BREWERY WASTAGE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 86, 12 April 1945, Page 3

BREWERY WASTAGE

COMMISSION ENQUIRIES INTO ■ ALLOWANCES USE OF SPIRITS OF WINE (P.A.) Wellington, April 11. i Cross-examination of Customs offi- ( cers was continued before the Royal . Commission on Licensing to-day. Mr. A. J. Johnston ■was questioned by Mr. R. Hardie Boys, for the New ' Zealand Alliance, about 10 per cent. L of the beer brews allowed as wastage' 1 and exempted from payment of duty. ; It seemed wrong, said the chairman, •' Mr. Justice Smith, that a brewery; with a wastage of only 2.5 per cent.' .should be allowed wastage of 10 per ; cent. Had the Department’s officials [made any recommendations to the ■ Minister? he asked. ! *- Mr. Johnston produced a report i 1 submitted by the Comptroller of Cus- • toms, Mr. E. D. Good, to the acting i Minister of Customs, Mr. Nordmeyer, 5 in June, 1942. c It was estimated, said Mr. Good, that J in 23 breweries the wastage was 10 \ ner cent, or less. In the remaining £ 17 breweries it was more than 10 per s cent. The highest Wastage was at a t Gore brewery (21.62 per cent.), and \ the lowest at the Waitemata brewery il (2.56 per cent.). h After explaining the impossibility of h arriving at an accurate assessment of wastage in individual cases, Mr. Good s said: “It would be very unwise to ac- t cept as the basis of an allowance for y loss a figure that cannot be checked. ( Tne best way, from the administrative { point of view, is to retain the present , system of an arbitrary allowance, , which relieves them of responsibility l r of constant supervision of brewery ‘ processes, which go on night and day. c If any alteration were made to the existing basis of the allowance it would upset the arrangement between ' the Government and the breweries in - regard to the retail price per measure J of beer.” J Witness said no further action had 1 been taken. < His Honour: Do you accept, the view 1 that adjustment is desirable? Witness: I say that it is neither de- 1 sirable, nor necessary. In fact, it ; would not make any difference to the 1 financial position of the breweries. i His Honour: Here is a brewery with a production of 4,600,000 gallons, and I an actual wastage of only 2.5 per cent., i getting an allowance of 10 per cent, for < wastage, and you say nothing should c be done about jt? Witness: The only way would be to r take the actual wastage, but that r . would be too difficult to administer. j Witness was questioned about an s allegation that the sugar used in the i manufacture of illicit spirits had been I supplied by an official of Ballins Brew- c cries, Christchurch. He denied that his department had been “frustrated” t when an investigation into Ballin’s f stocks of sugar was proposed. Subse- j quent.lv an investigation was made by.j the Rationing Office. L Witness added that certain letters } on his file were marked “confidential.” j t( l don’t care about that,” said His . Honour. “We want the Whole file put * in. These are matters that concern j the people of New Zealand, especially in relation to rationing. We want to * know what these departments have > ( been doing.” 1 . Witness read a letter from the Ra- j '■ tioning Office stating that, an investi-1 gation of Ballin’s stocks did not dis- ■ close any evidence of misuse of sugar. I Witness was also questioned about ‘ the quantity of spirits of wine sold to • Ballin’s by a man named Morris, and , bought bv him from H. F. Stevens, J Lid., and Kempthorne, Prosser, Ltd. I The spirits of wine had been imported : by those firms under licences for j. goods listed as essential medical sup-i] nlies. Mr. Hardie Boys: If Kempthorne, I < Prosser. Ltd. had ‘applied for a licence ,; to import the spirits of wine to sellI:to Ballin’s to make liqueurs, you would ■ have refused it? Witness: Definitely. In reply to further questions, witness said i hat under one licence Kempthorne, Prossers had imported 1029 j gallons of spirits of wine. Of that quantity 741 gallons had gone to Bal- ■ lin’s through Morris. It was alleged ; that the spirits of wine was used in j the manufacture of beverage spirits, ; but Ballin’s explained that none of it. ' had been used for that purpose, and ; that it. had all been used in making: flavouring essences.