‘Illegal’ seizing of wine blocked

Press, 3 September 1981, Page 4

‘Illegal’ seizing of wine blocked

A tavern licensee who ordered a Health Department inspector off his premises when the latter attempted to seize-stocks of Penfolds wine did so because the inspector “acted illegally.” Mr G. E. Reed, of the Rolleston Tavern, said yesterday that he had labelled the bulk wine as being flavoured before the inspector arrived on Tuesday. “There is nothing they can do about it. They tried to seize the wine illegally,” he said. He objected to the “Gestapo attitude" that the department had adopted with the seizings.

Mr Reed said that he did not tell the inspector on Tuesday that the wine had already been relabelled because “he could have seen for himself.”

He did tell the inspector and senior officer of the departmenf when they returned yesterday but he ordered them off the premises again. The principal health inspector in Christchurch, Mr L. V. Weldon, said that the department was “not out to knock any individuals, just to explain that we feel the wine is being sold under the wrong label.” He said that inspectors had had a wide range of reactions but Mr Reed was the only licensee to order them off the premises. At least three of the 25 outlets involved in the seizings had relabelled the wines as flavoured and “a lot more” were moving towards relabelling, said Mr Weldon. He expected 70 to 80 per cent of the seized wine to be available for sale again soon.