TRADE TOPICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIX, Issue 1075, 13 October 1910, Page 21

TRADE TOPICS.

annual meeting of the Auckland L.V. Association takes place next week. It will be followed on Tuesday, the 25th inst., by the annual meeting of the N.Z.L.V. Association which will be held in Wellington.

The long arm of the law was exemplified in a case in the Kaiapoi Court recently, when a prohibited person who had entered an hotel admitted that he had been prohibited in Martinborough, but did not think the order would reach Kaiapoi. The Magistrate pointed out that it was illegal for a prohibited person to be supplied anywhere in the Dominion.

in towns at any rate, anything in the nature of compulsory prohibition of drinking is absolutely impossible, and it only leads to drinking in worse forms than under the old system.— Joseph Chamberlain, M.P.

“Again, they say drink causes crime. No doubt it does in some instances, but a lot of the worst crimes are committed daily without the aid of drink. Are burglars drunk when they crack cribs? No, the drunk goes to sleep peacefully when he is full, and troubles no one. It is the very sober ones who are to be feared most.”—“Anti-Humbug” in the Sydney “Telegraph.”

The erection of the hotel which the Union Steam Ship Company intends to erect in Suva will probably be commenced early next year. The building will provide bedroom accommodation for 50 guests, and there will be a magnificent lounge room 9 Bft. long and 30ft. wide. The rooms will be 18ft. high, and the main floor 4ft. off the foundation proper, which will be of reinforced concrete. Provision will be made for a roof garden. The contract price for the hotel, which will be something after the modern Renaissance style, is about £20,000- Ferroconcrete will be used throughout the building, and an order for a large amount of material has already left for England.

The quarterly Customs returns for Southland for the three months ending September 30, as compared with the same quarter of last year, show considerable increases under various items. The amount collected for spirits was £7623, as against £6865; cigarettes £9 76, compared with £610; tobacco £4 72 6, as compared with £4,105; wines £179, in place of £109; ale and beer, £B9, instead of £11; goods by weight, £1149, last year’s figures being £790; goods, ad valorem, £8395, £6455. There was a slight falling off in the amount collected for chicory, cocoa, etc., and also in respect of “other duties.”

At the Paeroa Magistrate’s Court, James Hill was charged with receiving an order for liquor in Karangahake, in the no-license district of Ohinemuri. The evidence showed that Hill, who is traveller for the Paeroa Brewery Company, was accosted by a man named Moran in Karangahake, and asked if he could get ten gallons of beer. Hill told him he would have to send a written order to Thames. Moran paid Hill £1 and afterwards posted the order to Thames. The Magistrate said he had no doubt that the contract for the sale of the liquor was made verbally in Karangahake, when Hill received the £l, notwithstanding the fact that the written order was forwarded afterwards. Hill was convicted and fined 40s and costs, 19s Bd.

“I am .not prepared to accept your NOf-License campaign. My reasons are, briefly: (Ist) If you have absolute prohibition illicit traffic will soon follow. (2nd) Some fifteen years ago I travelled much in the United States of America, and I wish to inform you that I found more drunkenness in the prohibited States than in the free ones. No-License simply means illicit, traffic.”—The late Bishop Doyle, Lismore, New South Wales.

At the Auckland Police Court on Friday, Mr. E. C. Cutten S.M., gave hie reserved decision in the case Police v. Griffin. Sub-Inspector Hendrey appeared for the prosecution and Mr. F. Earl for the defence. The defendant is licensee of the Hobson Hotel, Auckland. He was charged with selling liquor on August 11 to a person already in a state of intoxication, and also, on the same occasion, with permitting drunkenness on his licensed premises. In giving judgment, Hig Worship said it was clear that the man served was not in a state to be supplied with liquor, and the defendant, had he been observant, would not have been tripped into thinking that the man was sober. The defendant was careless, but whether he should be convicted of permitting drunkenness was arguable, and this charge would be dismissed. Proceeding, His Worship said that as the liquor was supplied to the order of the intoxicated man’s companion, who was comparatively sober at the time, it was contended by the defendant that he could not be convicted of selling to a person already in a state of intoxication. His Worship decided that the authorities were against this contention, and convicted and fined the defendant £5. At Mr. Earl’s suggestion the fine was raised to £5 Is, counsel intimating that he would appeal against the decision on the grounds of law and fact.

The Rev. Forbes Phillips, recently at Gorleston, (England, ;said: regards temperance societies, every year something like a quarter of a million of money is spent for the purpose of circulating incorrect statements, untrue libels, and twisting of statistics.”

A practical protest against the new license duties at Home is reported from Thorpe Hesley, near Rotherham. Here Aaron Allott, licensee of Old Gate Inn, a free beerhouse, has closed his premises and pulled down the sign rather than pay a license duty of £l6 per year. The house belongs to the Earl of Effingham, and bears the reputation of being one of the best conducted inns in the district. It has been in existence over 200 years, and in the occupation of Allott’s family for half a century.

Whisky, according to a trade witness examined in Bow County Court (London), increases in value 2d or 3d per gallon for every year it remains in bond.