The Licensed Victuallers' Gazette

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XV, Issue 861, 6 September 1906, Page 20

The Licensed Victuallers' Gazette

topics

The Government has decided not to introduce special legislation regarding the liquor question in connection with the Christchurch Exhibition.

A number of cases of breaches of the Licensing Acts were before the Court at Taumarunui recently.

Mr T. G. Macarthy, owner of the Terminus Hotel at Picton, intends to have this house rebuilt in brick.

Billiards was brought into fashion by Louis XIV. of France, in the Seventeenth Century, because his doctor ordered him to take exercise after his meals.

Last week, Wellington restaurantkeepers brought under the not.ce of the Minister of Labour the advisableness of removing the duty from potatoes immediately. The deputation pointed out the hardship to the trade generally by the imposition of this duty.

An order to pay 6d a week on a debt of £35 was made at the Bow County Court against a man who earns 19s a week and has a wife and six children.

In Chinese tobacco factories it is still customary lor the coolies to stamp the leaves with their bare feet.

Messrs Dwan Bros., of. Wellington, report the sale of Mrs Eades’s interest in the Te Aro Hotel, Willis Street, Wellington, to Mr Maurice Nathan, late of Melbourne. Mr Nathan was licensee of the Nag’s Head Hotel, Cuba Street, for a number of years. z

It. may or may not be a result “of the adoption of no-license in Oamaru, but it is a fact that 15 persons applied to the Oamaru Borough Council last week for licenses (or comriton lodginghouses. The applications were referred to the HeaLh Committee for report.

An appeal case of much interest to hotelkeepers who have billiard tables on their premises, came before His Honor Mr Justice Edwards, last Friday.

The beer duty collected in Auckland last month amounted to 14s, against us 3d for August, 1905.

In the local Court last Saturday, Alexander Simpson was fined 20s or 48 hours’ imprisonment for drunkenness, and a similar amount for refusing to leave the Market Hotel when requested to do so bv the licensee.

Wellington restaurant-keepers recently declared to the Minister of Labour that, owing to their waiters and waitresses having to work according to the Shops and Offices Act, such an impracticable arrangement had resulted in most of the restaurants being offered for sale.

In the local Court last Friday, a remand was granted in a case against Mr Michael O’Connor of Aratapu, who is charged with withdrawing beer from a thirty-six gallon cask without destroying the beer duty stamp.

In the Ashburton Police Court last Friday, William Bryant and Joseph Dineen, proprietors of the Temuka Brewery, pleaded guilty to sending six packages of liquor into the Ashburton no-license district without properly describing the contents on the labels. They were fined 10s and costs.

An inventory of the estate of Russell Sage has es ablished the value of the estate as not being 150,000,000 dollars. The fact that Russell Sage’s millions have gone almost in their entirety to his widow makes Mrs Sage the wealthiest widow in the world. This vast sum Mrs Sage is empowered to distribute in charity-

The question of the extent of a hotelkeeper’s liability came before the Magistrate’s Court at Gisborne last Thursday, it was decided that an hotelkeeper was liable for damages done to a buggy while the owner was staying at the hotel. The defence set up was that the liability should fall on the owner of a horse said to have caused the damage.

At Kawhia last week, a man who was charged with sly grog-selling, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

A pleasing ceremony took place last week in the office 01 Messrs L. D. Nathan and Co., Ltd., when a double presentation was made, one consisting of a silver tea and coffee service and cake dish to Mr C. Sandford, on the eve of his marriage, and the other a piece of furniture to Mr H. McKinstry, who was married recently. Mr Ernest D. Benjamin, in a few well-chosen words, referred to the number of years these two gentlemen had been with the firm, and wished them both many jears of happiness and prosperity. The presentations were suitably acknowledged.

A curious position has arisen in the Tasmanian Legislative Assembly in connection with the Local Option Bill. Mr Nicholls, its promoter, moved its discharge owing to the time-limits’ being extended from six to ten years, but the motion to discharge was negatived by 14 to 10.

The Victorian Licensed Victuallers’ Association is preparing a petition, urging the Legislative Assembly to provide for the sale of liquor during limited hours on Sunday.

Mr Bent, the Victorian Premier, says that if he could get his way he would apply the whole of the liquor license fees —^90,000 —to buying out the least desirable hotels.

A prohibition order has been issued by the local Court against Pollard Mouzer .0 have currency for twelve months.

In the Estimates placed before the House last week appear items in connection ewith expenses for the detection O', sly grog-selling. £5OO is allocated was expended last year) and £450 was expended last year). The total of this Department shows a rise from £137,999 (last year’s vote) to £146,765.

The inter-provincial football matches made big business at the Epsom Hotel, near the football ground. The proprietor and his staff were kept very busy each match day.

A young lady from one of the City hotel bars was heard to remark last Saturday that she would like to give the individual who talks down barmaids to Dufty.

Mr Donne, head of the Tourist Department, recently returned to the colony from Sydney. He stated in Dunedin that an impression had got about in Australia that the Christchurch hotelkeepers are going to charge 10 guineas per day for the single rooms, at Exhibition time. This idea, which has got abroad, is having a very dampening effect upon many people who would like to make the trip. Mr Donne did all he could to minimise the effect of the story that had got about, but, he added, it should be strenuously contradicted from Christchurch. * *■ * * The sandwich man made his first appearance in 1346 on the streets of Florence. The wine merchants there were in the habit of hiring indigent individuals to parade the streets dressed to represent s'raw-coloured wine-bottles. » * * » Mr Fred Freeman, who recently took over the Wynyard Arms Hotel in Wellesley Street, is having that house repainted and repapered throughout. * * * * Master: “Can any boy give me ari illustration of the phrase ‘Bitter end?’” Smart Kid: “Yes sir! Please, ,sir our dog chased a cat round the back yard, and bit her end!”

Mr A. W. Hamer, late of the Victoria Hotel, Onehunga, takes possession of the Ro. al Oak Hotel, Onehunga, about the end of this week.

In the local Court last week, Alfred W. Kelly was prohibited for twelve months.

A fine substantial verandah is being erected in front of the Albert Hotel, and the adjoining shops in Queen Street.

Mr J. W. Shaw, who is keeping the Grand Hotel at Te Aroha, in the front rank of comfortable up-to-date hotels, has recently let a contract for the installation of electric light throughout his hotel.

KING COUNTRY CASES.

At the last sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Taumarunui, before Mr H. W. Northcroft, S.M., H. Schmidt was fined £2 and costs for sly grog-selling. Dinah Marks was fined and costs, Reuben A. Marks was fined /yo and costs, and J. Malone, alias Melton ,was fined 10s and costs, for breaches of the Beer Duties Act, in selling hop beer which contained more than the due percentage of Alcohol. A fine of and cos.s was imposed on John Nicholas for conveying liquor into the King Country without a proper label being affixed; and George Turner was fined and costs lor the same offence. Judgment was reserved in two cases, one against J. Malone of keeping liquor in the King Country for sale, and the other against Reuben A. Marks for taking liquor into the King Country unlabelled.

LIQUOR AT THE EXHIBITION.

Last Thursday the Cabinet: ue-ided not to provide the special legislation asked for by the Commissioners, in order to cope wi.h the licensing quest.on at the Christchurch Exhibition. The Commissioners are to be directed to make their arrangements with the local Licensing Committee. At a meeting of the Exhibition Executive Committee it was decided to apply to the Licensing Committee to grant a special license for a wine bar, and for the sale of liquor in the restaurant with meals. A motion was also carried expressing the opinion that the rate of £2 2s for gentlemen’s season tickets was far too high, and asking that Cabinet should reconsider its decision so far as those tickets were concerned. At a meeting held in the Choral Hall last night a motion was adopted protesting against the proposal that special legislation should be passed authorising the sale of alcoholic liquors with meals a. the Exhibition.

AN IMPORTANT RULING.

At the sitting of the Thames Police £ourt last Monday , an important-ruling '' was given by the stipendiary magistrate (Mr R. S. Bush) in a case brought by the police for an alleged breach of the licensing laws. The charge was brought against two men for being unlawfully on licensed premises on Sunday, August 27. Sergeant Darby stated that on the day mentioned he and Constable Morris visited the Salutation Hotel and inspected the house, finding everything quiet, but as they were about to leave two men entered the yard by the outside gate, and when seen by the police were near the back door, and their names were taken as being unlawfully on licensed premises. The first defendant, R. Stevenson, pleaded guilty to being in the yard, but stated that they were not there for the purpose of obtaining drink in any form. They had not been in the house, and had not intended to enter the house. His Worship stated that he was not satisfied that a breach of the law had been committed, and contended that while the yard was part of the premises it was not, in his opinion, part of the licensed premises within the meaning of the Act, and he could not find anything within the Act which included a yard in the actual licensed premises. On these grounds the case was dismissed, and the charge against the second person withdrawn.

billiards for drinks.

Last Monday in the Supreme Court, His Honor, Mr Justice Edwards, in giving his decision in the appeal of George Marshall, a hotelkeeper at Kawakawa, against, the decision of the presiding magistrate convicting him of permitting gambling upon his premises by allowing a game of billiards to be played for drinks, His Honor said that section 44, of the Licensing Acts Amendment Act, 1904, the enactment under which the charge was laid, followed very closely the language of the Imperial statute, but the word “gambling” had been substituted for the word “gaming,” which was the word used in the Imperial statute. It was not disputed by counsel for the appellant that if the word “gaming” had been used the English authorities were conclusive to show that the appellant was rightly convicted. It was contended, however, that “gambling” was something more serious than “gaming,” and that that word had been intentionally used in the colonial statute in substitution for the word used in the Imperial statute. So far as counsel, had been able to inform him, and as far as his researches went, there was no definition by any English Court of the meaning of the word “gambling. ” There were, however, Amercan decisions which held that the terms “gaming” and “gamb-. ling” were in their sense synonymous. The contention of the case for the appellant was that gambling was excessive gaming. He could not think that this was the meaning of the word “gambling” as used in the Licensing Act. If it was it would be impossible for the licensee or for the police to know whether an offence against the Act had been committed. He was satisfied that in this respect the Legislature had had regard topublic example upon licensed premises, and not to the injury which might result to persons who played games tor excessive stakes. The definition of the word “gamble” in the Standard Dictionaries, to which he was referred, did not helphim, but rather the reverse. He found that one of the definitions of the word was ‘ ’to play a game, especially a game of chance, for stakes,” and that the example given was “as to gamble for drinks,” which was the very case. “Gaming” in His Honor’s opinion, in its ordinary grammatical sense, could mean nothing but the playing of a game upon the result of which a stake depended, and it was just as much “gaming” if the game was a game of skill, as if it was a game of chance. In his opinion the appellant was properly convicted. The appeal would be dismissed with costs. “I may add,” said His Honor in conclusion, “that it is much to be regretted that the Legislature, when adopting from Imperial statutes provisions upon which there have been numerous decisions, does not either use the exact words of the enactment adopted, or make it quite clear by appropriate words, that the colonial enactment, though dealing with the same subject matter, is dealing with it in a different -manner.”

INVERCARGILL BEER DUTIES.

In view of the attention being paid throughout the colony to the experiment of no-ncense in Invercargill, the foilowing particulars relating to che traffic in beer wul probably prove interesting. A return of excise duty shows tnat Invercargill brewers paid £BB ns 4d in July, and £lOB os id in August, lor duty stamps. As the- amount collected as excise on each gallon is 3d, it is evident that the total quantity sold at the local breweries and depots amounted to over 7000 gallons during Juiy, and. to over 8600 gallons last month. 1. is understood the proprietors anticipate that they will double their output when the warm weather sets in. A little more local ale was disposed 01 during Juiy and August this year than during the corresponding period of 1905, but whereas a large quantity of beer brewed in Otago was despatched to Invercargill monthly before the advent of no-license, none or very little is now sent. Returns of duties collected in Invercargill on imported alcoholic beverages show the following figures:—July, 1905, £2232 17s 8d ; August, 1905, £2189 15s od; total, £4422 12s Bd. July, 1906, £1594 5s lod; August, 1906, /,’iBBo ns id; total, /j 3474 16s nd.

THE SLY=GROG SHOP.

The “Dunedin Star” has had a reporter in Oamaru “doing” the si -grog shops of which he says he is informed there are about a dozen. In the course of his remarks he thus unburdens himself: —“Bill took me to a place where we bought whisky. The price of it was six shillings a bottle. We drank it, and played cards on the premises, without any particular effort at concealment. We were neither steadily nor remarkably quie:. We were even mildly rowdy, off and on —when one of us got a lone-hand march, for instance —and by-and-by some of us wanted to fight some more of us, and the rest of us had to interfere. I obtained a kick on the shin. The thing finished up with an altercation in -he public thoroughfare at something after two a.m. ; and nobody took any notice of us, so far as we know. If a policeman had happened to pass by the place where we were he could easily have discovered what we were doing. But he could not have made a successful sly-grog prosecu.ion out of it, for this was private enterprise of a sort that mav not be disclosed.”

IRKSOME AND VEXATIOUS.

A Director of “Wonderland,” the great pleasure park which will be attached to the New Zealand Exhibition, was recently interviewed by a representative of the “New Zealand Herald,” on various matters in connection with the Exhibition. In connection with liquor at the Exhibition, this gentleman is reported as having said' that, “Another point that needs atten ion is that of the hotel and liquor facilities. The Christchurch Licensing Committee has decided on closing at ten o’clock. Now, I don’t wish to be understood as teaching them their business, but as one who has had many years of experience of exhibitions, I cannot help thinking this to be a mistake. The express from the South arrives at twenty minutes to eleven p.m., and travellers arrive only to find all ho els closed. This is exceptionally inconvenient to New Zealanders, but people who visit the Exhibition go there more, I maintain, for pleasure than instruction, which explains the raison d’etre of the side shows, and that is why I think visitors from the other side will find the licensing regulations and the administration of the liquor trade generally irksome and vexatious in Christchurch during the Exhibition, and those who go there during the opening of the Exhibition from Australia will carry back with them unpleasant recollections of compulsory abstinence which will not induce .hem to recommend the Exhibition to their friends.

“I believe that liquor will be served in the Exhibition only with meals, and that twice a day ; but it seems to me to be a ver. arbitrary measure for the S ate to limit the drinking of its visitors, whatever may be done with New Zealanders, whose right to manage their own affairs I do not, of course, question for one moment. But if a committee were set up to go into the matter, and settle it once and for all, I think some solution of the difficulty might be obtained. Such a committee, I would suggest, should be composed of the Mayor and City Council of Christchurch, the Commissioner of Police, the president of the Christchurch Chamber of Commerce, the president of the Tramway Board, the . chairman of the various Exhibition committees, the Licensing Committee, the chairman of the Harbour Board, Exhibition Commissioners, . and a Minister of the Grown. Surely among them all something could be done to solve the question which, believe me, if left unsolved, will militate

against the success of the Exhibition — an undertaking which is a co.oniai and not a local affair.” When asked whether the accommodation in Christchurch would be equal to the demand made upon it, by the Exhibition, the gentieman interviewed said it would ,if anything, be in excess. There was, he said, an impression that quarters would be most difficult to obtain, and perhaps lor the first week ffiere might be a little congestion, but the Commissioners had the matter of accomodation well in hand, and when they said that accommodation for visitors would be ample, their statement could be accepted with absolute confidence.

INTERESTING TO HOTELKEEPERS

The question of whe.her or not billiard playing in hotels for drinks constitutes a breach of the Licensing Act, last Friday forenoon came before His Honor Mr Justice Edwards( who, sitting in chambers at the Supreme Court, heard the appeal case Marshall v. Crean. This was an appeal by George Marshall, hotelkeeper, of Kawakawa, Bay of Islands, from the decision of the stipendiary magistrate (Mr Florence) whereby he convicted appellant of an offence under the Licensing Act, and inflicted a fine of 5s and costs. Mr J. C. Martin was for appellant and Mr Tole for respondent. Briefly the facts of the case are that on November 15, 1905, the appellant, being the licensee of the Junction Hotel, Kawakawa, is held to have permitted gambling on licensed premises, by allowing two men to play a game of billiards for drinks. The magistrate, in entering a conviction, held that though billiards was a game involving an amount of skill, it nevertheless also necessarily imported a large element of chance, and that to play the game of billiards in a licensed house for drinks amounted to gambling under, and was in contravention of, the Licensing Act, 1904. In submitting the case for the appellant, Mr Martin drew attention to the wording of the New Zealand and English Acts, and also contended that a game of billiards was a game of skill and not of chance, and, therefore, did not come within the meaning of the Act, not being an unlawful game. The English Licensing Act was passed in 1872, and contained a prohibition against allowing “gaming or any unlawful game.” The New Zealand Act was passed in 1881, and only contained a prohibition against allowing any “unlawtul game.” The Supreme Court had held that unlawful games were only those declared to be unlawful by statute. In 1904 the New Zealand amending statute was passed, prohibiting “gambling or any unlawful game.” The English Courts had held that playing at any game for money or money’s worth was gaming, and if “gambling” and “gaming” meant the same thing, the English decisions concluded the matter, and the conviction must stand. However, as the New Zealand Legislature, having the English Act and decisions in front of it, had in its amendment substituted the word “gambling” for “gaming” the colonial Act did not mean the same thing as the English Act, but used the word “gambling” in the proper sense, i.e., that the gaming must be excessive either in play or stakes. Further, one of the New Zealand judges, as well as one of the English judges ,had expressed a doubt whether either the English or the New Zealand Act would apply to games of skill, and that question was also now submitted to the Court for decision. Counsel quoted cases and authorities in support of his contention. Mr Tole, for respondent, held that the terms “gaming” and “gambling” were synonymous, and quoted several English decisions supporting the magisterial decision. His Honor : I should say that in common parlance the man who played a game of billiards for drinks could hardly be called a gambler. Mr Tole: No. I would not call him a gambler, but would say that the act was an act of gambling. Although a game may be lawful in itself, it becomes unlawful when money is staked. His Honor: Would you call billiards a game of chance ? Mr Tole: Absolutely, Your Honor, af.er many years experience of the game; not, of course, of late years. (Laughter.) His Honor : My experience is that the game of billiards is essentially a game of skill. Further argument was heard, and His Honor reserved his decision.

URIC ACID THE CAUSE OF MANY DISEASES.

The health of man is influenced to a verv g eat extent by the condition of the kidneys. Any disease of the kidneys, or interference with their action affects the whole system, because the purity of the blood is dependent upon the proper ex-

traction from it of certain specific poisons, which it is the duty of the kidneys to remove. The kidneys are situated in the small Of the back, one on each side of the spine. Human kidneys are similar in shape to those of a sheep, but are somewhat large . They are encased in fat, and are supplied with arteries which convey blood to them from the heart. By a process akin to filtering, the kidneys take any excess of water from the blood and they also extract from the blood various waste poisons with which it becomes laden in its journey through the veins. When a person is in good health these waste poisons are dissolved in the water taken from the blood by the kidneys, and the solution is passed through narrow passages leading from each kidney into the bladder, and is thence expelled from die body. This solution is known as urine. Some of the poisons contained in urine are animal matter, such as urea and uric acid; others are mineral matter, being salts of lime, magnesia, potash and soda.

Unless the kidneys do their work thoroughly, the waste mat.er is incompletely extracted irom the blood, and becomes actively poisonous, causing us to suffer from various disorders which cannot be cured until the kidneys are restored to health and activity. After the blood is filtered and purified by the. kidneys it enters the veins, and is, in due time, returned to the heart, having, in the meanwhile, ’raversed the body and taken up a fresh supply of waste matter. The heart again sends the blood to the kidneys, which once more filter it and extract the impurities. This process goes on wi hout ceasing day or night. The kidneys of the average man filter and extract from the blood about three pints of urine in twent -four hours. In this quantity of urine are dissolved about an ounce of urea, and ten or twelve grains, in weight, of uric ac'd, together with other animal and mineral matter, varying from a third of an ounce to nearly an ounce. The blood, in the course of its circulation, carries nourishment, derived from the food we eat, and oxygen :o every part of the tissues of the body, and receives from the tissues matter which they have consumed and for which th. y have no further use. This waste matter it is the duty of the skin, lungs and kidneys to throw off and get rid of. In the form of carbonic acid, the lungs throw off the equivalent of eight ounces of pure charcoal every twenty-four hours, and the kidneys do their share bv eliminating urea, uric acid, etc., as described. The principal disorders directly attributed to failure of the kidneys to perform their alloted task are Rheumatism, Gout, Lumbago, Sciatica, Persistent Headache, Neuralgia, Anaemia, Gravel, Stone and Bladder Troubles. When the kidneys are properly doing their work none of the complaints meal.oned can exist, because the causative poisons are then duly removed in a natural manner. The only remedy known to science which is able to establish a regular and healthy action of the kidne s in Warner’s Safe Cure. This remarkable medicine is the outcome of years of research, and has been in use throughout the world for more than a quarter of a century. It is the only known medicine which has the power to expel uric acid from the system, and it owes this power simply to its ability to restore worn, weak, or diseased kidneys to their natural vigour. Nature does the rest. Thousands suffer from kidney d : sease and do not know it. The commonest first symptom is pain in the back. A simple test to make as to the condition of the kidneys is to place some urine, passed the first thing in the morning, in a covered glass, and let it stand until the next morning. If it is then cloudy, or there is a brick-dust like sediment, or if particles float about it, then the k’dneys are not healthy, and no time snould be lost in adopting remedial measures or Bright’s Disease or some serious illness will be the result. Remember that Warner’s Safe Cure will in all cases restore the kidneys to health and will consequently cure —and permanently cure—all diseases arising from their feeble condition and the retention of uric acid in the system. A treatise containing a full description of the curative action of Warner’s Safe Cure and many accounts of cases cured will be sent free on application to H. H. Warner and Co., Limited, Australasian Branch, Melbourne.