TRADE TOPICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 996, 8 April 1909, Page 20

TRADE TOPICS.

We hear that Mr. A. Kerr of the Waitekauri Hotel has purchased Mr. A. M. McMahon’s Hotel, Tararu Road, Thames.

It is reported that Mr. Joe Molloy, who is well-known in local hotel keeping circles, has purchased Mrs. McManus’ interest in the Caledonian Hotel, Symonds Street. Mr. Molloy was lately in the Kentish Arms Hotel, Waiuku, being succeeded by Mr. C. J. Molloy late of Kaitala.

When Mr. Joe Molloy takes over the Caledonian Hotel, we will have four Iceisees of that name in the Auckland province. The other three being Mr. M. Molloy, Albion Hotel, City; Mr. C. J. Molloy, Kentish Arms Hotel, Waiuku, and Mr. C. J. Molloy, Bricklayers Arms Hotel, City.

In addition to race-course guessers we have now what may be termed hotel guessers and these comprise the wise ones who have already decided which hotels are to be closed, in Auckland City oh June 30 next.

Mr. J. J. Graham of the Pukekohe Hotel, has not enjoyed the best of health lately, and intends to take a six months trip to England shortly. His many friends will wish him a pleasant voyage and a speedy recovery to perfect health.

Considerable interest is being taken in the fate of the six Masterton hotels, following their closing as licensed houses on June 30. Considerably over £lOO,OOO worth of property is involved, and it is stated on very good authority that overtures have been made for 'tne purchase of two of the hotels by banking corporations, which have branch businesses in Masterton. According to the statements made by commercial travellers, there will be a good business in Masterton for at least one first-class temperance hotel.

A sensational hotel fire was reported from Christchurch last Monday, the Waiau Hotel, being destroyed by fire on Sunday morning. The inmates narrowly escaped with their lives.

The Beer duty collected in Auckland last month amounted to £2634 as against £2092 collected in March 1908.

The Junction Hotel at Kawakawa, one of the finest hostelries in the north is reported to be changing hands in June, when Mrs. A. Marshall will hand over her interest in the property to the new landlord, Mr. Hogg of Tauranga.

A Bill has been brought before the House of Commons, which is somewhat on the lines of the New Zealand law, its object being to close publichouses at election times. The Bill has been read a second time in the House by 199 votes to 46. Presumably this measure is intended to apply only to General Elections, as bye-elections are of frequent occurance in the United Kingdom.

The question of liability in regard to packet licenses again cropped up in the Magistrate’s Court last week, when judgment was given in a case of alleged selling of liquor on board the steamer Gaul, whilst moored at Waipu Wharf. The police sought to have the manager of the company, to whom the packet licenses are issued, made responsible for the act of the steward, who was said to have made a sale. From the evidence it would appear that no actual sale took place, though bartering liquor for poultry was admitted. The magistrate dismissed the information against the manager of the company, and expressed the opinion that the steward should be prosecuted.

This is how the “ Detroit Free Press ” heralds the “No License ” movement in El Paso: —“Wicked El Paso has reformed. Once the centre of excitement in Panhandle, it has gone dry. Its gambling dens are closed, and it has settled down to lead a quiet, respectable life.” All that, too, in staring headlines that arrest and demand attention.

The Union Steamship Company have completed arrangements with the Fiji Government for the lease of a site for a new hotel. The company recognise that the present hotel accommodation at Suva is quite insufficient to meet the requirements of the fast growing passenger trade from New Zealand and Australia to Fiji. It has been decided to erect a first-class hotel at a cost of £15,000 or £20,000.

The municipal elections take place on the 28th inst.

The origin of destructive fires is often shrouded in mystery. An incipient fire at Outram recently, fortunately discovered in time, shows that both the cause and the discovery may both be novel and curious. A cyclist riding by the Outram Hotel at five o’clock in the morning was surprised to see the door of that hotel apparently ablaze. Dismounting, he found that the lamp above the entrance had become overheated, and, having melted part of the metal work of the lantern, was emptying its ignited contents down upon the panels of the door. The cyclist gave the alarm, and the flames were quenched with a few buckets of wu.ter. ♦ ♦ ♦ »

It was reported from Adelaide last week that thirty-seven of the hotels in the metropolitan district have been closed as the result of the local option poll taken two years ago, since when there has been much litigation over the matter, including an appeal to the Privy Council.

A curious reason was upplied by the police at the Kensington Licensing Sessions (says a London paper) for calling attention to the application of a publican, whose premises are near the Earl’s Court Exhibition grounds“An alleged fraudulent advertisement,” said a police inspector, “ appeared in the papers towards the end of last year for a young woman to dance in a lion’s cage at Earl’s Court, and offering her £5O for the engagement.” It was afterwards announced that a barmaid from the house in question would dance in the cage, and she did so. Complaints were made, and on investigation it was ascertained that the young woman had been allowed to stand behind the bar at the public-house for two or three days in the previous week to give colour, it was assumed, to the announcement. This was not considered by the police to be proper conduct on the part tof the licensee. The Bench adjourned the matter.

It is not generally known that the Western Australian Government has made one experiment in State control in regard to licensing matters. Mr. Clifton, a warden from East Murchison, while on a visit to Dunedin, said:—“At Gwalior there is a State hotel. It was erected a year or two back at a capital cost of £5OOO. Last year it showed a profit of £3OOO. The manager i& paid a good salary, and the State house is differentiated from the other hotels by its rigid observance of closing time (11 p.m.) and of the law in regard to serving drunken men. The other hotelkeepers are strongly opposed to it. They sometimes collect their own “ drunks” cart them off to the State hotel and deposit them in front of its doors as samples of its products. The profits made by the State hotel may seem large, but it must be remembered that drinks are often Is on the goldfields. In Gwalior the scale is:—Long beers and whiskies Is, medium and small beers 6d.”

A new departmental regulation has Peen put into operation at the Sydney Police Courts, with the object of inducing sobriety amongst the Court’s customers. By this regulation certain persons who appear to answer charges of drunkenness and disorderliness, and are convicted, are fined the maximum amount of £2, in default one month’s imprisonment, or £3, in default six weeks’ imprisonment. On promising the Court to abstain, the offender is given three months in which to pay the fine, and no surety is asked by the police. At the end of the three months, if they have not offended again, they are allowed another three months, and so on until twelve nonths have lapsed. Then, if there has been no record against the offender, the whole fine is remitted; on the other hand, any lapse within the twelve months’ period will result in the original penalty being enforced.