LIQUOR LAWS

Dominion, Volume 39, Issue 29, 29 October 1945, Page 4

LIQUOR LAWS

Changes Suggested To Commission ASSISTING COUNSEL’S ADDRESS The Koval Commission on Licensing will meet again tomorrow afternoon when it will conclude, its public sittings. sei assisting the commission, Mr. J. D. Willis, continued his final address on FfiDiscussiug the functions of the proposed central licensing board, he sa d that, apart from b-.udlliig the redistiibutiop of licences Jt might also batt, power to issue at its discretion further new licenses to individuals or municipal corpora I ions prepared to erect modem hotels to approved plans and speeim.a; tious. Other functions of the board might, ho.: To approve of rents lived in leases and main clauses; to supmvise hotel conduct, management and accommodation: and to supervise tlrn administration of the liquor laws geneiallj. granting licences and charters, colleeling fees and fixing finees lor liquor. Xue board could also see that conditions a! the sale of liquor in hotels were sani“\f the accommodation side is, to be regulated and adequately supervised, there must he somebody to proscribe some Standard and to judge whether uns standard has been adhered to, san Mi. Willis Many liceucees, who made no attempt to cater for the travelling punlie, might make over £2OOO a year, almost solely by the sale ot liquor. \ very important matter was whetbei further ' classes, of retailers' licences should be issued. At present retailers licences were granted in respect of hotels where there was substantial accommodation as well as the bay, and hotels in the nature of taverns or bar saloons, where there wns only lhe crudest pretenee of supplying accommodation. 'lt is in respect of these hotels that exorbitant goodwill payments are made, and they have the real monopoly value, snirl Mr' Willis. “Evidence is that owners of 'such properties obtain as much ns £20,000 for the liceneq alone. They get £20.000 for the monopoly of a licence issued by the State. One solution would lie to issue only to genuine hotels. Ihe dimcultj there was that it did not necessatily follow that, hotel accommodation was required wherever a bar was necessary. Another solution would lie to recognize the impossibility of confining the trade to'hotels proper, and deliberately create bars or saloons of the lock-UP type. 1 lie problem then would be to avoid trallieliing in such licences. . . It was suggested that tlie commission consider the possibility of vesting al such licences either in a Dominion trust Or in local trusts on Invercargill lines, leaving the hotels pro]>er to private enterprise. The profits could then be. used for social or charitable purposes. Another possibility was to charge licence fees for bar or saloon. licences, hut not. necessarily for hotel licences, on a gallonage basis. Managers and Ties. The tendency was for more and more hotels to come under the control ot breweries and associated companies, and for the breweries to run their hotels under a paid manager.who ' vi } s mil holder of the licence, said Mr. M illjs. Objections to that were: A licensee who had a personal interest as owner or lessee would usually give, better service than an’ employee. Competition, with its attendant advantages, was lessened There was loss of opporttinities for advancement by men who wished to . cutPl ' into business on their own account, it was assumed that the licensee was the real owner of the business, and it weimrued the whole purpose oi the Act tor the licences to be hold for principals. A scheme of separation of the wholesale from the retail trade could be effected by imposing a (Government; distributing agency between the brewer mid the wholesaler, on the one side, and the hotelkeeper on the other, together with a legal prohibition of brewery and "'holesale ownership of interests in hotels, lo meet the case of brewers and wholesalers already owning hotels, it might, be provided: That such companies should relain freeholds already owned by them, but the board or other relevant authority should be given power to require them to sell at I,ny particular, time- ou approved terms; that existing leases o brewers and wholesale companies should not be renewed at the expiration ot the current term. It might also be, necessary to provide; (1) That no licence be issued to any person, not either the owner, a person having a lease lor u term pt years, or ,i person managing temporarily on behalf of a deceased estate, or an insane person; (2) that terms and conditions of leases be approved i’J’ thf licensing committee or central board, with power to see that the rental should not be more than « fixed percentage of the capital value, Mr. AViilis went on to submit that nothing but the complete abolition of all ties and the prohibition of brewery ownership would make mi end to the “vicous circle of ties, goodwills, excessive profits and breaches of the law.’ It might, lie thought unfair that all hotels large and small should, pay the same licensing fee, said Mr. Willis. Hie principal argument in favour ot taxation on the gallonage basis was that it is one method of securing to I he. public a share of the monopoly value of licences. Mr. Cooke, for the trade, contended that it was “t'.bsolutely unworkable,” though he diil not tell the commission why, otto call evidence in support, of his statement. It was. of course, quite workable, and a similar scheme was iu operation in Victoria.

That, after-hour trading was a nuttier of common practice has been clearly established, said Mr. Willis. It had to be considered whether licensees who deliberately broke the law should not have their licences endorsed, and have .them eoncelled or suspended for n period ol years on a second deliberate breach. In addition, members of the public should be liable to more severe penalties it observance of the law was desired to a greater degree. No good reason appeared to have been shown why legislation about, liquor in cabarets and dance halls should be totally abrogated ; but it had been suggested that there might be :t slight modification in favour of I iconsod ra ba rots when t.boy were hired for special functions by private parties, said Mr. Willis. On the subject of chibs, the three main questions wore:- —Whether there should be an increase in charters? 1 he hours to be observed in clubs: should they observe the same, hours as hotels with whom they were in competition? Should charters continue to be issued through the Minister of Internal Affairs, or by the board or authority controlling the issue of other licences? Liquor and Maoris. In view of the marked conflict of opinion, it was difficult, to know what Io do about, liquor and the Maori race, particularly in the King Country, said Mr. Willis. if it should be decided to allow iieenecs in the King <‘"tintry. it would seem a proper ease lor Ino tiitroduclion of some stieb system as tlie Invercargill Trust system, or municipal authorities should, if they so wished, run the hotels. Alternatively, there could be some form of community control as advov;it(‘d by T:;u martin ui residents. Mr. Willis’s suggestions for the (. h:tiham Islands were : No ,s:ile In anybody al all for eonsumptiou off the promises: one hotel lieeiwr only I the More to he kept separate from {be hotel: increased penallies for all breaches. Alternatively ae stpo'csled that both licences be can e led ami all importation of liquor be prohibited under sex ere penalties. . ‘ , i-'r«»m the point «»f view ol the eireciiy. administration of the law. it wood be better if existing districts in Which no'licence prevails were abolished -they are a distinct anomaly, said II r. II lilts. It might be considered reasonable to provide that a hare majority should suffice for the carrying of restoration of licences ip uo-lieen.-e districts instead of on a three-lift Its majority. It. however, licensed houses should be again permitted in those districts, it would have to be considered whether they should be oper- ' ateil according to some trust scheme as ii, Invercargill, or by such municipalitjos or «iuihnrit ids.