The Licensed Victuallers

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 660, 2 October 1902, Page 20

The Licensed Victuallers

Trade Topics

There is. some talk of the elections being taken about The third week in next month. «- * ; * * Additions and 'alterations are to be made to the Erankton Junction Hotel. On the Sth inst., it being Labour Day, all Government offices throughout the colony will be closed. ■ ". .. .« * * Throwing an egg cost a Wellington bil- ' " Liard marker 20s last week. He threw it at the Salvation Army. ♦ * * • * A transfer of the license of the Shamrock Hotel. Wellington, from Evie. Ken- , nedy to Walter Lewis has been granted. * • * • 7 ' The debate, on the Tied Houses Bill has been again ad journed. r l his in all probability ties it up for this session. Mr P. E. (’heal is spoken of as a likely candidate for the- Eaen district at the coming election. . * A young man named Henry Jury has been committed for trial for, passing a forged cheque to Mr M. () Connor, oi the Waverlv Hotel. . \ -»* * * ’ At Te Awamuitu, last Friday, Geo. Farquhar, licensee of the Star Hotel, was fined Is, and L2 Is costs :or a. owing dice to be thrown on his premises. ; •:> «■ ' * * The Licensing Committees Polls Bill was >' read in the Legislative Council a second time last Monday, and passed without amendment. • * • * Mr Joseph Churches, a very old resident of Hokitika, and at one time proprietor'of the Empire Hotel there, died last Saturday night. .' * * ’ * * The difference between a somnambulist and a messenger boy is trifling. One walks in his sleep, and the other sleeps in his walk. Strong man Sandow. states that he ate whatever came along, drank anything that was handy, believed ip alcohol in moderation, and smokied cigars in the street, and a pipe >n the house. ■» « * * . In the Wellington Supreme Court last week, a youth who pleaded guilty to the theft of jewellery from an hotel at. Johnsonville, waff admitted to probation for one year. •* z . * * Sub-Inspector Black, late of Christchurch, arrived in Auckland last Saturday. He takes up the duties of Sub-In-spector Mitchell, who in future will 'be the .Inspector of the newlv-formed Southland district. . At the adjourned meeting of the Palmerston North Licensing Committee, i 'which was held last week, the police re*port complained of too much Sunday trading at three hotels. r l he bench oecided to issue a caution to the alleged offenders. *.* * * Speaking on the question of tied houses. Mr Bigg spoke commendingly last week of some of the evidence g ven by the brew - ers. instancing Messrs Arthur Myers, John Mowbray and Martin Kennedy as gentlemen whose evidence had in some respects pleasurably surprised him. Fifty-one residents of Kawhia nave sent a petition to the Bo ise asking that a license be granted lor 1 hat district. They state that want of an accommodation house is severely i’elt under the present svstem of no-license. - » ■» * * The travelling public, as well as the local residents, will be glad to know that - Mbs Walter Stehr, widow of the 1/ate licensee, is carrying on the business of that popular hostelry, the Star ana Garter Hotel, Coromandel. » * * * A peculiar accident occurred in a Scottish distillery not long . since. An upper floor in a warehouse, in which a large amount of whisky was stored, gave way. The casks, however, coming together, got wedged so tightly that they supported themselves. Scarcely, a crop of whisky was.Jost.

The licensee of the Family Hotel, Palmerston North, was charged last Monday in the S.M, Court with selling and exposing- liquor for sale on Sunday. Both charges were dismissed, the magistrate stating that! while there was a strong suspicion, the eviclence for the prosecution was not reliable., - 1 . * » *’ * It will be seen by advertisement that Mr S. Laycock has. taken over, the Railway Hotel, at Drury. The hotel, as is well known, is close to the railway, station, its situation being convenient for the accommodation of tourists and families. Mr Laycock is very popular on the Thames and in Auckland, and should receive a failshare of patronage.

OYSTER COCKTAILS IN A DRY TOWN. There were few more enthusiastic fisherman than the late Congressman Amos Cummings.' When ex-President Arthur was collector of the port of New York, he and Cummings) were frequent companions on fishing trips in the South. They got into a temperance town in South Carolina once, and went to a restaurant for dinner. “ Bring me two oyster cocktails,” said Cummings to the waiter. “ Can’t serve you, gents,'” replied the waiter. “No drinking allowed in this town.” “ An oyster cocktail is not, made with liquor,” persisted Cummings. - “ Don’t know, sir, but I can’t take no order for no cocktails.” The “ boss ” was called, and Cummings offered to make the cocktails himself if the ingredients were furnished to him. It was no good. The rules of the place were inexorable, and the two fishermen had to eat their oysters raw from a plate. COUNTER LUNCHES RESTRICTED. Owing to 'the increasing, prices of foodstuffs (says the Rockhampton ‘‘ Record ”) many of qur local hotelkeepers find it very difficult to keep up the practice which has crept into the Trade of providing the public daily with; free counter lunches. The local organisation of the Queensland Licensed Victuallers’ Association has been asked to move in the custom. With this object, a meeting of all licensed victuallers was held, and a strong representative committee was appointed to deal with the matter. The result was that it was unanimously resolved to discontinue both the morning and night counter and table displays. Sandwiches, or a slice of bread, or biscuit and cheese, will still be provided. Similar action was decided upon by the Queensland Licensed Victuallers’ Association within the metropolitan area. OBITUARY. Another of Auckland’s hotelkeepers has passed away in the person of Mr Simon Coombe, who died last week at his residence, in Grey-street. For many years he successfully condtiicted hotels at the Thames, and latterly in Auckland. In the city he will be best remembered in the Foresters' Arms, and the Thames and British Hotels. From the last-men-tioned house he retired some months ago, since when he has been living in his private house. The deceased gentleman was highly respected by all who knew him, his funeral being very largely attended by large numbers of the wholesale and retail trade, as well as many private citizens. AN UNDESIRABLE GUEST, Mr P. Hartshorn, proprietor of the Railway Hotel, Wanganui, had an unpleasant experience lately with a; man named Edward Fitzsimmons, who had been staying at the hotel. r l he boarder had been somewhat peculir in manner lor a few days, and finally made an attack on the proprietor, during which the latter was somewhat severely handled. Fitzsimmons then locked .himself in his room, and when the police, who had been sent for arrived, he refused to open the door. After a hard struggle he was secured and locked up, and finally conveyed to the Wellington Lunatic Asylum. Just prior to his, a-rrest lie had 1.-een amusing himself. by burning a bundle of paper in his room.

AN ANCIENT INN. Ye Olde Belle, Fleet-street, one of the most ancient inns of the City of London, has been practically restored to the condition which it presented when built 250 years ago. The house has not been rebuilt, indeed, even the oak rafters of the roof are there, which have so long covered, a tavern which is, perhaps, more closely associated wieh the annals of journalism than any, other in the vicinity of Fleet-street. A CHANGE AT WHANGAREI. It is reported that Mr D. McKay, of the Commercial Hotel, Whangarei, has sold out to Mr J. Jackson, of Cambridge. Mr and Mrs Jackson are both well known in Whangarei and surrounding districts, and should do well in their new venture. It is regretted that Mr McKay s reason for selling out is that his better half has not been enjoying good health lately, and it is sincerely hoped that a rest from business cares will speedily restore Mrs McKay to the best of health, and we will soon see this popular host and hostess in another hotel. Mrs Jackson, bye the bye, will, no doubt, be best remembered in the North as Mrs Odium, of the Star Hotel, Kamo. LICENSING COMMITTEES. Tn the House of Represenstatives last Saturday morning, the Licensing Committees Quorum Bill (Ma; or Steward) which reduces the quorum to four, was committed. A new clause was added, on the motion of Sir J. G. Ward, to provide that licensing committees should notwithstanding the alteration in the boundaries of their districts remain in office until ordinary date of next election. Another clause providing for a recount of votes! in a licensing poll was added on the motion of Sir J. G. Ward. This clause provides that if the result of any licensing poll is disputed any elector may apply to a stipendiary magistrate for a recount, such application to 'he accompanied by . a deposit of £2O. A magistrate may issue an order as to costs' incidental to a re-count, and, sub;ect to such order may permit the return of the deposit. The bill subsequently passed its final stages. FOUR CHARGES DISMISSED. Some little time bach a case was reported from Napier, where it was stated that a man who had been arrested on a charge of drunkenness was subsequently found to be suffering from apoplexy. He was removed from the police station to his. house, where he died the following night. At the inquest his death was attributed to injuries received by falling off a bicycle. As the deceased was a prohibited person, four charges of supplying liquor were brought against the licensee of the Awatoto Hotel. These were heard in the Magistrate’s Court, Napier, last Monday. No evidence of the actual sale of liquor having been brought forward, the charges were dismissed. THE HON. RIGG’S BILL. Last Monday, in the Legislative Council, the adjourned debate on the motion to go into committee on the Hon. J. Rigg’s Tied Houses Bill was resumed! by the Hon. W. Jennings, who defended the committee, to whom the Bill was referred. from the charges mace by Mr Rigg that the committee had shown bias, and attempted to suppress evidence in favour. of the Bill. Quoting evidence given before the committee, Mr Jennings said that some witnesses had stated that the provisions of the Bill would ruin them. The Hon. C. Louisisoil reviewed the evidence given before the committee in proof of his contention that the recommendation of the committee that the Bill be dropped was justified. A motion by the Hon. J. Twomey that the debate be adjourned was carried. Some speakers who opposed the adjournment said there was a possibility of the Bill not again coming up this session. THE PRICE OF LONDON SPIRITS. The announcement of a< fall of 2d a gallon in the price, of London spirits came (says the “ Wine Trade Review- ”) as a complete surprise to the market. It is very w’ell known that for some time the producers of grain spirits have had to contend against ’many disadvantages, especially in respect of the price oi coal and the cost of materials, and in most cases profits have been materially i educed. In those circumstances, .it would not have keen surprising if an ’attempt had been made to increase the price «>f the spnits, and, in fact, the likelihood of such a movement has been, and >l;11 :s. discussed in Scotland. The possibility of a fall in price had nob sugges-ed itself to the minds of the besGinformed people on the

market, and there is a good deal of specu lation as to the object in view. It looks as if the distillers’ profit is in danger of reaching the vanishing point, anfl the only people who will benefit are the publicans, the rectifiers having followed the example of the distillers and announced a reduction of twopence a gallon. There is no probability that the gram distillers of Scotland and Ireland will be influenced by the action . taken in London, but an immediate effect of the alteration will be to check the imports of German spirit. ACTION FOR ALLEGED SLANDER. In the Dunedin Supreme Court lately an action was heard claiming £2OO damages for alleged slander 'by Edmond Power, licensee of thexEuropekn Hotel, and former licensee of the Douglas Hotel, against Laffey. Defendant is licensee of Court Hotel. It appeared that Power and some friends were entering the Empire Hotel when Laffey invited them to have drink. Power refused, and when asked the reason, referred to the manner in which Laffey had treated his late tenant in the Gridiron Hotel. Laffey lost his temper and said to Power, “ You ought to be in gaol, because you stole knives, forks and cruetstands out of the Douglas Hotel.” Laffey was warned by Power and others, but he repeated the statement,' and when asked to apologise on the following day,' took no notice of the letter sent him.' Mr Justice Williams said the only question was as to. dam- ■ ages. In' his opinion Laffey had received considerable provocation, but as he had refused to apologise,, something more than nominal .damages should be given. A verdict was given for £lO damages, with costs on the lowest scale. A SLIGHT MISTAKE. An amusing incident is described in “ Lippincott’s Magazine.” The door bell of a certain physician of New York rang late one night. Supposing that the summons was from someone who Reeded his services, he went to the door. \ This was the result : — A' coloured man stood there, holding a huge paper package, from which buds and leaves were pro- - trading. “Is Miss Cs’line Ward in ?” asked the man. “ She has retired,” re- • trading. “Is Miss Ca’line Ward in ?” was his coloured cook. “ I’s sorry* sir, to call so late. Dab was a jam in de street-cars. I’ll leab dis fo’ her,, sah, ef you will/ kindly gib it to her in de mo’nin’.” “ Certainly,” said the doctor. He took the bundle carefully, closed the door, and carried the flowefs to the kitchen. Then he placed a pan in. the sink, turned on a few inches of water into it, carefully pressed the base of the package into the water, and went back to bed, thinking how pleased Miss “ Ca’line ” would be. The next morning he went into the kitchen early, to find the cook holding a dripping bundle. Her manner was belligerent,, .and her tone was in keeping with it. “Ef I had the pusson heah dat did dat,” said she, “I’d empty de kittle on ’em ! 1 I’d jes like to know who put my new hat in dat pan !” ' ■'

LICENSING IN THE KEIGN OF JAMES I. The earliest laws regulating alehouses ' . were intended to protect the purchaser of ale from the retailer, who was required to sell ale of a good quality, in true meaxsures, and at a fixed price. In the charter granted to the burgesses of Manchester in 1301 we read that—- “ whoso l-reaketh the assise, whether of bread or of ale, he shall be in forfeiture of twelve pence to the use of the lord.” The assise of, ale, a national law, not merely a local custom, provided that no alehouse-keeper should charge more? than one penny for a quart of the best, or one half-penny for a quart of the next best. “ A penny a quart ” was a price appreciated by our ancestors when they were consumers, but-it does not seem to have been popular with the alehouse-keepers. The Court Leets, in Manchester and elsewhere, appointed “ ale-tasters,” whose duty it was to see that ‘■all the Brewers and Tipplers” made ‘’good and wholesome ale and beer for man’s body,” and that they did not charge more for it than the authorised price. As late as 1622 inn-keepers in Manchester were lined for breaking the assise of ale. In 1495 magistrates were by Act of Parliament enabled to suppress alehouses. Licensing of alehouses began in 1552, and its object was the regulation of the trade-in the interests of public morals, and not, as the • assise of ale had been, as a check on the exorbitant charges of the alehouse-keepers This is clearly shown by the preamble of the first of the Licensing Acts (5 and 6 Edward VI., c. 25), which states that the “Intolerable hurts and troubles to the commonwealth of this .Realm doth daily grow and increase through such abuse anal disorders as are had and used in common alehouses and other houses called tippling-houses." By this statute it was enacted that ~None . - . shall be admitted or \ suffered to keep any common alehouse or tippling-hbuSe, but such as shall be thereunto admitted and allowed in the open Sessions of. the Peace.” or else by two justices of the peace. The justices were to take bond or security by recognisance of those admitted to keep any alehouse, “As well for the using of unlawful games; as also for the using and maintenance of good order and rule to be had and used within the same,’ z ■ Anyone keeping 'an. alehouse Contrary to commandment of the justices was to be committed to the common gaol for three days, and before release enter into recognisances not to keep common alehouse. During fairs anyone was allowed to sell ale. Thus began the experiment of licen- . sing alehouses. Some fifty years later new Act (4 James L, e. 4) was passed “ for the. better repressing of ale houses, whereof the multitude! and abuses have been and are found intolerable, and still

do and are like to increase/’ Whether between these two Acts of Parliament the • local justices had strictly carried out the 'law we do not know, but as we, find the jury of the Court Leet (March 26, 1573) expressing the opinion, apropos of nothing at all, that thirty alehouses and inns were sufficient in Manchester, it is possible that the magistrates had con-, suited local bodies as to their views' on the proper number of licensed houses in the different localities. It may, however, bo that the jury were considering the best means of regulating the liquor traffic, for in the record of the proceedings at the next Court Leet it is mentioned that the Steward dothe order that what person soever shall be founde dronken in any Alehowse within this Towne of els sene abroade in the Strets shall therefore be punysshed all nyght in the Dongeon, and moreover pay presently when they be released vjd. to the Constables to he geaven to the poore. And if the saide person be so a poore that he cannot pay the same, then the good man or good wiffe of the house where he contynued drynkingc shall paie i the said fyne. Also it ys ordeyned if the Alehowse keeper eythcr man or woman be sene dronken in their owns howses or elsewhere, then he or shee so founde shalbe j punysshed by ymprisonment one nyght 1 and from thenceforth to be dyscharged 1 from alehowse kepinge.” The Court Leet was acting within its powers in lining persons for drunkenness, but it had not the power to suppress ale-house-keepers who broke its bye-laws, so that the “ be dyscharged from alehowse keepinge ” was only a pious opinion. The provision that if the drunkard was unable i to pay the line the alehouse-keeper should j pay it has: its parallel in the present law of one of our Continental neighbours. ' The local magistrates who administered j the licensing law seem to have kept in I view tihe “ ancient, true, and principal use i of inns, alehouses, and victualling ; houses,” which had been defined, in an j Act of Parliament of J 603, as for the “ receit relief and lodging of wayfaring people travelling from place to place and . for such supply of the wants of such i people as arc not able bv greater quanti-[ ties to make their provision of victuals, ■

and not meant for entertainment and harboring of lewd and idle people to spend and consume, their money and their time in lewd and drunken manner.”

ilt is evident from the volume of “ Man- | Chester Sessions (1(51 6-1622) recently i'sj sued by the Record Society., of Lanca- ■ shire and Cheshire that the Lancashire i magistrates were alive to their responsi- , bill ties, and that they did not allow the j licensing law to become a dead letter. In I 1(516 we find' a Salford innkeeper entering I into recognisances not to “ keep ale or ■ heere to sell nor a tippling-house until he • shall be licensed.” and there arc other inI stances in the volume. It may be presuniI ed that these illicit sellers of ale had duly spent three days in gaol according to the I statute of Edward VI. In 1618, probably ' after pressure from the Government, the magistrates agreed, at a general meeting on ” articles and orders to be observed for the due execution of the statutes concerning recusants, alc-howses, drunkenness, etc.” These orders were, if anything, more stringent than the statute law. The magistrates were to report to the general meeting the names of those who kept alei houses without license, how many had I been put down since the previous assizes, and how many were actually licensed in each town and village. They were to inquire if any alehouse-keeper who had been lined and imprisoned had since keen licensed by ’magistrates otherwise than in open quarter sessions. Another order was that “no servant or retaynor to anie lord,, knighte. or principle gentleman of the countrie or to anie high constable nor to anie bailifl'e, p eteiconstable, puriter, or sumner (was) to be lyccnced to kcepe any alehow.se.'’ It is difficult to imagine the reason for refusing a licence to the ideal Boniface, the old family servant, unless it was that the' alehouse-keeper should he his own master during the time he was licensed, though prior to that, he may have been a domestic servant. That the magistrates adhered to the theory that the licensed house was for the benefit of travellers is shown by the order — “ None to be lycenced in anie several! village that is 1 not a through faire towne nor above onq or. twoc in anie towne not corporate and therein to respect the number of inhabitalnts of that towne.” The magistrates were also to report what “ alehouse-keepers have offended by fringe anie to sitt Drinkinge in their h’owses and who they bee that doe sit soe cirinking,” and whether the alehousebeeper and the alehouse-haunter had been fined 10s and 3s 4d respectively, and) if not, through whosq default. The High Constables had also to inquire into certain breaches of the licensing law. While on the .one hand the magistrates were endeavouring to redued .the number of alehouses and to render them less attractive I by preventing gambling in them, on the ' other hand they were enforcing the old assise of ale, which ordained that ale j should be sold at one penny a quart, a I price which the changed value of money had rendered unprofitable to the alehousekeeper, and probably a source of temptation to the consumer. In 1622 several of the most respectable innkeepers in the town were fined for breaking the assise of ale. The position of the alehousekeeper must at times! have been a< difficult one, especially as a usual penalty for breaches of the law was “ the said alehouse to be put down and thenceforth not to be licensed again,” this being the penalty for allowing drinking during the hours of 'divine service, for hindering the constables and churchwardens while searching alehouses, and for failure to at- ; tend, with his wife and family, divine serI vice every Sunclay. These latter offences were breaches of the Sunday observance laws rather than the licensing laws. That “ putting down ” was no idle threat is shown by the fact that at the quarter sessions held in Manchester in July. 1620, two local alehouse-keepers were “suppressed ” ancl warrants issued for their imprisonment for having “ suffred divers persons to drinko and bee disordered in their bowses in tyme of divyne service uppon the Sabbath daye. —(“ Manchester Guardian.”) AMERICAN TOBACCO HARVEST. Half the tobacco produced in the world is produced by the United States, and the area of cultivation is continually extending, until it is now over 1,000,000 acres. There are more than 300,000 tobacco farms, which would suggest the difficulty of ‘‘ cornering” the leaf. A report just issued says that in the census year the United States produced 668,000,0001 b of tobacco. of which 122,000,0001 b, valued at £2,220,1)00, were sent to England. The returns Also show that Americans have been consuming far fewer cigarettes in their own country, but exporting more every year. The exportation has trebled in ten years. Americans smoke a great number of their

own cigars, but they are not tempting to other people, as few are sent, abroad. Almost every State in the Union grows tobacco. The State which produces most is Kentucky, followed by North Carolina, Virginia, whose tobacco is, perhaps the best known, occupies the third place. Kentucky produces more than one-third of the entire crop of the United States of America. The capital invested in the American tobacco trade is £24.800,000, and the value of the production is put down at £56,500.000 a year, more than half of which is represented in cigars and cigarette®. There are 14,000 manufacturing establishments.