ANOTHER HOTEL FOR NEWTOWN. Do the People Want It ?

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 99, 24 May 1902, Page 8

ANOTHER HOTEL FOR NEWTOWN. Do the People Want It ?

A VERY direct and emphatic " No " is returned to this question by the public meeting which was held in the Victoria Hall on Tuesday night. Taking that meeting as a fanreflex of popular opinion, the residents of the district not only do not want a new hotel in addition to the two that already exist, but they manifest a veiy strong determination to prevent such an institution being forced upon them And yet a building designed for that very purpose is now in course of erection at the corner of St >kes and Rintoul Streets. Mr. J. P. Luke, who is a member of the City Council, suggested to the meeting that the appro\ - al of the Corporation to the plans had been secured by means of a subterfuge. In other words, the statement was appended to the original plans that the building was intended for a residence or restaurant. * • • At any rate, the purpose of the structure is now clear and the modus operandi for securing the license is said to be to apply for a transfer to the new house of the license formerly held by the Rainbow Hotel, Kaiwarra. So far only two reasons have been as signed why a third hotel should be licensed in Newtown. Both of them are contained in anonymous letters published in the " Post." " Health " writes expressing warm satisfaction at the project of equipping the proposed new hotel with special bath houses and dressing rooms for the convenience of footballers and others who use the Athletic Park. » * # This excuse is altogether too thin. The Rugby Union has expressly declared that it needs no hotel accomodation of the sort. Of course, it doesn't. The players after finishing thenSaturday games get to their homes as quickly as possible, and if they require baths they are not at all likely to repair to a hotel for them. Nor do the public who resort to the Athletic Park on Saturday afternoons need a hotel in the immediate vicinity to cater for their refreshment or comfort. If they are oppressed with thirst or feel in want of a stimulant after watching a game of football they have not far to go to get their wants supplied. * ♦ • The other reason advanced for the establishment of this hotel is equally meretricious. It is contained in the letter of another anonymous writer calling himself " Moderation,'" who raises the claptrap cry of Monopoly. He says Newtown with a population of 10,000 has only two hotels and he urges the people to arise and break up this monopoly — presumably by planting a hotel at evei'y street corner, for he wishes everyone to understand that " the Act distinctly says there may be one hotel for every 700 persons." In other words, Newtown would be right up to statutory form if it had fourteen hotels. * » * Everything, however, points to the fact that an attempt is being made to foist a new drinking shop upon the people of Newtown in defiance of the vote they cast at the last local option poll. They have not altered their vote against an increase of licenses. No one has asked for an additional hotel there. The need assigned — provision for meeting the wants of the football public — is scouted and repudiated by the Rugby Union. To open a new hotel at Newtown by transferring a lapsed license from Kaiwarra without

insisting that a clear need must be shown to exist tor lr, would be a clumsy e\asion and uolation of the spnit, of the Act and the principle of local option. The matter comes before the Licencing Committee on June 4th. Unless a \ery strong case is made out by the apphcanis, showing that the hotel is a public necessity, and is demanded by a majority of the residents, the license ought to be refused. The last hotel established in Newtown was licensed in the face of strong opposition. On this occasion the residents are acting with great ugour and resolution. If they don't want a publichouse established in their midst we cannot see why one should be thrust upon them. And if public opinion is flouted in the matter time will bring in its revenges as it a' ways does.