The Licensed Victuallers

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 663, 20 November 1902, Page 20

The Licensed Victuallers

Trade Topics

A Clutha sly-grog seller was lined £SC Igtely. ; ; •* . About twelve .million gallons of cider are made vearly in the United Kingdom. ■ 1 ■ <-■ . * ■> t ■ * The seventy-fifth 4 anniversary festival of the Licensed Victuallers’ Asylum was held in London recently. *•* * • I Charges of breaches of the Licensing Act, brought against Mr I). McKay, of Whangarei. have been dismissed. ■ ' * -> » * A temporary transfer of the license of has been granted from. Helen Gillespie to the Shepherd's Arms Hotel. Wellington, Andrew' Gillespie. At Kumara recently. , two hotelkeepers were fined £2 and £5 respectively for selling liquor after hours. The licenses were ■endorsed. The report that Mrs Carrie Nation, of saloon smashing fame, had been engaged to go to England to lecture,’ turns out to be untrue. \ . •* ■*.. *•.*.' * Seven hundred hotelkeepers from all parts of Europe and America have arrived at-Budapest to hold an international congress. After a club had been raided in Dublin by the police it took two hours to re- ‘ move all the barrels of porter and other li>quors found ‘on the premises. >..*■ * * * , A threatened lawsuit over the terms of purchase of the goodwill and furniture, etb., in one of out leading hotels has been settled out' of Court. ' , ♦ * * . * A case of selling beer to a child apparently under the age of thirteen years, brought against a Wellington hotelkeeper, was dismissed. •» * -x . > '■ /There is a curious superstition in Venice that if a stranger dies in an hotel the’ number of his room will he lucKy at the next lottery. 1 ' r Twc men in Wellington were recently fined 205,. or,' in default, seven days’ im--prisonment for fighting in the'public bar of an hotel. r ■ For having wilfully damaged- a glass . .‘ door at the Pier Hotel, Wellington, a man named John Sorley was last week lined 20s, and ordered to pay the amount of the damage. • • • * Mr A. R. Dunn, senr., who is well known as ithe once popular host of the Market Hotel, died last week. He had been in indifferent health for some time, and 2’ttve up hot el-keeping some few y< ars back. / The free lunch question continues to agitate the licensed victuallers oil the other -side'} and it is reported that they arc attempting to form a solemn league and covenant for its suppression. * • '. 1 / * ' ' * ' Mr Speers, who is now managing the Grand Hotel, at Rotorua, may account himself a very lucky man, as up to a few trips before the wreck of the Elingamite. he was chief steward of that unfortunate steamer. ■ . ■ A; North Carolina politician has won a verdict for £9OO damages because he was bombarded with eggs. Here is an unlook- , -ed for road to wealth for one of our local political aspirants, who has already undergone one bombardment . Tn connection with .the death of a young lady, who had been employed in the Clarendon Hotel, Napier, which took place suddenly in a chemist’s shop at Waipawa. the chemist and his housekeeper have been / .arrested. * # * ■ * . Mr Thomas Andersen, licensee of the Digger’s Rest Hotel, Coromandel, will apply at the next Licensing Committee meeting held at the Thames, to have the license of the house transferred to a house •in Coromandel known as the Old Mountain 1 ‘Home. .

On December 4, at the meeting of the Licensing Committee for the Marsden district, Thomas Buxton will apply to have the license of the Kamo Hotel, situate at Kamo, transferred to .Henry Arthur Llovd. -» * * * Last ‘ Friday afternoon Signor BragatO invited a number of fruitgrowers, merchants. and representative citizens to taste and test some New Zealand wines. The test was made against Australian wines, in each instance the taster not knowing which wine, he was sampling. Ihe general verdict was that the New r Zealand wines were the best. It is reported from Gisborne that the outcome of the “no license ” contest in that place is the formation of a league to seek reforms, but opposed to prohibition. Mr Douglas Lysnar is the organiser, and prominent men, including members of the Licensing Committee, have handed in their names. ... I hear that Mr E. Hallett. who has been in the Mercer Hotel for some years, has sold out to Mr W. Guise, who, 1 understand, comes from Wellington way. Mr Hallett intends taking a spell after his years of hotelkeeping, and in all probability will go into the hotel-keeping line again after a» few months. ° -» * ,t * Visitors to Gisborne will find one of the most comfortable places to stay at is the Hotel Coronation, which has just been rebuilt and refurnished. Mr G. B. Oman, who makes a very popular host, guarantees that only the very best of every-, thing is kept in stock, and he is certain that complete, satisfaction will be given, especially as the tariff is very moderate, and the position most central. *■-■ * * * Replying to a .correspondent, the London “ L.V. Gazette ” says that if a tenant has 1 been evicted for non-payment jof rent, the first step on the part of the landlord .is- to secure another tenant and apply for protection. 'The mere fact that the tenant refuses to give up the license paper does not. prevent the landlord from doing this. Of course, a full explanation would have to be made to the magistrate. ** * • In the Wellington Police Court recently, a woman was fined 405,0 r, in default, .ourteen days’ imprisonment for having accompanied anotner woman, who was a prohibited person, into an hotel. SLY GROG CASES. In the (Tutha sly-grog cases, James S. Vial, iunr., was lined £5O. Four other charges were dismissed. Vial had previously keen fined £4O, and served ton days.’ imprisonment for a similar offence. Qwing to an irregularity in entering up the previous convictions, these were not allowed as evidence against him in the case just finished, therefore he was onlyfined as provided in the Justices of the Peace Act. • ' - THE CASE* AGAINST RICHARDSON. Mr H. W. Brabant. S.M.. gave bis decision last week in the case in which Will iam Richardson, the Sydney prohibition lecturer, was charged with unlawfully disturbing Sir Joseph Ward’s public meeting. in the Choral Hall, on October 20. After reviewing the evidence and quoting authorities. His Worship convicted defendant.'and lined him £2 and costs. The last time the defendadt mgdo his appearance in an Auckland Court he was charged with having used insulting language, calculated to cause a breach of the peace. He was then bound over to keep the peace and fined two sureties of £5O, and pay the costs of the prosecution. Previous to that, ho had been fined £5 and costs for illegally witnessing an application for enrolment. : A STRANGE DEATH. A London trade journal relates that the death of the manageress of the buffet at the Cafe Monico, in London, betrayed a danger in the management of large establishments. The deceased was supposed to have gone for a fortnight’s holiday, and the employees were allowed to keep locked the doors of their rooms. Unfortunately, the deceased had an attack 1 of sickness on the night of the day before her holiday ti e commenced, and died in consequence. The room being locked, she was not discovered until the end of the fortnight, when she was expected back.

LIQUOR NOT VISIBLE. A local clergyman, in an endeavour to deal with the liquor question from a. prohibition standpoint, recently quoted a Home clergyman as l aving said that in the prohibition State of Maine he had stayed at one of the principal hotels in Portland, and not one drop of liquor was visible. Possibly so. for prohibition has made .it so that though liquor is as plentiful as ever, or even more so, the law makes it necessary that it shall be Strange torelate, in the same issue of the “ Star ” that published the above, there appeared a letter from an Aurklander, who had travelled in other prohibition states in America, and from his evidence he had no difficulty in obtaining liquor at a chemist’s shop, and after being initiated into the modus operand!, he was ushered into a large room at the rear of the shop; where there were between thirty and forty men (both old and young) being served with liquor, and much more excitement prevailing than what is seen in any public bar in New Zealand. On the question of invisibility or liquor in prohibited districts, we need not look further than our own land, and take Clutha and the King Country as instances. No one Will deny that plenty of liquor is obtainable in both places ; yet to the' casual traveller the invisibility is complete. How much so it is in Clutha is evidenced by a recent case in that electorate, where it was necessary for a man and his wife who were on a spying expedition, to have to stay in a house for a whole month before sufficient evidence could be collected to sheet home a charge of sly-grog selling. In the King Country, not so long ago, a successful, police raid brought to light some hundreds of pounds worth, of all kinds of liquor and beer, in fact as full and varied a stock as any hotel would carry, but. as remarked before, invisible to the casual traveller, and 1 daresay that if the reverend gentleman who failed to see any liquor in Portland, Maine, made a trip through the King Country he would be able to“ report with equal truthfulness that he did not see one drop of liquor during his visit. The evidence ofl another local clergyman, given some couple of years back, also throws some light on rhe state of affairs in the prohibited Kng Country. He said there was plenty of drunkenness there, but one. did not see it. No doubt this is quite., correct, but the unwelcome inference is that drinkers ,become drunkards, for the reason that they are forced to obtain what they require in some hole and corner manner, and therefore drink more than they would otherwise do. > CHARTREUSE. It is not 'so very long* since those of us who are by way of being bon viveurs laid the flattering Unction to our souls that we need never again lack a pleasant chasse to our carefully selected dinners, since the good monks who make the still more excellent Charereuse liqueur were about to take up their residence permanently in our midst. Those gourmets will be feeling somewhat sorry for themselves; now at the news that the Fathers are going to do. nothing of the kind. The monastery, abbot, and monks, and recipes and all, have decided upon the green valleys ot Switzerland for their next f* pitch,” and they will set out almost immediately. And' our sorrow's crown of sorrow lies in the fact that in future, instead of being much cheaper, the Chartreuse, verte et jaune, will be dearer tnsan ever, since to its initial cost will now have to be added a heavy export spirit tax in addition.. The only consolation"'that we have is that, Switzerland is already pretty well known as the I-nglishman’s playground, and since, the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must perforce co lo the mountain. Meanwhile there must, wo can imagine, be wailing and gnashing of teeth in a certain district, of South-west i i Tanc; at the impending exodus. So intimately, ate our temporal and “ spiritual " welfare allied. —(“ Commerce.")

SEDFCTION A FARCEThe following taken from the London “L.V. Gazette,'’ shows that reduction does nat diminish drunkenness, the Journal mentioned, says that those who hold that drunkenness diminishes as the facilities for obtaining drink are decreased, wo”Id do well to note Mr Arthur Chamberlain’s remarks at the meeting of the Birmingham Justices recently. In co-opera-tion with the local Brewers’ Association,, these Justices have Just successfully completed a scheme ■ for reducing licenses in three specified areas of the city, the net result being that of ninety-nine licenses previously existing it has been decich d that fifty-one. or more than half, shall be surrendered. The brewers who hold these premises . are evidently working in their own interests, for Mr Chamberlain mentioned that far from being coerced, th of their own accord, proposed all the surrenders that the magistrates have accepted. Yet drunkenness is increasing in Birmingham, as compared with other cities. J . .

II |'IF 1 * . -,F ■ 1 1, - HOW THE AMERICANS ADVERTISE. Some conception of the rapid development and magnitude of American advertis- ' mg methods- may be gathered from a recent- Government report showing statistics of this department of bjsinessv Jt shows that the business men of America are spending £12(1.000,0(10 .annually in advertising. and it, is estimated that nearly 1,000,000 business houses are regular advertisers. J hi.s statement . suggests the ■ r magnitude to which this . department of business has grown of late years. Thousands of men are now devoting their entire time to the preparation and placing of advertising matter, and tons of thousands?"' make a living by canvassing .for advertise-, ments. An increasing number of large concerns nowadays maintain an . advertising department, as a part of their equipment, and pay handsome salaries 'to the experts who manage this branch of their business, h In short, a new profession—that of advertising expert—has 'arisen, which offers at- .. tractive pecuniary prizes to those who sue- < ; ceed in it. ’Tis not to be wondered st, . under these circumstances, that our “ Apiurkan ” cousin has practically captured the markets df the world in many branches of industry. Our Australian friends would tie ? wise to adopt the advertising policy of ‘‘Uncle Sam.” — (Australian ‘'Brewer* Journal.”) •

EVERYBODY KNOWS USFrom the October issue of the Australian Brewers' Journal,*’ we clip the fol- , lowing : —” A member of the staff of this journal in calling upon the Trade fre- •% quently asks as to the value of advertising. Very often he is met with the reply. ■ Oh, we don’t need to advertise ; eVery- » body knows us.’ A greater mistake was never made. Because a house is old-estab-lished is a very poor reason for not ad vertising. and because a good connection was .. . worked up with the help of advertising is the warrant for keeping it, certainly not for dropping it. ‘We have conversed with intelligent business men well up in' their particular line, who, in discussing the matter of advertising, were always ready to admit that it was the ‘ Other fellow ’ up-the street, who needed to advertise- ’ fie .. came here a stranger a few years ago, and he had to advertise, but,l’ve lived here all my life, and everybody knows me. and ; knew mv father before - me.’ It is just such ’, g reasoning as this that is? utter nonsense.. ■'? The old merchant sits pompously down taking whatever trade comes from the ‘old reliables,’ who used to deal with his father . when he was the only merchant in those parts. He seems to forget that the ?‘ old /' reliables ’ gradually drop off as time' goes on, and their places are taken by strangers, whose business transactions savour not so , much of sentiment. Merchants‘and manufacturers should remember that because they are popular is no reason why they should get all tne custom. It is the price' :.. that governs the amount of trade nOw-a- - •days—not sentiment or prestige, Therefore advertise.” .

A RECTOR’S TESTIMONY ON BEHALF OF A PUBLICAN. / \ An interesting letter (says the ' £ Daily . News") comes from the Rev W. F. Cobb, . rector of St. Ethel burgas, in Bishopsgate Street. While 1 not dissenting from the ..•7; views about the trade of public-house’• keepers ' expressed in those’'columns, ■he . directs our attention to the fact that one /• Leeper of a public-house in the City has ■ . gone far jo solve the drink question ,by a simple device of making such , rules as make drunkenness impossible’ in connecwith his place of business. The following, ■’ are the rules which he has had drawn up and posted in his house : — 1. No person intoxicated, either alone or in company of others, can be served, < under any circumstances whatever. 2. No person or party bf persons, can be served, under any circumstances. more than once, the rule being that , he, she, or they (as the case may he) must have left the house at least half-an hour before either is entitled to be served again. 3. The quantity upon any occasion. for consumption on the premises, not to exceed one gill of wine, half a gill of spirits, or otic glass of malt liquor, for each person. i ' 4. Persons using obscene or profane lan- 1 guage: talking loudly, or in any way misconduct ing themselves, cannot be served at any time, or under any circumstances whatever. ‘ .' --j: 5. Smoking is strictly prohibited at .all ? times and under all circumstance's what- r eVerl • ' . ' -. \ ' >-. ' In a leaflet issued in connection with his y' church, Dr. Cobb * says of these rules :.) \ When T heard of them first, I thought them so excellent, and so unusual that T ':tsuspected some trade device behind them. : They seemed too good to be true. I deter/-. 1 ’) mined, therefore, to judge for,myself, and • j called on the proprietor.- His son ceived me Very courteously, answered my s. questions fairly, and convinced me : that the rules in force sprang from, .a dictate of ; conscience on the part of the propineipr, The consequence is that his house is -a^ ;; ■ orderly as a grocer’s shop. Moreover/-as • the busmes is a very old-established-one it is evident that • a living can be mad/ / even whore temperance is. enforced.

MODERN LUXURYA writer in the “ Daily, lei egraph . ' gives the following pen and ink sketch of London dining palaces : —“ Do you still take your pleasures sadly, your prime steak's off grimy. plates, your fine beer out of clammy pewter, and your food and drink generally from waiters with dirty hands and faces ?” queried a Paris boulevardier, who had not been to London for nearly ten years. His friend from Piccadilly only replied, “ Wait and see, and brought him over by the next train. Now that Parisian is in London, and does not ' talk of going back. He says that we have revolutionised our way of living, and that we do not seem to realise it. • He positively does not know us, we enjoy ourselves so. He goes to our smart hotels and our new ! restaurants, and wherever modern London '■ amuses itself, and everywhere he says that he feels as if he were in Vienna, or even in Paris. Being a true Parisian, he could not pay us a better compliment, than that. His opinion of u’s now is’ summed up in the observation that if a French novelist fi?st theorised about the joy of living he really thinks the'Londoner of to-day takes the palm for practice. “Of course, it was we who educated this age up to the pleasures of existencebut 1 believe you are us in the cultivation of model'll luxury.” “ Tell me how a man dines, and I will know how he enjoys existence,” says -the Parisian sage. He does not think the reV volution in London life is anywhere more strikingly exemplified than in what he calls our modern dining palaces. On reflection, the Londoner will agree with him. These dining palaces of ours, which are necessities of our enjoyment of existence : to-day. are but things of yesterday. It is onlv six • vears ago that the famous resort known as “ the restaurant of the world " ■ was built. Yet modern dining palaces have by now nearly killed the old-fashioned eat- : ing houses. A. few places of the latter type 'will survive, by strengthening their ancient reputation with vigorous and careful progressiveness. The others are moribund. The wooden box with narrow benches devised for discomfort, to make customers “ sit up,” the doth clean at noon, but doubtful at one. and dirty at three, tne • ;cracked earthenware plates, sometimes deL; corated with a thumb impress. otherwise unadorned, are quickly becoming things of .the past. There are already few. left of - . those small, low-ceilinged rooms, whence V ladies are excluded, and where smoking is Only permitted after three, for the obvious y reason that by then it no longer matters whether the place be totally obscured and ■the atmosphere become vnbreathable. We never got, and we get'.nowhere, so - much for our money as in out dining pal,i.V'kces. How do our caterers contrive to 'b ! \rive it to us? Sipping hot coffee and crowning the satisfaction of his inner man '•-. with the.gentle influence of a good cigar, the diner mav sometimes liaVe dreamily ‘ asked himself the question. When it was . put the manager of the “restaurant of the world ” be answered in one void. “ Organisation?.' There is no secret in ti e system, and no royal road to success. V BUt every detail from the paring of a potato to the ‘decorations of a huge ball- ' room has to be looked alter by one prac- .. t.tical. mind: Those who may feel inclined • I to open an establishment of the kind will V. be interested to learn that they will have < to put down about £150,000 for building V and decorating premises to suit the re- ‘ quireinents of modern luxirty. Some / ■ £50.000 more will be wanted to fit the .place up: Then the proprietor eajn begin business—if be has previously learnt every 1 element of his trade, not only the subtle [ V art« of cookery, but the judicious marketing and the nrofessions of butler, waiter, and even scullion. If he is not himself able ’ to wash a plate perfectly, ’serve a prince at table, as well as cooka dish to set before y tne King, it is’useless (says the most corm $' 'potent authority on the question) for him -to think of starting a modern Ton don restaurant.

A CHINESE RESTAURANT. ~V: w"X . •. ; . In ‘ Cassell’s Magazine.” for August a photograph reproduced depicts the interior of the Grand Chinese Restaurant in the Chinese quarter of San Francisco. It is here that the fashionable Chinaman elects to dine with his jovial / friends. Like our own well-known fashionable restaurants, says the writer in the journal, everything is of the best. The bill-of-fare is a lengthy one, though many of the dishes would hardlv appeal to an Englishman’s palate. Although exclusively a Chinese restaurant, anyone is at liberty to make use of it. and hundreds of Europeans and Americans visit it, as it is regarded as one of the ‘ Show places ” in the - Chinese quarter. From the bar in the balconv, where drinks may be obtains one can look right oyer the spacious room, and watch the diners.. It is a ■ strange spectacle. At the little tables ? sit well-to-do Chinese merchants in their .. silken vests, eating from the dishes y with their chop-sticks—a feat which is •- always a marvel to the Westerner. The '• restaurant boasts of some fine Oriental ■ carving, which is shown with good effect in the illustration.