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MEETINGS HELD DURING THE PERIOD ' Seven meetings were held during the period, besides several committee meetings. A number of inspections of properties and localities were also made. In addition, members attended public meetings at Mayfield and Mount Somers where discussions took place on the requirements of those districts regarding accommodation and sales of liquor. The Trust has been fortunate in obtaining the co-operation of the Ashburton Borough Council which consented to the appointment of the Town Clerk as Interim Secretary, together with the use of its office for meetings and of its typist and office appliances. The Trust wishes to record its appreciation of and thanks for such ready and willing co-operation and of the efficiency and care with which the staff have performed their tasks and conserved the interests of the Trust. A solicitor and architect have been appointed and it is anticipated that the services of a general manager will be required in the near future. Licensing Trusts at Invercargill and Masterton having been in operation for some years it was thought advisable to confer with those bodies and seek their advice. Consequently, Mr. E. B. Barnett, General Manager of the Masterton Trust, at our invitation, spent some days in Ashburton, and after an inspection of the locality provided the Trust with much valuable advice and information. Information will also be sought from the Invercargill Trust. THE ASHBURTON TRUST DISTRICT The area of the district comprises the Ashburton County (less that portion served by the Methven, Rakaia, and Chertsey licensed hotels), the Ashburton Borough, and Tinwald Town District with a population in the vicinity of 13,000. This population, however, is unevenly spread, there being approximately 8,500 in the borough, 700 in Tinwald, and 4,000 in the county. The main centres of the county within the Trust District are Mount Somers (thirty miles), Mayfield (twenty-two miles), and Hinds (twelve miles) from Ashburton, with a population of only a few hundred in each, but are centres of highly-developed and prosperous districts. HOTELS Prior to prohibition being carried in 1902, there were six licensed hotels in the Ashburton Borough in addition to the Ashburton Club and M.S.A., a chartered club, while liquor was also sold at the railway refreshment-rooms, and there were five hotels in the country districts now served by the Trust. They were as follows : Somerset Hotel, corner East and Burnett Streets. Commercial Hotel, corner East and Peter Streets. Central Hotel, Victoria Street. Devans Hotel, corner Havelock and Cass Streets. Royal Hotel, Moore Street. Ashburton Hotel, East Street, near Bridge. Hotels at Tinwald, Winslow, Waterton, Mount Somers, and Alford Forest. Since then most of these premises have disappeared, there being only four now in existence : Commercial Hotel, now converted into flats. Grand Central, formerly known as Central Hotel. Somerset Hotel. Mount Somers Hotel.

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