MEN IN LIQUOR TRADE

Southland Times, Issue 25680, 24 May 1945, Page 4

MEN IN LIQUOR TRADE

THREE BENEFACTORS TO AUCKLAND

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, May 23. Agreement that three men who had been prominent in the liquor trade in New Zealand had been great benefactors to the city was voiced by George Matthew Fowlds, president of the New Zealand Tourist League, when answering Mr G. W. Hutchison, a member of the Royal Commission on Licensing, at this morning’s sitting. The witness agreed that Sir John Logan Campbell, a former Mayor and founder of Campbell, Ehrenfried and Company, had made many generous gifts to Auckland, including Cornwall Park, valued at probably £150,000. Sir Arthur Myers, a director of the same company, had given Myers Park. Mr Moss Davis, managing director of Hancock and Company, had made gifts of statues and paintings. Mr Hutchison: Do you think it was quite fair for an earlier witness to describe them as “beer barons,” only interested in beer houses. Do you think that was a rather sweeping statement? The witness: Yes.

Questioned, the witness agreed that the present Government held the heads of the liquor trade in Auckland in higher esteem than was indicated by the evidence of a previous witness. Sir Ernest Davis had been knighted on the recommendation of the present Government and Mi' H. J. Kelliher had been appointed a Government representative on the directorate of the Bank of New Zealand.