TIED HOUSES.

Evening Star, Issue 11692, 25 September 1902, Page 1

TIED HOUSES.

CONDEMNED BY THE HON. J. RlCdi. [FSOM ® US PAIttUMKXTjIBT RkPORTES.] WELLINGTON, September 25 in a speech occupying over an hour in ’ thC ?? P ;‘ J ; yesterday moved for the eommittd of. the Tied Houses fill which ;s opposed to the motion of the Seect -omnuttee to whom the' measure was thl^t 1, "‘s 8 * My having advised that lb the interests of the public and the trade/it be not further proceeded . with. • Mr Rjo*quoted pensively from the evidence <nv?n before the Select Committee. • The AueJrj“ d brewers, it seemed, baye tied them Bouses to take .their beer while Speight and Co , of Dimedin, wto - S^r°^? ed a !ar?e amount of hotel property m Wellington, did not so bind their tenants to whom they said.: “Take it or leave it yon j can t. get anything better 'in the' coio?T- The . speaker quoted a letter from Ait, John Golder, hotelkeeper, of Moraine. ox-secretary of the Otago License! Victuallers Association, severely crifcicisiiig the evidence of those Wellington; hotelkeepers - who supported -the' tied-honse Kys- ■ tern, "and seating Hie-fettle license it tfie friost, jniqtiitons - The facts showed that "the ■ tied-honse system was defended by all the brewers, with one. exception, andthat it was general north, of Dunedin, especially in Auckland, Wanganui, Wellington, and Canterbury. There were only two houses in Auckland not . tied. In other parts not less than -55 per cent. ‘ were tied, and sometimes as much as 70 per • cent., and Wellington only possessed about eight free houses. Tied houses were subjected to two rents—the lower in the case: , where the hotel agreed to take only the owner’s -beer, and the higher where more " than one beer was taken. . Quoting figures to show that high rents were paid for shod leases, such "as four years, Mr Rigg contended that tenants who bound themselves by such contracts were necessarily" compelled, in order to gain a livelihood, (b resort to action which, as licensees of free houses, they would not do. The claim'that the tied tenant got his beer cheaper simply meant an attempt to" punish ihe free licence or handicap him in competition.—The Hon. W. T. Jenninns,. in moving the adjournment of the debate till Friday. in order that the evidences taken before th Q (TominiTtee-, might be. before the Council, deprecated vio- . lent bursts of passion or prejudice, and accused Mr Rigg of sbppressio ve.ri. The adjournment till Friday was carried by 18 votes to 10.