National Party Vote Favours 11 p.m. Closing

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30190, 23 July 1963, Page 14

National Party Vote Favours 11 p.m. Closing

(Neto Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 22. New Zealand’s liquor hours, particularly the “five to six swill,” produced sharp debate and plenty of laughs at the National Party conference today. Three electorates (Dunedin Central, Wallace, and Waitomo) proposed that existing legislation be amended to provide for no addition to,’ but a revision of, trading hours in all districts between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.

The remit was carried at committee level and will be considered by the whole conference tomorrow.

The remit added that licensees be required to apply to local licensing committees for the hours desired for their hotels and that penalties be imposed that would be a deterrent to trading outside the approved hours. Proposing the remit, Mr L. J. Francis (Wallace) said: “Crushed and crass drinking at peak periods is an idiosyncrasy in our national life which we would be better off without.”

He said it was not intended by the remit that there be increased hours for consumption. It sought revision of the hours only. Mr Francis said the hours of operation would be a matter for the individual area and that the individual licensing committee would determine the hours on the individual application of licensees.

There were 22 licensing committees in New Zealand. They were fit and proper bodies to deal with this, he said. Mr Francis explained that the purpose of the remit was

not to increase sales of liquor but “to condense the position into something close to sanity” and to do away with "the five to six swill.” Mr N. D. Scurr (St. Kilda) commented on the “saneness” of the remit. "We would turn away from the swill to social drinking,” he said. Mr E. A. Bolwell (St. Kilda) suggested that the penalty for hotel keepers selling liquor outside approved hours be the closing of the hotel on the first Saturday after conviction. (Laughter.) A second conviction would n.ean closing the hotel to bar trade for a week, he said. When the chairman of the committee (Mr C. F. Jacobs, Waikato), asked if there were any speakers opposing the remit, there was silence and then laughter. The Minister of Justice (Mr Hanan) said that the National Party was obligated by its present policy not to change, or extend the hours of public bar drinking beyond six o'clock. “If the remit is carried, the Government could not implement it immediately. It would only be recommended to the Government as future policy,” he said. The remit was passed with only two or three dissenting voices.