INQUIRY HELD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17573, 25 June 1925, Page 8

INQUIRY HELD.

CULVERDEN HOTEL. EVIDENCE BY POLICE. Evidence concerning iTm conduct of the Culverden Hotel Avas led by the police at a. meeting of the llurunui Licensing Comm ft tee at Amberley today. At the annual meeting the committee adjourned consideration of the application of Bernard John Doidii< h fur a rencAval of the license on account of an adverse report by Constable Lamb. Mr Sargent appeared for the licensee. Senior-Sergeant Lcavi'ii for the police, and Air Hall on behalf of the owners, Manning and Co. Robert Anthony Ho.ban, farmer, ( liivei'den, gave evidence that in April ol last year lie had a ploughman in his employ. Ihe man was a. good Avorknian and lor the first six months lie never left the place. Then lie used to stay away, ami U> talked about tii«- Culverden Hotel. Air Sargent i bjcct.ed to the nature of this oA'idenee. The Senior Sergeant: Did he always come back at night time? ’Witness: The lost time he was awav lor two days. Was there anything else? -At six o clock one morning L had to pick him off the verandah of the house. lie Avas under the influence. The witness sanl that, the man was in his employ before the present licensee took over and he never gave any trouble then. In reply to Air Sargent, the witness said he had not complained to Dcidrich, but he told Constable Lamb in April 1924. ’ .Alfred Gabb. carpenter, who had been residing in the Culverden district and Avas a boarder from November till February at the hotel, said he left because he preferred private life. The Senior Sergeant: Did you get good food there? Witness: Everything seemed to be right till February when they lost the cook and tAvo of the best waitresses. The chairman (Air Wvvern Wilson S.M.I; When was that? Witness: About the end of February when the All Blacks were coming back. The Misses M'Cleary went away t u meet Brian. The Senior Sergeant : How was the house conducted?--! used to go to bed. Occasionally it was a bad time. There were harvesters and shearers. They a bad lot- from my point of vicAv. There Avcre a few disturbances. Did you compain about it?—l spoke to Dcidrich but not seriouslv. The witness said that Dcidrich asked him to fix up a doss for these men at the back and he did so, but the* licensee could not keep them there. The Chairman: What was the reason for their behaviour? Were they intoxicated ? —-Some of them got drunk 311 daytime and they became a nuisance at night. The Senior Sergeant: During meal hours was there any complaint? Some of them would be the worse of drink and others would be all right. John Briggs, a commercial travel!;.*, said he had been a traveller for twentyfive years. The .conditions at the Culvcrd.cn Hotel he considered were the Avorst he had ever struck. He complained about his room. The sheets Avcre dirty, there were no pilloAv cases and the room was dirty. He had staved there since and had secured a better room. The food was not too well cooked: he liked his food well cooked, as his teeth were not too good. The Senior Sergeant: Have you ever been disturbed at night time? Witness: There was always somebody knocking about the passage, but I never got up to see what was the matter. Mr Sargent: When were you fir:t asked to give evidence? 'Witness: I was a voluntary man. Oliver D. C-ruickshanks. district health inspector, said that lie visited the hotel on April 15. It Avas in a dirty state. Counsel for the licensee objected on the ground that the matters mentioned by the health inspector had since been remedied. Alfred Hill, who was working in Culverden for a short period, said that he complained about the meals. He coukl not get enough of what was going, and tiie breakfast was late in the mornings. He had not complained to the licensee because he did not think it was his place to do so. 11c and his companions were workers. The liar closed at six o’clock and they had to dins with the ‘ drunks.” Thomas William Barker, a sawmiller, about seven miles out of Culverden, said that some of his men had given trouble through liquor. They would not turn up on Monday mornings. On more than one occasion he had to let the mill stand idle because the men Averc not fit to work. The barman at the Culverden Hotel used to work for witness. Recently he brought a jar of beer to the mill. Witness objected and the barman replied that there was not enough to hurt the men. He had seen some of his men in the Culverden Hotel while he had been passing therein reply to Mr Sargent the witness said he hacl no complaint against Deidrich. There was another hotel just about as close to the mill as the Culverden Hotel Avas, and he had known his men to go there. William George Evans, aged nineteen, said he had worked in the Culverden district and had visited the hotel to see Mr M’Cleary, senr. lie had taken ATr A!’Cleary some eels. The Senior-Sergeant: Did you have any refreshment? No, nothing at all in regard to eating. Anything to drink? Beer and a shandy and a gin. The chairman: llow many?—Sometimes a fair few and sometimes one or The Senior-Sergeant: The drinks were given to you? —Sometimes the other men who were there made me shout. Did you know the' other men? Some of them Avcre farmers and some were labourers. Air Sargent: Who approached you to give evidence. The chairman said that it might be gathered from the report of the constable, who had said he Avas informed that a youth of eighteen used to spend all his earnings at the hotel. The witness said that the statement that he spent all his earnings at the hotel was wrong. (Frocceding.)