WESTLAND BREWERIES

Grey River Argus, 27 April 1945, Page 2

WESTLAND BREWERIES

PENALTIES FOR LAW BREACHES. EXPLANATION' TO LICENSING COMMISSION. P.A. WELLINGTON, April 26. An explanation of why the licence of Westland Breweries was not cancelled when the Minister of Customs imposed penalties for breaches of the law was given to the Royal Commission on Licensing by the Controller of Customs, Mi-. E. D. Good. Offences which resulted in the imposition of penalties, he said, were committed by servants of the company at the Reefton brewery and at the Kumara brewery. No evidence could be found to show that the Manager of the Company or the Directors were aware, of or connived at the offences, though the management of the Company was negligent. Of the paid-up capital of £55,000, the Directors held only shares to the total value of £5,844. The share capital was held by 229 shareholders, their average holding amounting to £240, Cancellation of the Company's brewer’s licence would have been an unduly harsh penalty on the shareholders of the Company for offences of which the Company had no knowledge. The real offenders were the two brewers, and the Minister imposed penalties of £5O and £25 respectively on them, and directed that the Company be informed that as the brewers had shown by their conduct that they were not persons of good character and reputation to act in general or special management or control of a brewery, the brewers’ licences held by the Company in respect of their three breweries would not be renewed for the year 1942' if those men were in the Company’s employ when application was made for such renewal. The Company was unable to obtain a new brewer for its Kumara brewery, and the Company was thus forced ‘to cease its brewing at that brewery. The licence for this brewery was allowed to lapse for the year 1945. “On a careful consideration of the evidence available, I felt that I could not have recommended to the Minister that the brewers’ licences held by the Company should have been cancelled,” said Mr. Good. He went on to explain different circumstances which led to the cancellation of licences in two other cases.