HOME NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 810, 14 September 1905, Page 23

HOME NOTES.

(“ L.V. Gazette,” July). With London full of visitors from all parts of the world, and with the holiday season at its height, it might have been expected—especially when the recent tiopical weather is taken into consideration—that we should have heard fewer complaints about the long-continued depression in the Trade. Apparently they are as numerous as ever. The West End hotels have been well filled during the London season, but with very few exceptions the hotelkeepers at the various seaside resorts find that their visitors make little or no demand upon their cellars. There are plenty of holiday folk about, but they are enjoying themselves in a more economical manner. The fact is they have not the money to spend; consequently they have to “ cut their coat according to their cloth” and await brighter times. Meanwhile the Trade, overburdened with taxation, continues to suffer.

Compared with the corresponding period of 1904, there is a diminution in the value of wine imported during the first six months of this year of over £50,000. Messrs. Southard and Company may well ask in their June circular, “ What is to be the future of the wine trade?” The wonderful value which has been placed before the consumers by the distributing firms having failed to increase the consumption, this firm queiies whether high quality and higher prices might not do better. It is all very well to argue that the classes who drink wine are those who can afford to pay for it, and are always willing to pay a long price if they can secure the best possible article. This may, and doubtless does, hold good so far as the best brands of champagne are concerned, though here again many consumers are unwilling to pay at the fashionable West End hotels and -restaurants nearly double the price charged for the same article at their clubs. Clarets and burgundies might become much more popular if only good sound wine could be depended upon for a moderate figure. In very many instances prices are practically prohibitive, and the introduction of the “ wine list” only too often leads to an order for a modest £< whisky and soda” or a bottle of lager beer.

With its thirty establishments spread over the United Kingdom, the Bodega Company is in a position to judge of the extent of the depression. They have not suffered as much in decreased takings as some of their competitors, but it is quite clear, from what the chairman said at the recent meeting, that the dividend of 5 per cent, for the year has only been maintained by effecting economies. There has been a total saving of over £4OOO compared with the previous year. The policy of closing businesses that are unproductive is undoubtedly a right one. When the Cafe de Paris on Ludgate Hill was bought by the company they wished to turn it into a wine shop—make a popular Bodega of it in fact. But the city licensing authorities insisted that the restaurant part of the business must be maintained—that food and drink, in fact, must be sold together. The place has been given a fair trial, but it has not come up to expectations. It has therefore been closed, and there will, it is said, be no application for the renewal of the license.

Congratulations to Mr. Michael Christopher Lee, of the Globe Hotel, St. Helens, on the success of his appeal to

the Liverpool County Quarter Sessions against his recent conviction lor selling beer to a drunken person. Hottevet careful a license-holder may be in the conduct of his business, a slip of this kind is ever likely to occur, but it is ridiculous to suppose for one moment that' a licensed victualler would imperil his license and run the risk of losing his money and his living by serving a pint of beer to a drunken man. Mr. Lee has been connected with the Trade for sixteen years, and for four years has been the licensee of one of the largest and best houses in St. Helens. V hen a party of four entered his hotel it was discovered that one of the number was “in drink.’’ Mr. Lee not only refused to serve, but took the drink away from the others as soon as possible. What more could he have done ? In this case the fault evidently rests with the police. It was stated in court that the drunken man in question was ordered out of two other public-houses. If this was so, why did not the police, as soon as they saw the party enter the Globe, draw the landlord’s attention to the condition of one of them and not wait until the beer had been drawn and placed on the counter in order to secure a summons ?

When a licensed house is burned down, what becomes of the license? Prior to the passing of the Licensing Act of 1904 the question had not assumed the importance that it has to-day, when the grant of a new license carries with it “ a monopoly value.” In May last the Hercules Inn, Newport, was reduced to ashes by fire, and when a temporary structure was erected on the site the Saffron Walden magistrates granted Messrs. Watney, Combe, Reid, and Company, the owners of the old house, authority to sell. When application was made before the Bench last week for a license, Mr. F. B. Sutthery opposed on behalf of the Essex police, submitting that when the premises were burned down the license was dead. Counsel for the brewers contended that, although the Hercules had been destroyed, the premises were there, and the application for a new license to have effect on those premises. The Bench came to the conclusion that in common justice the license must be granted. But in a case of this

kind why should not the old license have been renewed ?

Judging from the meetings of the Portsmouth and Gosport Licensed Victuallers' Association and the Portsmouth and District Wine and Beer Retailers’ Association, the Trade in that part of the country is waking up to the importance of organisation. Both are in a more flourishing condition as regards membership than for some time past; in fact, during the past half-vear no fewer than 60 members have been added to the roll of the latter society, bringing the total up to 265. It may be that this great desire on the part of the Trade to join forces is due in a measure to the activity of the borough police, who have, it appears, paid no fewer than 27,000 visits to the houses of Portsmouth during the past year. Still, it is satisfactory to note that there have been but two or three convictions obtained, showing that the license-holders in the town are fully alive to the importance of their own interests. Portsmouth is now one of the very few country towns that has a claim upon the- Licensed Victuallers’ Asylum, the local association having, on the occasion of Sir John Brickwood’s presidency, contributed a sum of £53, which entitles it to twenty votes.