THE LIQUOR PROBLEM

Evening Star, Issue 21785, 30 July 1934, Page 1

THE LIQUOR PROBLEM

ALLIANCE'S ANNUAL MEETING At its forty-seventh annual meetjng held in Wellington last week, the New Zealand Alliance, reaffirming its previous recommendations, resolved' in addition to bring before the Government the following for favourable consideration when licensing legislation is again before the House:— ■ That in view of the fact that public statements have been made, suggesting the redistribution of licenses and that any scheme of redistribution would inevitably mean _an increase in'the sale and consumption of alcoholic liquor, and that such increases ivould be contrary to the public welfare, this annua! meeting reaffirmsrits opposition to any, such redistribution and expresses its firm conviction that redundant licenses- should not be renewed.

The prevalent ignorance concerning the dangerous Effects of even small quantities of alcoholic liquor upon mental alertness, judgment, and care in driving,/- pronouncements from the bench iir pur courts, and the appalling toll of fatalities; and accidents on our* roads, call for action to strike effectively at one prolific source of danger by' enacting that the consumption of P el ' s Pn, in, charge of a mdtor vehicle-' shall be deemed an offence.' „ ' Attention is calied ,to the fact that whereas summary convictions are secured, in 82 per cent, of all prosecutions, records over a period of years show that in the case of the prosecution of hotelkeepers,, convictions are secured in only 50 per cent, of the cases. This is discouraging to the police in their efforts to secure observance of the law. The provisions of the licensing law in regard to the supplying of liquor to lodgers .’being a source of widespread abuse, the privilege of obtaining liquor, after 6 p.m. in hotels should be confined to the supplying of liquor with meals to bona fide resident diners in the dining room of the hotel up to 8 p;m. Thereafter the bar and all storage places for liquor should be required to be kept secui'ely locked until 9 a.m. the next day. The furnishing or supplying of liquor to any person by anybody on licensed premises .after 6 p.m., save as above provided, should be deemed an offence, except, that this shall not apply to the licensee supplying liquor'to the members of , his or her own family or demanded by residents in case of sudden sickness., , - , * Supervision is rendered difficult and law-breaking multiplied by subsidiary bars, including upstairs bars, which constitute evasions of the spirit and intent of the Licensing Act. ,1908. It should therefore be insisted that licensed hotels should have-only one bar and that this should be the only place from which liquor can be supplied or sold for consumption on 'the premises. The privileged position of ■ chartered dubs compared with licensed hotels, evasions of the law in other cases, and the need for checking the evil of liquor at dances, indicates the necessity ibr making chartered golf, bowling, and all other clubs of like nature, and all cabarets and dance halls, subject to inspection in the same manner as licensed premises, with a view to .eliminating the illegal sale and consumption of liquor thereat. That the Government be respectfully requested to instruct the .Electoral Commission that the no-license districts are not-to be subdivided and merged into licensing districts, as was done, for example, in the case of Ashburton. Mr Blanchard was unanimously reelected president. All the vice-presi-dents were re-elected, and tbe following were piected members of the Standing Committee: —Messrs T, C. Brash, F. W. Burton, Rdv. S. J. Campbell, O. R. Edmond, F. A. Feist, Sir William Hunt, A. H. Ivory, Misses CUE. Kirk, and M. M'Lean, Messrs R. S, Maunder, S. T. Martin, the Rev. H. J. Odell, H. E. Pacey, Mrs N. Peryman, tbe llev. W. Bramwell-Scott, Messrs N. 11. Seddon. F. C. Spratt, G. L. Stewart, T. B. Strong, the Rev. A. G. Saunders, and Mr B. H. Wood. Mr A. H. Ivory was re-elected treasurer.