TRADE TOPICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 464, 15 June 1899, Page 18

TRADE TOPICS.

Two prohibited persons were before the Auckland S.M. on Monday. Charles James Cater was fined 40s and 9s costs for being found on the premises known as the Globe Hotel, and Margaret Wilkie for being found on the premises of the Grand Hotel was cautioned by Mr Hutchinson and discharged.

Mr William Carroll, the licensee of the Masonic Hotel. Cambridge, was brought up at the Auckland Police Court on Monday, on a charge of murdering his wife. A remand was granted and to-day—Thursday—the prisoner will appear before the Cambridge magistrate.

The Bay of Islands District Licensing Committee met on Friday last. The much talked of Kaihu case came before the committee, and after a long hearing the application of Messrs Hancock and Co. was granted by a majority of the committee. The petition asking for a license was signed by 250 people, and it was backed up by the native population. Mr Blomfield, of Kawakawa, appeared for Messrs Hancock and Co., and Mr McLeod, of Dargaville, represented the opposition. Many witnesses were called on both sides, and the Rev. W. Gittos was very urgent in his appeal to the committee not to grant the license. But the members were not to be per.-, suadtd against their convictions, and they granted the application believing that by doing so they would do much to sweep away the extensive slygrog selling which has prevailed in the district. All the other applications were granted with the exception of that of the accommodation house at Waima, and that of the Masonic Hotel, Kawakawa, which will be closed now that the Kaihu and Hohoura houses have licenses.

At the annual meeting of the Eden Licensing Committee, held at Devonport on Monday, renewals were granted to the licensees of the Avondale, Arch Hill, Flagstaff, and Devonport Hotels. In the case of Mrs Hertz, who applied for a license for the New Lynn Hotel, it was stated that the magistrate had declined to sign the applicant’s certificate on the ground that she had been convicted for trading after hours. After the members of the committee had intimated that they considered the case a very hard one and that a trap had been laid for Mrs Hertz, it was decided to grant the license on condition that Mrs Hertz disposed of her interest in the hotel before the next quarterly meeting of the committee. The eleven o’clock extension was granted to the licensees of the Flagstaff and Masonic Hotels, who were “also granted the privilege of extinguishing their lamps at eleven o’clock. Transfers of the licenses of the Northcote Hotel to W. F. Burr, and the Lake Hotel to John Bogue, were granted subject to necessary repairs being effected in each case.

The Commercial Hotel, Mossburn, Invercargill, was destroyed by fire early on Monday morning. The licensee discovered the outbreak just in time to get his wife and family and other inmates out safely. The whole of the cash, jewellery, and furniture was lost.

The following renewals were granted at the annual meeting of the Taieri Licensing Committee heid last week;—A. H. O’Keeffe, Outram Hotel, Outram; W. H. Anderson, Terminus Hotel, Outram; W. Gleeson, Green Island Hotel, Green Island ; Adam Houlston, Commercial Hotel, Green Island; John Ross, Kaikorai Hotel, Burnside ; John Crane, Coach and Horses Hotel, Saddle Hill; Elizabeth O’Kane, Mosgiel Hotel, Mosgiel; William Knott, Railway Hotel, Mosgiel ; E. C. Peters, Strath Taieri Hotel, Middlemarch; A. A. Webb, Railway Hotel, Middlemarch.

The wine and spirit trade keeps fairly good, says the Wine, Spirit, and Tobacco News, and most distributing houses report business well up to the average, in some instances showing an improvement on corresponding months of last year. Several lines have advanced in price, some from scarcity of stocks here and not affected by prices at the seat of production, others from diminution in supply to London, and others from freight matters. The winter is almost upon us, and ales have become much less in demand, whilst spirits are having their turn, and all whisky agents arc pushing their various brands with great persistency. There have been a few failures, but the amounts involved have not been large, and have not disturbed the security of traders in the business doing. Travellers have been for a time withdrrwn from the far West, awaiting a more favourable season, which we trust is close at hand, and which will put the colony still further ahead.

The annual meeting of the Licensing Commissioners for the Ohinemuri district was held on Monday when the following members were present:—Messrs R. S. Bush, S.M. (in the chair), Edwards. McLelland, Campbell, Dickey, and Gavin. The report of Sergeant Brennan was read, stating that all the licensees throughout the district had complied with the request of the Commissioners, and had provided proper and efficient fire escapes. The inspector’s report on the various houses showed that they had all been well conducted, and no complaints could be made regarding any, with the exception of the two Waitekauri hotels, the licensees of which were M. Coulson and T. Ryan. Against these two he stated charges were pending of supplying a man named John Norman McLeod with liquor on a Sunday. The Commissioners granted renewals both for hotels and accommodation houses throughout the district with the exception of the Waitekauri hotels. These two were adjourned until Friday next, as the cases were to be dealt with on Thursday. New licenses were granted to Annie P. Smardon, Palace Hotel, Te Aroha, and John Butie, Waiorongomai Hotel. Permission was granted to P. O’Meagher to alter the name of the Family Hotel, Te Aroha, to the Grand Hotel. On the question of extension till eleven o’clock there was a long discussion, and ultimately the decision of the committee was postponed until to-morrow —Friday.

Commenting on the vote to exclude wine, an American wine merchant expressed the hope recently that “ State legislation against Californian rasins, the seeds of whieh have been known to produce appendicitis, will not follow.” This harmless and inoffensive expression caused the Pacific Prohibitionist to indulge in the following vitriolic outburst;—‘‘No, we presume not; for the fellow that has swallowed the rasin seed into his vermiform appendix, and has a bad case of appendicitis, doesn’t up and shoot the other fellow who hasn’t got the disease. He doesn’t soak his wife in coal oil and set her on fire. He doesn’t beat his children’s brains out, but just dies peaceful-like, without taking half a dozen other fellows along with him ” This is the way the Pacific Wine and Spirit Review gets back at the splenetic cold-water quilldriver :— “ How many crimes as enumerated —such as shooting, coal oil incineration and braining—can be laid to the door of the regular, consistent consumer of wine, who drinks it with his meals? Statistics in wine-drinking countries alone answer this. France has 37,000,000 people. France drinks 1,000,000,000 gallons of wine every year, or 27 I-16 gallons per capita. In the twenty odd years of his service as executioner, Deibler decapitated 63 people, or three a year. Now just contrast this with the American record. The United States has 70,000,000 people. The United States drinks 40,000,000 gallons of wine every year, or a little over half a gallon per capita. The United States had about 200 legal executions and lynchings last year—three times as many as France m twenty years. But the United States is cursed with a band of zealots, numerous and clamorous, who devote their time to minding other people’s business. What we contend in this comparision is equally true in the case of Italy, Germany, and Portugal. It isn’t your wine-drinking people who have a use for shooting irons. It is your high-strung, dyspeptic, pieeating American.”

Despite the inclemency of the weather on Friday night, J une 2, a large number assembled in the hall adjoining the Coromandel Hotel, to bid farewell to “ Mine Host,” Mr Jas. Rolleston. The chair was occupied by Mr A. J. Litten. The function took the form of a “ smoke social,” and it certainly bore out the title, for a more pleasant and sociable gathering has not taken place in Coromandel. In proposing the toast of Mr Rolleston, the chairman alluded to the prominence of Mr Rolleston, in the past, in all public matters affecting the welfare of Coromandel. He had always been to the fore in giving subscriptions and donations to worthy objects, and had done so with such willingness and in such a nice way as to render his contributions doubly valuable. He alluded to the loss Mr Rolleston would be to the musical world, and also to his services in this direction, he having sung at every concert promoted for the purpose of raising funds for good objects. Personally,

and on behalf of the children, he had to thank Mr Rolleston for the assistance given in school matters; he had contributed largely to the success of the last school treat. They would also miss his clear, concise, and pretty speeches (Mr Rolleston : Oh !) at public and social gatherings. The chairman alluded to the fact that Mr Rolleston had been a member of the Progress Association, which having fulfilled a useful mission, had been handed the balance of the funds to the Coromandel Hospital Secretary. He concluded by wishing Mr Rolleston long life and prosperity in the new sphere of his labors. On behalf of his friends, he presented the departing guest with a handsome siver cigar case, inscribed as follows :— “ Presented to Jas, Rolleston, Esq., by Coromandel Friends, 2/6/99.” During the course of his reply, Mr Rolleston said the words in our vocabulary were inadequate to express what he felt. He knew he had some friends in Coromandel, and was glad that his stay here had not been in vain, but he had not the least idea they intended’to give him a send off, and to embody it in the very nice and kindly way they had done. He deprecated the virtues and the good acts attributed to himself, and stated he had been actuated by the desire to make everything with which he was connected a success. He was very sorry to leave them, but consoled himself with the reflection that it was not a case of “good-bye ” but of “au revoir.” He was interested in one or two little things here, and would pay a visit occasionally. He was not leaving them because Coromandel’s best days were over, and he had assured Mr Urquhart, his successor, that he had a good thing in the business. If it had been his lot in Coromandel to have experienced many things to mar the pleasure of his sojourn, it was more than counterbalanced by the kindness of his friends. His interest in Coromandel would not cease with his departure from the place. The Coromandel County News says that other toats followed, and a lengthy vocal and musical programme gone through.

The following letter has been published by our morning contemporary. Sir, —Your excellent report of the annual licensing meeting on Tuesday will give your re ders an instructive idea of how far the majority of the Licensing Committee are disposed to place the welfare of the public above the financial gain of the publican. The police report showed beyond a doubt that the extension of the hour of closing to eleven o’clock had led to a serious increase of drunkenness, and that so far the public welfare had been sacrificed by the action of the committee in granting the extension. In defiance, however, of the opposition of the police, and in defiance of protests offered by others in the interests of public morality, once more by a majority the committee have resolved to permit the publicans to keep open house until eleven o’clock. Their reasons for such a decision were not given. The chief reason urged in support of the application was that the law with regard to closing and Sunday • trading had been more strictly observed than formerly. Does anyone imagine that with the effective police supervision we happily now have, and with an honest effort on the part of the committee to back up the police there would have been any serious difficulty in enforcing ten o’clock closing ? Yet, forsooth, because the publicans have become so supremely virtuous that they actually have some respect for the law, they are to have the valuable privilege of selling drink for an additional hour, and thereby adding to the drunkenness, disorderliness, and crime of the city ! Was there ever a more scandalous principle admitted in the administration of justice ? The mental gauge of the authors of this remarkable decision was indicated by the protest of one of their number, who intimated that because a man was a prohibitionist he had no right whatever to be heard on the question of eleven o’clock closing. That it is to say, we must be debarred from the common rights of citizenship because of the views we hold in relation to the liquor traffic I Happily in March next there will be another election of Licensing Commissioners, and it will be seen then how far gentlemen with such peculiar notions of the duties they owe to the public, as the majority of those now on the committee will be deemed worthy of a renewal of confidence. One very noticeable feature about the proceedings on Tuesday was the way in which the committee dispensed with evidence in support of the extension to eleven o’clock. It had be en given before; that was a sufficient reason, apparently, why it should be granted again. What did it matter that untold mischief had been inflicted on hundreds of homes in Auckland by the additional facilities for drinking and drunkenness ? All humanitarian considerations were swept aside, and the curse of drunkenness has been more heavily fastened on the community to enable those in the liquor trade to add to their gains. The action of the majority of the committee will still further open the «yes of the citizens of Auckland to the need of taking prompt action in relation to one of the most serious dangers that threatens the Commonwealth. Lord Rosebery, when Prime Minister, said: “If the State does not soon control the liquor traffic, the liquor traffic will soon control the State.” When an increase of drunkenness is regarded as of no account compared with the increase of gain flowing into the coffers of liquor sellers, we have reached a stage in which every man to whom the safety of society is of supreme moment will be compelled to take decisive action. —I am, etc., Wm. Jas. Williams. June 7, 1899.