HOTEL HOURS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27533, 15 December 1954, Page 8

HOTEL HOURS

GREATER FLEXIBILITY ADVOCATED

BREWERY CHAIRMAN’S VIEWS i

“I feel that, with the general public criticism of the present unsatisfactory licensing laws in New Zealand, some comment should be made on the recent poll in New South Wales on hotel hours,” said the chairman of directors (Mr N. W. Millner) at the annual general meeting of shareholders of Ballins Breweries (New Zealand), Ltd., yesterday. “I cannot do better,” said Mr Millner, “than reiterate the remarks of the report of Mr Justice Owen, who presided over the recent Royal Commission on licensing in New South Wales. He said ‘there were evils associated with 6 o’clock closing which ought not to be tolerated in a civilised community.’ “With the vote in favour of 10 o’clock closing, the New South Wales Government is amending the Liquor Act. The ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ said ‘there is every’reason to hope that given the opportunity drinkers in this State will learn, as their counterparts have, “in Britain and elsewhere, to regard a “pint in the local” as a relaxation and a social or family -occasion—not a competition in over-indulgence/ “In New Zealand, the difficulty of enforcing the unduly restricted hours during which liquor may be consumed in hotels without infringing the Licensing Act, poin-points the desirability of some reasonable amendments to our liquor laws to impart more flexibility to them. In particular, the law entirely overlooks the convenience of the large body .of shift workers, farmers, etc., whose occupations exclude them from legally enjoying refreshments at hotels at the end of a day's work.

“It is my suggestion that authority should be delegated to the Licensing Commission, working in collaboration with the district licensing committees, in the matter of. staggering the hotel hours to comply more with local conditions and requirements,” said Mr Millner.