LICENSE REFUSED

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 221, 14 June 1930, Page 12

LICENSE REFUSED

City Dance Cabaret NEIGHBOURS ANNOYED Police Support Protests An echo of the trouble occasioned by disturbances at a Wellington dance cabaret was heard at a meeting of the Bylaws Committee of the City Council, when a deputation representing the Women’s Social 'Progress Movement enjoined the committee not to rescind its decision conceiting the license of the hall.

Miss Mary McLean, the chief speaker of the deputation, said that as representatives of the Women’s Social Progress Movement in Wellington, they asked the council not to recede from the position it had taken up in regard to the cancellation of the license of the hall known as the Palais de Danse (otherwise the Early Settlers’ Hall) in Abel Smith Street The movement had asked the former Minister of Justice (Sir Thomas Wilford) to endeavour to bring about a better state of affairs with regard to the conduct of cabarets and dance halls in New Zealand. It was then too late in the session for him to do anything in the matter, but he had pointed out that borough and city councils had powers they were not using. They eould re- ‘ fuse licenses to such places when they were not properly conducted. Upon that the movement had approached the executive of the Municipal Association on the matter of bringing about a better state of and had been sympathetically received. A Lead Wanted. “We are hoping, gentlemen, that yon will give a lead to all the other councils; it is an opportunity for you to give such a lead to all the borough councils of New Zealand,” she continued. “Reports about this cabaret reached us long ago from residents in the neighbourhood, from the matron and members of the Nurses’ Club (which is situated opposite the cabaret), from the Borstal Club, and from members of the police. From the mat- I

ron of the club we learned that the drinking and noise were so dreadful that the nurses were not able to get their necessary rest. It seems that the police have no right of entry unless there are disturbances, and they are specially sent for, yet the matron said she knew of seventeen convictions of one person concerned.” Here Miss McLean outlined one case (heard before Mr. E. Page, S.M.), in which a constable, called in to restore order, was brutally assaulted. The chairman (Councillor M. F. Lnckie) said that the tenants were pretty well out between September and December, when the council withdrew the license. “Whisky Bottles on Window-sills!*’ “The matron of the dub,” continued Miss McLean, “said that not only were there disturbances at night, but in the morning the scene was perfectly disgraceful, with whisky bottles lying round, and even on the window-sills... You can stop any further harm being done. Your influence would not only be local—it would radiate from. Auckland in the north to the Bluff in the south, for it is not a mere matter of a particular case.” Councillor H. A. Huggins mentioned that the City Council had twice refused to renew the license of this hall, and he thought it was not likely to be renewed. Councillor W. Hildreth also said there was small probability off the license being renewed. A Strengthened Hand. “The committee is much obliged to you for strengthening the hand of the council in its action in refusing a license for the hall, particularly as the protest is supported by reports from the police,” said the chairman. “It comes up for reconsideration to-day, but it does not seem likely that it will be granted in the face of the police reports. It seems to be wrong for any cabaret to be located in a residential neighbourhood. With definite statements from the Nurses’ Club, the protest comes with a great deal more weight. In justice’ to the Early Settlers’ Association, the conduct of the hall under the new manager had been the subject of far less complaint than before, but we had to turn down the license on the report of the Commissioner of Police, supported by the inspector for the district. With such reports before us, it was hardly possible to grant a license. The representations of the deputation will receive weighty consideration at the hands of the committee.”