LIQUOR CONTROL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21852, 24 October 1945, Page 3

LIQUOR CONTROL

CENTRAL BOARD PLAN TRADE’S OPPOSITION REPLY TO N.Z. ALLIANCE (P.A.) WEELLINGTON, Oct. 24. Suggestions for the appointment of a central liquor control board were opposed by Mr, H. F. O’Leary. K.C., continuing his final address on behalf of the National Council of the Licensed Trade before the Royal Commission on Licensing yesterday. He submitted that such a board was not wanted except by those who loved bureaucracy or wanted to hamper the trade. The Alliance, which wanted a board to embarrass the trade, had the hardihood to suggest that no one with any interest in the liquor trade should be eligible for a seat on it. It would be a pretty state of affairs if no one with an interest in the meat or dairy industries could have a seat on the Meat Board and the Dairy Board. The Alliance did not want to get rid of the licensing committees and therefore sought to justify the setting up of a new board by creating work for it and suggesting that it should overhaul leases and look into the question of goodwills. Endorsement of Licenses That, said Mr. O'Leary, was quite unnecessary and was intended merely to harass the licensed trade. Some antiliquor witnesses had suggested that provision should be made for the endorsement of licenses for all offences against the liouor laws. That, submitted Mr. O’Leary, was unnecessary and was going too far. At present endorsement could be ordered for any offence, but the court, as was right, had Ihe power to exercise discretion and deal with each case on its merits. Ihe existing provisions for endorsement were drastic and effective. The Alliance suggestions for the “padlocking” of hotels would mean punishing local residents for no offence of theirs. Use of Eccr Brc.ts

Referring to allegations of the use of beer dregs, Mr. O’Leary said reputable licensees throughout the Dominion were indignant at the thought and would welcome any regulation or legislation that would eliminate the possibility of such a thing happening, if incleed it had happened. He had read a resolution to that effect which had been adopted by the Emergency Committee of the National Council in Wellington. The commission, he suggested, might well consider recommending some such regulation without necessarily coming to any conclusion as to whether or not the practice had actually been carried on at certain hotels.

The trade believed there was a need for the redistribution of licenses, but that, if that were done, the number of existing licenses was sufficient for present-dav requirements.