HOTEL BARS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26485, 12 June 1947, Page 4

HOTEL BARS

REVERSION TO FORMER HOURS WAR MEASURE REVOKED SATURDAY AFTERNOON TRADE P.A. WELLINGTON, June 11. Hotel bars will now remain open all Saturday afternoon from next Saturday. This is the most important of the changes embodied in an Order-in-Council passed today, and to be Gazetted, to-mor-row, revoking certain war-time licensing restrictions. Announcing this to-night, the Minister of Justice, Mr Mason, said that so far as the hours of sale were concerned, the Order-in-Council simply revoked war-time restrictions and the law would revert to- what it was before the war. Hotels could now open during the former closed period from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, and also at the former morning hour of 9 o’clock each day instead of 10 o’clock. Minimum Penalties Mr Mason said the Licensing Act Emergency Regulations imposing penalties for after-hours trading were also revoked. The main reason was that they provided minimum penalties in matters for which proceedings might be taken by virtue of the provisions of the Licensing Act, under which there was no minimum penalty. Complaints had been frequent that arbitrary and improper power was left in the hands of the police to prosecute under the regulations involving a minimum penalty in cases where they would have, and, it was alleged, should have, prosecuted under the ordinary law. i In revoking these clauses that embodied minimum penalties, the Minister. said, the Government did not wish it to be supposed that the penalties provided by the ordinary licensmg law were necessarily regarded by the Government as sufficient. Whenit came to revising the law in the early future the whole subjecUwould be considered anew, but in the meantime the Government thought it desirable to get rid of the clauses ‘embodying the minimum penalty—to which provision objections were more than usually strong, in this instance by reason of the circumstance he had mentioned. Drinks for Lodgers Another provision of the war-time regulations that was revoked was the requirement for lodgers to sign written orders when ordering drinks after closing hours. Two obsolete provisions were those providing penalties for supplying liquor to soldiers at a hotel that had been declared out of bounds for them, and prohibiting the supply of liquor to fire-watchers. Both of these were, revoked by the present Order-in-Council. The last clause of the Order-in-Coun-cil revoked the war-time restrictions on advertising liquor. Newspaper advertisements had been restricted to two inches, and billboard advertisements had been entirely prohibited. All advertising restrictions had now been abolished.