places from which liquor is or may be sold and delivered directly to a purchaser, whether or nbt he is the holder of a liquor licence.” For some time the sale of liquor through unlicensed liquor agents who take orders on commission from licensed distributors has caused dissatisfaction to the liquor trade and to holders of wholesale liquor licences. The use of unlicensed liquor agents is permissible under the Licensing Act, but the intention was that they should be permitted to accept only orders for liquor. Those who have complained to the Government, however, claim that these unlicensed agents in fact are going much further, and are selling liquor. It is alleged that some of these agents sell liquor on demand which has ostensibly been ordered by another customer, saying that he has not yet called for it. It is also claimed that purchasers are persuaded to order more liquor than they require so that unlicensed agents can build up stocks to meet further demands. It is said that large numbers of these unlicensed agencies have sprung up within the last 12 months, particularly at popular seaside and holiday resorts. Sources of Complaints Complaints have come mainly from the Auckland and Waikato districts, although it is said there have been cases elsewhere in the North Island and in the South Island. It is alleged that under the present system cartons of beer and other liquor are obtainable almost at will from some of these unlicensed agents. Some cases have come before the Court, and Magistrates have recommended that some action be taken. Hotel proprietors object to this practice, on the ground that competition comes from persons who are under no obligation to provide accommodation and meals.

Submissions are also likely to be made to the commission at its forthcoming hearing on behalf of holders of wholesale licences. The second portion of the pending hearings, which concerns bonded warehouses, deals with the sale of liquoi* direct from these premises. The intention of the Licensing Act was to enable merchants with bond licences to supply wholesalers and retailers with liquor from warehouses, but it is alleged that in some cases liquor has been sold direct from bonded warehouses to the public. The commission is calling for submissions on these two points from all persons, including licensees and other organisations.