TRADE TOPICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VI, Issue 303, 14 May 1896, Page 9

TRADE TOPICS.

The trade of Glasgow have presented 200 guineas, to be expended in cups for competition by the local agricultural society. Mrs Cranmer, licensee of the Criterion Hotel at Bulls, Rangitikei district; has been fined £1 for allowing a game of billiards to be played in the hotel after hours.

Mr R. Crabb, the New Zealand lecturer for the Grand Lodge, 1.0.G.T., has resigned his appointment, which has been offered to and accepted by Mr Thomas Walker, of Sydney.

Mr Crossey, licensee of the Terminus Hotel, Wellington, has issued a writ for libel, claiming £5OO damages against Mr Crabb, temperance lecturer, for alleged slanderous statements in an address on Sunday, 3rd inst.

At a political meeting, held in a Scottish town recently, a Scotch shoemaker, with a local reputation for humour, asked one of the candidates for parliamentary honours the foliowig poser : —“ls Maister Wulson in favour of spending thairty-six millions on the army and navy an’ only twelve millions on education; that is to say twelve millions for pittin’ brains in and thirty-six millions for blawin’ brains oot.”

Perhaps one of the best-known hotels on the Wellington-Taranaki Coast is Mrs Hastie’s Feilding Hotel. So familiar has the proprietress name become among the large number of people who have put up at the* hotel, not to mention the hundreds of commercial travellers, that it is more frequently called Hastie’s Hotel than the Feilding Hotel. Mrs Hastie has resided in Feilding for many years now, and, having conducted her house in first-class style, she has become deservedly popular. The Feilding Club have rooms at the hotel, and everything is kept up to date. The stabling accommodation attached to the hotel is alwavs acknowledged as being about the best in the district.

Miss McCallum has held the license of the Railway Hotel, at Hawera, for the last few years, and during that time she has altered all the interior downstairs portion of the house, so as to give greater comfort to her many patrons. The outside of the house also shows improvement, and. old residents in theEgmont district would hardly know the house. As Miss McCallum’s house adjoins the Hawera Railway Station, one can understand its convenience for travellers, especially by early trains.

The Hon. Mr Hall-Jones, speaking on the prohibition question, said he was a prohibitionist, but confessed to his not being a total abstainer from alcoholic liquor. He made that statement, as he did not want to sail under false colours. Says the North Otago Times, prohibitionists generally will not tolerate liquor at all; and we have to admit that the prohibition of Mr HallJones and kindred prohibitionists is a very accommodating creed. When a man can profess prohibition and take a “ nip ’’ there is no inconveifience about the acceptance of this doctrine by the veriest toper.

Mr George E. Rhodes is the new landlord of the United Service Hotel, adjoining the Opera House. We are glad to welcome Mr Rhodes amongst the licensed victuallers, and we are also pleased to see he has selected such a first-class hotel, and feel sure that this well-known hostelry will lose none of its popularity while in his name. The “ hot counter luncheon” from 11 a.m. to 12 noon, is quite a speciality, and the appetising little things that are daintily spread out, take away all one’s appetite for lunch at 12 p.m. or 1 p.m. The “ Cafe lunch” is on from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., and is a great spread for the money. Families and visitors to the house will receive every attention, and will feel just the same as if they were at home. When there is any performance on at the Opera House adjoining, an electric bell will ring in the hotel two minutes before the rise of the curtain at the interval, so that those who have to leave the Opera House at the interval, to “ see a man about a dog,” will find this arrangement very handy.

Nottingham (England) magistrates recently had Charles Marshall, landlord of the Jolly Anglers’ Inn, Plumptree Street, before them for permitting gaming on the 28th February, and also for keeping his house openduring prohibited hours on the same date. Five other men were also summoned for being on the premises during prohibited hours. On the morning of the 28th Februry, at a quarter to one, the attention of a policeman was attracted to the premises, and looking through a window he saw several persons in a room playing cards. He saw money pass, and heard calls for drinks. The men were playing “ banker.” There was money and a card-board and glasses on the table. The proprietor said that they had all been shooting, and he had invited his friends to supper. The defendant said he had carried on business as a licensed victualler in Nottingham for a period of sixteen years to the satisfaction of his landlady, and, he believed, to the satisfaction of the police. These men were really his private friends, and their evidence supported this statement. After retirement, Aid. Pullman said the magistrates had given the case very careful consideration, and they had come to the conclusion that the party was a private party, at the invitation of the landlord, and there was nothing against the defendants, who were charged with being on the premises. But they felt that the landlord had permitted card playing for money, and on that charge a fine of £5 would be imposed on Marshall, but the license would not be endorsed. The other defendants wonld be discharged. The decision of the Bench was received in court with some applause, which was promptly suppressed.