WAIWERA HOTEL

Northern Advocate, 8 July 1925, Page 3

WAIWERA HOTEL

LICENSE IN JEOPARDY.

ANOTHER CHANCE GIVEN.

• The adjourned annual meeting of the Marsden Licensing Committee took place yesterday afternoon, Mr. R. W. Tate, S.M., presiding over an attendance of Messrs. C. R. Lovatt, N. Finlayson, J. H. Hayward, E. O. Wea\ er and J. E. Holmes.

There was a long hearing of an application by Theodore Jephcoate (Mr. Steadman) for renewal of a publican s license for the Springs Hotel at Waiwera, which had been withheld from time to time owing to the demands of the committee for repairs to be effected not having .been complied with. Mr. Cooper appeared for the owner of the hotel, Wenzl Scholium. Opening the case, Senior-Sergeant O'Grady stated that Constable Snow, the officer in charge of the Waiwera district, had reported that the repairs required by the committee had not received attention. The repairs included

provision of sound fire escapes, painting of rooms and repairs to ceilings and spouting. The water came through the roof, which was in a bad state. Constable Snow, of Warkworth, said that he had reported against the condition of the Springs Hotel in last June. He was at the hotel on Sunday last and all the fire escapes were not then repaired. They were positively dangerous where the work had not been done. The staging had rotted through, while the ceiling repairs and papering of rooms had not received any attention. Witness was of opinion that the building was sinking at the foundations and the dining room had a lean which indicated that that was so. Rain water ran under the' building in several places, and the condition of the rooms, with water running in, would not improve matters from a health point of view. Cross-examined by Mr. Cooper, witness said fhat some of the fire escapes had been repaired; probably three part 3 were in good order. It was absurd to suggest that all the new material was on the ground except two pieces. He would not like to say that the job would be completed by erection of a further 26i .feet of escapes.

Senior-Sergeant O 'Grady said that there were 21 rooms mentioned in the original police report as requiring re pairs. Mr. Cooper's copy mentioned only 16 rooms, but it was explained thsft one line had been misled in copying. In reply to Mr. Steadman, witness said that Jephcoate was the best licensee he had had under his control, and he had run the hotel well. Witness agreed that it would be absurd to attend to the rooms until the spouting was repaired, owing to the water beating in and running down the walls. Mr. Cooper interposed that it was admitted that no repairs other than renewal of the fire escapes had been undertaken. However, he wished to remove any impression that nothing had been done at all, as a good deal had been. It would be recognised that a

higher state of repair of a hotel was necessary than merely that which was provided by the Act. The proprietor Scholium really wished to put the place into the state of repair required bv the terms of the lease, and that entailed a good deal of work. Some time ago Scholium gave instructions to a plumber to put in new fire escapes. He had had the idea at first of putting m tubular escapes, but subsequently cancelled the arrangements in order to put in solid galvanised material. He deemed the change necessary owing to the action of the sea air. It had taken some time to make the escapes, as there were two processes involved. Architects had prepared a report upon the building and in addition to the tenant's requirements a number of structural alterations had been included which would improve the hotel generally.

The Magistrate interjected that the situation before the Board was that the police had raised an objection to renewal of the license, because the repairs demanded had not been carried out. y Mr. Cooper responded that Scholium had arranged for much more to be done than would meet the police requirements, but, as Constable Snow had said, it was useless to have some repairs made in the meantime, as they would be spoiled. The- Magistrate outlined the position as being that 13 months ago the Board made certain requests and Jiad expected to have them carried out. Continuing, Mr. Cooper stated that an estimate of cost of the work had had received last week; too late to call tenders and get the work under way in the intervening period. Part of the burden would fall on the tenant, and therefore it was asked that such time be given the owner that he could get a tender by competition. In the winter season there were very few guests in the house and there would be no hardship on the public if Scholium were given a reasonable time to get the work done. A competent architect had been given a free hand to put the in a thorough state of repair. He suggested that the matter be held over until the next quarterly meeting.

Mr. Steadman submitted that the case was very similar to th&t of the Duke of Marlborough Hotel at Russell, where a license had been recovered on appeal. If the granting of the license were adjourned until the next quarterly meeting or'left in abeyance from month to month it would enable the work to be done. Wenzl Scholium, owner of the hotel, said that he had not righk through

the schedule of repairs and improvements prepared by the architects, as he preferred to give them a free hand to do all that was possible. He desifed an opportunity to get tenders for the ; work. For a year or so he had con- | ferred with the architects, but the woric ! had not been put in hand earlier as witness did not wish to unduly press it. upon the licensee to have the work done during the busy season. He had no recollection of receiving any notices in connection with the repairs being necessary, until last March. In reply to Senior-Sergeant O'Grady, witness said that he intended to have the renovations made in accordance with the schedule. After retiring to consider the matter, the chairman announced that the committee had reached the following determination:—That the application be further adjourned until September 8, on the understanding that a contract be let for completion, the signed contr ct to be submitted to the committee and reasonable progress to have been made by that date. It was pointed out that on more than-one occasion the committee had seriously considered cancellation of the license on account of works required not having been done, and it waß emphasised that the members of the committee had not retired from that view

KAMO RENEWAL GRANTED. As the police requirements in regard to cleaning up a store room at the Ivamo Hotel had been carried out, the application of E. B. Morey (Mr. Carruth) for renewal of a publican s license for that house was granted.