Police Attitude To Bar Service

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31375, 22 May 1967, Page 12

Police Attitude To Bar Service

Police have no standing instructions about the serving of liquor in public bars to either women or to Maoris, says the Commissioner of Police (Mr G. C. Urquhart) in a reply to a correspondent, Varian J. Wilson.

The correspondent wrote: “Recently, in Wellington, some people wishing to take action allegedly with some political motive, were restrained by the police, not because another party might have used the incident to foment a breach of the peace. “This principle has long been applied to the serving of women in public bars. This is legal, but licensees are instructed by the police to refuse them, as women encourage fights. Failure to observe police instructions could mean adverse reports to the licensing authorities. “In the public lounge of a large Wellington hotel on Anzac Day, I was refused service because I wished to buy drinks for two Maori men. The waiter drew me aside and apologised, saying that police instructions required Maori patrons to be discouraged by ignoring them, as their presence could lead to breaches of the peace. Apartheid started this way.”

As a general rule, Mr Urquhart replies, licensees make provision for women to be served liquor in special parts of licensed premises. “Licensees are liable if they permit violent, quarrelsome, insulting or disorderly conduct on their premises, and

if there is a likelihood of the presence of women in a public bar being the cause of such conduct, it would be logical for a licensee to request them to keep to the other parts of the premises. “Any adverse police reports to the licensing authorities would be in accordance with the statutory requirement for the police to report to the Licensing Committee on the manner in which the licensee carries on his business for the purposes of the Sale of Liquor Act. “There are no police instructions regarding Maori patrons as section 199 of the Sale of Liquor Act is quite clear, prohibiting as it does any licensee or his employees from refusing to supply liquor to any person by reason only of the race, colour or nationality of that person,” Mr Urquhart replies.