EDEN LICENSING MEETING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 852, 5 July 1906, Page 22

EDEN LICENSING MEETING.

NEW LYNN HOTEL CLOSED. The adjourned meeting of the Eden Licensing Committee was held at the Epsom Public Hall at noon last Friday. The chairman (Mr. R. W. Dyer, S.M.) presided. The other members of the committee present were: Messrs. Murdoch McLean, G. Knight, J. Walters, R. S. Abel, and J. Bollard, M.H.R. Mr. F. Earl appeared on behalf of the licensee of the New Lynn Hotel, and Mr. McVeagh on behalf of the licensee of the Epsom Hotel. The Chairman said that since the adjournment the members of the committee had visited the various houses in the district with reference to the reduction question, and had come to the unanimous opinion that either the New Lynn or the Epsom Hotel license must go. What had to be decided was the convenience and accommodation of the one adopted by the committee. The adjournment had been granted in order that evidence might be called on the question of which license should be cancelled, and it should be confined to the question of public convenience. After this the committee would hear addresses by counsel. Mr. McVeagh proceeded to call evidence in connection with the application for the renewal of the license of the Epsom Hotel. Henry Arthur Lloyd, until recently licensee of the Epsom Hotel, said the hotel was largely patronised by the travelling public, and by the general public who attended the show and football matches held at Alexandra Park. The average number of lodgers was five or six, while at show times as many as upwards of 30 stayed there. He considered that the house was reasonably necessary for the requirements of the public. Wm. Worrall, settler, Manukau Road, said that the people residing in the locality were satisfied with the conduct of the house, and considered that the hotel was necessary for public requirements. Elliott Laxon, a lodger in the hotel, said reasonable accommodation was provided at all times at the hotel. Mr* McVeagh addressing the committee, presented several petitions, signed by a large number of the property owners in the vicinity of the hotel, urging that the license be renewed. The house, he pointed out, was situated in a very populous and expanding district, and he submitted that having regard to the requirements of the district, hotel accommodation should be provided. It wa sa house that was reasonably required for the accommodation of the public, and was moreover within easy access of Auckland on the tram lines, and within close police supervision’ He submitted that the requirements of the Epsom district were greater than those of New Lynn, which was sparsely populated.

Mr. Earl called evidence in support of the application for a renewal of the license of the New Lynn Hotel. James Atkinson, a retired watchmaker, and a property owner in the

neighbourhood of the hotel, said the feeling in the district was in favour of the renewal of the license. The hotel was becoming an accommodation house for tourists, and as time went on would be more and more patronised. It was the only hotel in the district, and he considered that if one of the two had to go it should be that at Epsom. He also pointed out that the New Lynn Hotel was largely patronised by people going to and from the Waikumete cemetery. Other settlers were also called, and supported the application, holding that a hotel there was necessary, and pointing out the great inconvenience that would be caused in case of sickness if the license was cancelled. The Chairman, after conferring with the other members of the committee for a few minutes, said they were unanimous in their decision, which was that the New Lynn license should go. There was a great deal in what Mr. Earl had said, but then there was another question to consider, and that was that while the requirements for hotel accommodation at New Lynn were not urgent, the Epsom Hotel was used to a very large extent. Of course if there had been no hotel within 20 miles it would have been a very different thing, but as it was thert was a hotel four miles on the one side and another three miles on the other side of the hotel they proposed to close. On the question of public convenience the committee were unanimous that the New Lynn Hotel should be closed, and the license would be cancelled accordingly. The icenses in the cases of the other three hotels in the district, Avondale, Epsom, and the Junction, would be renewed.