THE LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 918, 10 October 1907, Page 20

THE LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE

A corner in bottles is repor ed from Dunedin. It being stated that the firm of Messrs. Thomson and Co. were last Friday buying up all the quart beer bottles they could at half-a-crown a dozen. * * * At the Wanganui Police Court last Thursday Hugh John McLean, of Ohakune, was fined in default three months’ imprisonment, for sly-grog sel - ing. * * * * Quite a batch of licensing casese were before the magistrate at the Thames last Thursday. Sundry fines were infl cted again various men for being on licensed premises after closing hours, he licensee ‘of the Shorthand Hotel was fined for a breach of the Act, and charges against the licensee of the Governor Bowen Hotel were dismissed. By the death of Mr. Henry Laycock, which took place at his residence at Ellerslie last Thursday, one of the old identities in the hotel trade has been removed. Deceased, who was a native of Nottingham, arrived in Auckland as far back as 1863. For many years he was hotelkeeping at Tairua, and retired from the business about nine or ten years ago. A typical Englishman, bluff and hearty, he endeared himself by his many straightforwardness to the many who knew him, and numbers will always remember the hearty hand-grip and cheery laugh of Henry Laycock of Tairua. Having reached the allotted span of 70 years, he died regretted by a!l7 leaving a widow, seven daughters and four sons, and a number of grandchildren. * * « • In the House of Representatives last Thursday Mr. Laurenson and some others spoke of the expense members were put to in getting into the House, and afterwards, and urg'ed that /7300 a year was not at all an adequate payment for the work done and the expenses incurred. Mr. McLaugh’in, however, put the other. side of the question. “How many members of this House had a year before they came into it?” he asked. “Very few,” he said, answering the question himself. “This was the biggest windfall they ever had. They were never in as affluent circumstances as they are now; they never had, and never would have had, £3OO a year had it not been for the fates putting them nto Parliament.” x »* * * In many of the French, Italian, and Spanish vineyards the grapes are still trodden with bare feet. » * * * The annual income of all the hotelkeepers in Switzerland together is six mi'lion pounds. It comes to them in the most part in the summer months. * * • • The secret of making abs’nthe, the subtle but harmful stimulant so popular in France, was sold by its inventor to ■a distiller for £25. The distiller sold it for 000. * * * «■ . Charles Mercer, keeper of a fish and chips shop in Wellington was last Friday fined £23 for sly grog-se’ling. * * * * In the Melbourne City Court the American system of dealing with inebriates has been initiated. This consists of allowing them to be discharged after signing the p edge, on the understanding that they will be severely dealt with if they offend , again. ♦ * ' ♦ * A hotel now being erected at Kaponga is to be called the Dominion. A ship’s steward was last week fined /?4C, with £lO 16 6s costs for selling liquor to natives at Matakana Wharf. * » ♦ * The Sale of Food and Drugs Act and the Methylated Spirits Act, were put through their final stages in the Legislative Council last week and passed. • * * * It is ' rumoured that Mr. A. Montgomery, who recently sold out of the Karangahake Hotel to Mr. Inglis, has purchased his brother Ralph’s interest in the hotel at Waikino.

During the stormy weather which prevai ed practically all over the Dominion las: week, the Commercial Ho el at Pali atua suffered from the effects of the big blow. A portion of the parapet which is in course of erection, came down wi.h a crash doing damage to the extent of atfout Fortunately, no one was injured. * * » • The news of the death of Mr. F. C. Litt'e, of the Suffolk Hotel, College Hill, came as a mos: painful surprise to his many friends last Thursday. He had been ailing only a short time, and had been in the city on business only the week before his death. Still a young man, comparatively speaking, on'y 48, Mr. Little always looked vigorous and hearty. He had had considerable hotelkeep'ng experience in the Auckland province, anl was for many years in the ho el at Mangawhare, which house he made famous for good accommodation. Always enjoying the friendship and esteem of all who knew him his death is keenly rqgretted, and much sympathy, is felt for his wife and farni'y. • « • • On the Ist inst., a. Cambr dge, the death took place of Mr. G. H. Priston at the early age of 38 years. Mr. Priston had been up till lately licensee of the Kaipara Hotel, at Helensvil’e, and will be remembered by goldfields residents and travellers as mine host of the Mackytown Hotel which house he and Mrs. Priston successfully conducted some few years back. Quiet and unassum ing in manner, w'th a geniality that ensured him many friends, Mr. Priston’s demise is deeply regretted, and sincere sympathy is extended to his young widow in her sad bereavement. * * * » The Customs returns for the Port of Auckland for September still show further increases in the revenue collected. Among the various items beer - duty shows an increase of 7s gd, the amount paid in being ;£t734 14s 6d, as_ against £1612 6s gd collected in Sep tember last year. * * • * Owing to torrential rains which have recently fallen in the South of France, many wine-growers are ruined. It is computed that ten mi’l'on gallons of wine have been lost in the Herault district alone. Thousands of grape-pickers are homeless numbers of vintagers had barely time to escape the flood. » * * * A couple of bel’icose individuals creat ed a disturbance in Napier the other day bu fortunately caused no injury to any- ’■ - One of them asked a bystander n exci ed tones to hold his coat, but quietened down and became extremely penitent when he ascertained that the gentleman to whom he appealed was he sub inspector of po'ice. One must not ask >a policeman to do everything. There is a great dearth of houses a‘ Eltham. Taranaki, people being compelled to live in hotels and boardin houses for lack of other accommodation. * * « ♦ The foundat’on stone of the new club for the Auckland Workingmen’s Cljub and Mechanics’ Institute was laid by the Mayor (Mr, A. M. Myers) ’ast week. The buildine - is to be erected in Coburg street next to the Society of Arts building. * * * * Customs duties for September show" an increase of 38 per cent, over Septem ber, 1906. * « « « At a meeting of the Council of Churches held ’n Wellington ’ast the following resolution was adopted : — “That in view of evidence received concerning constant gamb’ing in one of the clubs in Wellington, the Council believes the pol : ce should have and should exercise, supervision of all clubs in this respect.” We hear that Mr. E. Hill, of th's city has purchased Mr; W. White’s : n tierest in the Alpha Hotel. Kihikihi.

In the Gisborne case of supplying liquor at a social the magistrate imposed a nominal fine of one shill ng, stating that he was satisfied the defendants had no intention of breaking the law. *** » ■ Mr. John Morrison, of the .Metropolian Hotel, was able to get about again last week after wrestling for a fortnight with the Influenza fiend. The eccentricities of a man named Andrew McPherson caused the police to conclude .hat he was drunk and that, while on the premises of the Criterion a Hotel. The charge of permitting drunkenness brought against Mr. Dav d Morrison was dismissed by Mr. Kettle, S.M. This adds another case to an already long list, which goes to show the perils that even an ho elkeeper is subjected to no matter however careful he may be. « « « • Mrs. Payne, who recently sold out of he Ohaewai Hotel, which house she has so successfully conducted since her husband’s death, returned to Auckland '.ast Friday. During las: week King Dea h cla med three well-known identities in the hotel trade, these were Mr. H. Laycock, for many years hotelkeeping at Tairua, Mr. Fred Litle of the Suffo'k Hotel, College Hill, and Mr. Harry Priston, late of Helensville. * * * * The conversa ion in the bar had turned upon perpetual motion, and the bloated young man in the corner presently chipped in:—“Whoever says perpetual motion ain’t bin discovered talks rot! Perpetual motion is anyth nk as keeps yer goln’ all the time, an’ I got mine when I worked for Snooker Brokers at the Oxford Arms. I done al" the cellar work served in the bar, scoured six dozen pewters afore breakfast, did the chuckin’ out, marked at billiards, an’, _when things was dull, made a few clay p pes. Tne only reg’lar hours we had was that we was called up punctually ten minu es afore goin’ to bed. If any of yer ’ere dqub.s the existence of perpetwal motion, let him go an’ git a job with Snooker Brothers, an’ he’ll git all he wants of it!” * * * * Messrs. Gordon and Gotch have forwarded .he current number of “The Lone Hand.” the monthly publication of the “Bulletin” Co., of Sydney. The magaz ne is up to its usual standard, finely illustrated, and well written. Among the mos. entertaining stories are Dyson’s “A Season at Jiackpot,” “The Broken Siesta,” by Ethel Turner, and “The Marquis,” by Tarboy. The article “Liquozone, An Impudent Fraud,” is most tinteresting, and he “Lone Hand” deserves a pat on the back page for it; we could do with more of the same species. “Filling the Wool Pack” and “Our Empty North,” are of compelling force, and worthy of serious reading. There are still some weak and crude points about “The Lone Hand,” and they are not artistic. The unnatural cvnicism of “The One-eyed Man,” by Frank Morton, is undeserving a place in the bright pages of the Australian monthly. Nor is “The Funeral,” by the same writer, of proportionate literary value; such unmusical sentences as “Astare at this my heart,” and “fleckless of grey gloom of sleet,” are pure rubbish. “The Lone Hand,” in endeavouring to “Be More Australian,” is forgetting the fact that “essence of* locality is the first law of description.” With the exception of Roderick Quinn’s pretty line “In Town,” none of he poetry can be called Australian.