HOTELKEEPER'S COMMENTS

Evening Star, Issue 18032, 28 July 1922, Page 6

HOTELKEEPER'S COMMENTS

recommendations mostly ■ FAVORED. PRESENT ANOMALIES. A well-known local hotelkeeper who was approached! by a reporter obligingly went through the recommendations of the Parliamentary Licensing Committee and l commented upon them from the hotelkeepers’ point of view. There was a necessity, lie stated* at the outset, for a redistribution of licenses. In Reefton, for example, there were sixteen hotels, where two would be ample for requirements, while in other places where there were one or two hotels there was room for more. Particularly on the West Coast was there a number of towns with an excess of licenses. On the other hand, there were some towns in the North Island that should have more.

The clause which provided that the system of fiat rate licensing fees be abolished and the fees based on the percentage of liquor sold was thought to be an equitable one. One hotel in the dominion which employed eighty hands paid the same licensing fee 'as the hotel with practically no staff. There was a big anomaly there. In regard to the clause dealing with goodwill, our informant staled! that one specific hotel in Dunedin would not be worth more than £lO a- week at the outside as a private hotel. The rent, goodwill, and rates pf this place came'to about £4O a week. The matter of the goodwill was a very difficult one for hotelkeepers, and something should he, done. The excessive goodwill made it difficult for hotelkeepers to carry on. For instance, whisky whidh before the war cost 18s a gallon and 18s duty to-day cost 36s a gallon and! duty. That worked, out that on every bottle the Government received ss. It was just a question of how long some licensees could continue.

In regard to the cilanso dealing with tied houses, there were no tied houses in Otago, and such a clause would have no effect here. There was not a single house owned by the breweries, and every licensee was free to purchase his own liquor. Speaking of the clause referring to the King Country, our informant said that there was a 'pronouncedi feeling that the people there should he allowed a. vole on tho question. Four hotels did tho whole of tho business of that part of the country, and no doubt evils existed there. To every hotelkeeper who wished , to conduct his house properly tho clause regarding a more effective'inspection of liquor would bo welcomed, he added. Tho present Act, however, provided for tlm inspection of liquor. Tho machinery wan there, but no officers had been appointed l . In view of the fact that the liquor was purchased from merchants, tho liquor at the merchants’ should ho inspected as well as that in. the hotels. Tho clause vhich asked that transfer of a license should not bo allovvdi under three years, except under very special circumstances, was net favorably looked upon. It was considered that an hotelkeeper should he in the same position as an ordinary business man. Tiro clause asking that if Prohibition was carried it should.not come into forte for four years was considered a good one. The present position in Dunedin, our informant pointed out, was a serious one. A Housing Committee had had to be set up some five years ago so that people couM be accommodated in Carnival Week ■and at show time. Wo were hopelessly short of accommodation in Otago—m Dunedin in’ particular. Reform in this respect, however, could not bo expected unless hotelkeepers had some security of tenure. Those in a position to know estimated that two million pounds would be spent if Prohibition were not carried and security of tenure given, as suggested in tho clause. As far as Duneiin was concerned, it was no secret that preliminary plans had bee® prepared for an hotel

which would be one of ;he most up-to-date in the dominion. Of course, the hotelkeeper was not to spend'the money if there was a- chance ‘of his being turned out.

Clause 13 ■was looked upon as a pood one. Several instances nad occurred of men getting hotels who were hopelessly incompetect. Hotelkeepers naturally wanted to safeguard their own interests by'having desirable men in the business. Clause 19, dealing with barmen and barmaids, w r as also a good one. One- of the principal reforms that was desirable, concluded the ipeaker, was the redistribution of licenses. If a meuritv of tenure were obtained he saw no reason why a certain standard should not to fixed as regarded accommodation. It would then be obligatory upon the Ikenseo to find accommodation, which would no decided upon by some tribunal. In regard to hours, he-thought citmtry hotels suffered hardships. Country _ people were all at work from 9 o’clock till 6. There could bo -a curtailment of the ■ hours in the morning and an increase at night. ,At present there were a groat many anomalies. Some of them would be got over by the suggestions of the committee; but there were others which would i ave to )>o dealt with. He took it the proposals would bo the basis of legislation to ho brought bolore the House.