HOTEL BAR HOURS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22356, 14 June 1947, Page 4

HOTEL BAR HOURS

INVERCARGILL DECISION (P.A.) INVERCARGILL. June 14. The 10 o’clock opening in the morning will continue to be observed by bars and bottle stores in Invercargill. This decision was reached at a meeting of the Invercargill Licensing Trust when it was also decided that apart from the store near Rugby Park, all bars and bottle stores in the city would be open ‘between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Few people would complain if premises were not opened at 9 o’clock in the morning, said the chairman, Mr. H. Ritchie.

Following a statement by Mr. T. F. Doyle, M.L.C., that a trust hotel must be opened according to the hours specified, it was pointed out that the Act only specified that bars should be closed between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m., but that the time of opening was not laid down. It was considered at the meeting that the Act made the time of the opening optional.

Mr. Ritchie expressed the opinion that the trust should not encourage drinking at Rugby Park, and if the store were opened the trust would receive a great amount of criticism. “If the law makes it optional, then we will not open,” he said.