HOTEL CLOSING HOURS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27603, 9 March 1955, Page 12

HOTEL CLOSING HOURS

Confusion Yesterday During Election SOME BARS OPEN ALL DAY “I wondered whether the barmen were on strike.” said one Christchurch man last evening, after he had visited two hotels and found the bar doors closed, and then gone to another hotel and found the usual o.oO-to-6 o’clock crowd. He had not read newspaper reports of the election yesterday of the Christchurch Licensing Committee; but even if he had, his confusion could have been little less, because confusion over hotel hours was general in Christchurch yesterday. Some hotels did as they have always done in the past when a licensing poll or election has been held —closed their doors at noon and kept them closed until 7 p.m., even for guests. Others closed the doors of public bars leading on to the street, and kept their private bars open. Others closed no doors at all, and one hotel in the centre of the city had its public bar open throughout the day until 6 p.m., and the public could see into the bar. Several hotels had their usual customers up to 6 p.m., and some of the customers did not know there had been any suggestions that hotels should be closed. When the time-honoured call of “6 o’clock gentlemen” was made by one barman, he added: “We can’t really ask you to go, because we havent’s really opened.” The Superintendent of Police (Mr DR. Sugrue) was asked last evening about hotel closing, and said he knew nothing about it, as he had been in Kaikoura for the last few days. He had heard, however, that there had been “some confusion.” Police Inspector’s Comment

Inspector W. R. Miller, who is in charge of the Christchurch Central Police Station during the superintendent’s absence, said it was not for the police to interpret the law or give advice. If anyone had been reported, the matter would be investigated in the usual way, and if there was evidence of an offence, a prosecution would be made. Obviously, he could not say whether any cases had been reported, he added. There was no doubt at all about his association’s advice to hotel licensees, said Mr K. N. McGillivray, secretary of the Canterbury Licensed Victuallers’ Association. “The advice was that they should close at midday,” he said. “At every other election, hotels have been closed and licensees of experience know this.” Mr McGillivray said he had seen for himself that some hotels were closed and others-open. Some hotelkeepers questioned last evening said they had been led to believe that the law had been altered, and it would appear that a similar confusion existed in the ranks of Police Force.

The Licensing Act, 1908, reprinted in 1951 with amendments, states that the provisions of section 128 of the Electoral Act, 1927 (as amended by section 26 of the Statues Amendment Act, 1946) shall apply to the election of the licensing committee “as if sub-section 1 of this section had been substituted for sub-sections 1 and 3 of the said section 128.”

Amending Clause Sub-sections 1 and 3 of the amending clause refer to time allowed off for voting at a General Election. Suosection 2 states: “It shall not be lawful to seil intoxicating liquors in any licensed premises between the hours of 12 o’clock noon and 7 o’clock in the evening on the polling day at any election.” A further amendment states:

“This sub-section shall apply throughout New Zealand in the case of a General Election, and shall apply in the particular electoral district concerned in the case ol' a by-election.” The confusion has apparently arisen over the omission of mention of subsection 2 in the reprinted act. The original Licensing Act of 1908 left no room for confusion. It stated that, on the day of an election of a licensing committee, hotels must close between noon and 7 p.m.