Hanmer Springs wine-shop proposal causes dissent

Press, 12 March 1982, Page 3

Hanmer Springs wine-shop proposal causes dissent

Hanmer Springs residents are at loggerheads over the possibility of a wine shop in the township. On one side are the supporters of Dr Robert Crawford, superintendent of the Queen Mary Hospital and the town’s former general practitioner, who agree with him that another liquor outlet (there is one at The Lodge Hotel) is not in the best interests of Hanmer Springs.

On the other side are those who assert that the liquor outlet provided by The Lodge is not adequate for buying wine and therefore another outlet is justified. The debate was prompted when three separate concerns expressed interest to the Liquor Licensing Commission in opening a wineshop in the township. Mr Sydney Elliott, an inspector of licensed premises, visited Hanmer Springs recently and spoke to all those involved in the debate. His report of the visit and his findings will go to the commission, which will then hold a public hearing on the issue, probably later, this year or early next year, Mr Elliott says. The hearing would be at either Hanmer Springs or Rangiora. A meeting of Hanmer Springs ratepayers recently agreed that if the present liquor outlet was improved, the local demand would be satisfied. At present, however, the bottle store at The Lodge was inadequate and expensive, residents said. Mr A. H. Alexander, proprietor of the Garden House Restaurant, Hanmer Springs’s only restaurant with a bring-your-own wine licence, said yesterday that for years The Lodge had run an “inadequate bottle store with a very poor selection of wines.”

“On numerous occasions they have virtually run out of bottles of wine,” he said. “My contention is that if The Lodge had a good bottle store and a good selection of wines, it would be unneces-

sary to have a wine shop in Hanmer Springs. But The Lodge has a monopoly and the licensing authorities do not seem to have the power to make its bottle store stock good wines or provide adequate service.” Mr Alexander said that, while most of the permanent residents of Hanmer Springs were Government employees, working at the hospital, in the Forest Service or in the Electricity Division, a big part of the business of the town came from tourists.

“In the last three years, Hanmer Springs has grown tremendously as a tourist village, with people coming not just from other parts of New Zealand but from overseas as well. I know that a lot of these people want to go out for dinner in the evening and take a bottle of wine,” he said.

Unless they knew about the situation in Hanmer Springs and had brought their own wine with them, they were likely to be out of luck, he said.

“Unless The Lodge is made to run its bottle store properly, Hanmer Springs must have another wine outlet, so that the tourists can be given a better service,” he said. While agreeing with Dr Crawford that the alcohol problem in New Zealand was a bad one, Mr Alexander said, he thought it was unfair that most of those who drank sensibly-should be penalised by those few who did not. Dr Crawford was in the North Island yesterday and could not be reached for comment. In an article in the February 12 issue of the Hanmer Springs newsletter, “Pink Paper,” he said that the effect of a second outlet in the township would be considerable on the hospital, its patients being treated for alcohol problems, and their families.

The Lodge is out of bounds to patients at Queen Mary Hospital.

“Extra outlets would make the task of treating the patients more difficult,” Dr Crawford said in the article. Research overseas had proved that the more liquor was sold, the more people would drink, and consequently there were more alcohol-related problems.

“Those of you who know me, will know that I enjoy a drink myself occasionally,” he said. “Doctors often find themselves recommending unpleasant remedies for the sake of ultimate health, and I hope this issue can be looked at as one that affects the whole of Hanmer Springs and not just one of personal convenience,” Dr Crawford said.

Under, Section 157 of the Sale of Liquor Act, the Licensing Control Commission is empowered to hold a public sitting if it is of the opinion that the issue of any wine reseller’s licence may be necessary or desirable in any locality. In determining whether the issue of such a licence is desirable, the act says, the commission shall have regard to the facilities that are available or are likely to be made available in the area. Mr Elliott said that it was also necessary for the commission to consider if there were adequate outlets in the area; if wine was' readily available, and if people should be catered for who preferred not to have to visit a hotel to buy wine. “Although the hotel at Hanmer Springs professes to have a good range of wine, the bottles are not displayed and people therefore do not know what is available,” he said. Ultimately, any decision about a wineshop in Hanmer Springs would depend on whether the public interest was best served by one, Mr Elliott said. Hospital Board concern, page