RESERVED DECISION

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31018, 25 March 1966, Page 3

RESERVED DECISION

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 24. The Trade Practices and Prices Commission reserved its decision this morning on whether the Hotel Association of New Zealand committed a breach of the Trade Practices Act by recommending increased bar prices to hotels last June.

The last witness was the chief executive of the New Zealand Hotel Association Industrial Union of Employers, Mr J. J. Williams. Mr Williams said he did not believe there was any accelerated pace in drinking as 6 p.m. approached. Price cutting would attract more customers to hotels offering lower prices for liquor and would make the hotels more crowded during “the swill,” he said. The New Zealand Hotel Association was trying to foster the education of the public by increasing standards in hotels, he said. But price cutting would take customers away from better hotels. “The public has shown they are prepared to respect better facilities,” he said. Mr Williams said that if Hutt Valley hotels reduced their prices there would be a marked reduction in trade in Wellington hotels. “REPERCUSSIONS” There was nothing unreasonable about price cutting but it did have repercussions, he said. In Dunedin prices were being reduced for Boz glasses of

To Mr R. B. Cooke, Q.C. (for the association) Mr Williams said that as a rule Tourist Corporation hotels did not make a profit, although the occupancy rate was high.

beer. Spirit prices had also been cut. A bottle of whisky retailed at 34s 6d in Dunedin. It cost a little more than 33s a bottle wholesale. Replying to Mr G. S. Orr (for the Examiner of Trade Practices), Mr Williams said that improvements made to the Gresham Hotel in Dunedin (one of those involved in the price cutting) were made when the licensee moved in. If the price for liquor was reduced in Dunedin, hotels would go out of business because there were too many hotels in the city, he said. PUBLIC INTEREST He believed the price war was of interest to the public because of the standard of hotels in Dunedin. “If we get to the stage we have in Dunedin where the branch association is not strong and this spreads to other centres, it is likely to weaken the national body.” Mr Williams agreed wth Mr Orr that all metropolitan hotels had increased their tariffs to varying degrees since price decontrol. However, he did not think the increases would be as high as suggested by Mr Orr —5O per cent in Auckland, 48 per cent in Wellington, 32 per cent in Christchurch, and 40 per cent in Dunedin. Asked if breweries owned or had a substantial interest in the majority of New Zealand hotels, he said that more than 65 per cent of hotels were privately owned or operated on lease.