LITTLE RIVER HOTEL

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27988, 7 June 1956, Page 10

LITTLE RIVER HOTEL

LICENCE RENEWED CONDITIONALLY

ADHERENCE TO BUILDING SCHEDULE In granting an application by Allen Thomas Hunt tor a renewal of the licence of the Little River Hotel, the Lyttelton Licensing Committee yesterday made it a stringent condition that the building progress schedule drawn up by the contractors be adhered to. If there was any delay in anv section of the work, said the chairman (Mr Rex C. Abernethy, S.M.) notice would be served on the licensee and the owner to show »ause why the licence should not be suspended. At the previous meeting of the committee in March, the owner and licensee were warned that, unless substantial progress was made with the new building, steps would be taken to suspend the licence. Mr R. E. Wylie appeared for Hunt and Mr J. B. Weir for the owner of the hotel, Albert Edward Ellis. Evidence . was given by SubInspector J. C. Fletcher that he had inspected the hotel recently. On the first occasion, about three weeks ago, nothing much had been done at all. He inspected it again on Tuesday, and found that some form of foundation had been started. It was not very impressive; it seemed to him that it wa just temporising. Three workmen were making lines for the boxing. The witness said he could not see how the foundations could be put in before a mass of rubble and rubbish had been cleared from the middle of the site.

The chairman said that, according to the minutes of the nrevious quarterly meeting, the committee required, the boxing to be in within seven days and the foundations by the present meeting. Sub-Inspector Fletcher, in reply to Mr Weir, said thfct he saw some levelling instrument on the site. Some boxing had been done, and shingle and sand were on the site. A load of timber arrived while he was there.

The site was still in a primitive condition, said Constable W. A. Crombie, of Little River. Some boxing had been put in by a man who began work on May 17 and left the following day. There were about 50 concrete piles oh the job. Called by Mr Weir, Ronald Jack Cooper, partner in a firm of building contractors, produced a contract in which the firm had agreed to erect the which was of the bungalow type. The job was “just a glorified house, apart from the cellars,” and could be completed in six months. The foundations would be poured within the next 10 days. The rubble and spoil mentioned were required for filling in. At the request of the chairman, the witness submitted a time schedule for the various sections of the ’vork which provided for the building to be completed in December. The chairman said that the committee would issue a direction to the owner and the licensee that the building should be completed according to the schedule submitted by Cooper. The police would be requested to furnish progress reports.