Call for fees review

Press, 29 January 1982, Page 4

Call for fees review

. Christchurch City councillors want the Government to increase licensing fees for hotels, pubs, clubs and restaurants so ratepayers have to pay less of the collection cost.

: Not all the collection costs for liquor and food hygiene licences were recovered by council officers because the fees set by the Government were blit of date, the clean air and health committee was told yesterday. The last review of some licence fees was in 1976, said the committee chairman, Cr C. E. Manning. The Minister of Justice (Mr McLay) is holding a licence fee review to bring fees closer to a user-pays IgVgl, t The committee recommended that the fee be set at $lOO and be reviewed and adjusted annually. The councillors, suggested- jthat all

types of licensing fees be set at the same level and be drafted into the same legislation to ensure uniformity. Cr Manning also said that some .incentive for prompt payment could be included in the legislation.

‘Ram’ criticised Councillors were unhappy with the prospective sale of ' the Lincoln ‘College capping magazine “Ram” in Christchurch. Cr Helen Garrett said that she was dissatisfied with the . small proportion of the sale proceeds' that went to a charity last year. The council should insist on a greater portion going to a charity before allowing the street sales.

She said that the main reason for selling the magazine was not to raise some, money for charity but ."to

peddle "filthy jokes on the streets.” The ..committee approved the application to sell the magazine on the streets on Friday, March 26,. but said that.it must be informed of the v. charity which would receive- some of the proceeds. The-committee also said that the magazines could not be sold near schools and that the public, particularly children, should not accosted in the street by sellers. Helipad? A helicopter landing pad on a high building should be considered a proper fire escape, said Cr M. F. Fahey. The committee was dissatisfied with a reply from the Standards Association which did not consider such a land-

ing pad to be a reasonable fire escape. Cr Fahey said that an international symposium on rescue methods had decided that landing pads should be required on all buildings where normal fire ladders could not reach the top floors. He said that the need for helicopters to carry stranded people to nearby safe buildings or safety nets had emerged after the disastrous fires in Sao Paulo and San Francisco. Although not many buildings in Christchurch could require a landing pad, many buildings in Wellington needed an emergency topfloor escape route, said Cr Fahey. The committee asked Cr Fahey to write to the safety division of the Accident Compensation Corporation on the subject which the committee could endorse.