TRADE TOPICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIX, Issue 1101, 18 May 1911, Page 21

TRADE TOPICS.

At the Wellington Police Court on Friday, a young man named Horace Jeyes was fined £lOO on two charges of sly grog-selling. :|s =l= * * The police have had reason to suspect recently that sly-grog selling is still being carried on at one or two places in Masterton, and raided a house in Park-street. The inmates were naturally surprised at the unexpected attention paid them and did not extend that cordial welcome to their visitors that is the essence of true hospitality. A considerable quantity of liquor was seized, and the case will come before the Magistrate’s Court in due course. « $ * * Invercargill is shortly to possess an hotel of unusual and imposing proportions. It will be erected upon the site of the old Prince of Wales Hotel, which was recently demolished after an existence of half a century. The new building will possess four storeys, in addition to a cellar, and will have a frontage of 66ft and a depth of 65ft. Brick and ferro-con-crete will be used in the construction, and the cost is mentioned as being from £lO,OOO to £12,000. It will be the largest hotel in. Southland. Te Awamutu is a town which for a long time remained dormant, while other places in the Waikato made more or less rapid progress. During the last two years, however, a wonderful change has been taking place. The main road from the station to the town has been widened, graded,, and metalled, whilst in the town itself new shops and dwellings have been built or are in course of erection. In fact the whole district is now progressing rapidly > and in a few years should be an important centre. There are two hotels in the town, both of which appear to be doing good business. Mr Jas. Jackson, the owner of the Te Awamutu Hotel, has moved with the times, and has transformed his hotel into a most comfortable and up-to-date house. The oedrooms are large and airy, the commercial room very spacious and convenient, whilst the dining room is of the best, the menu being equal to that of any other hotel of the same tariff in the Dominion. i + » • If plaintiff says you were very drunk on the night in question, do you contradict the statement?” queried counsel in cross-examining a witness in the Napier Magistrate’s Court. “Well!” said the occupier of the wit-ness-box, “I rode my bike home.” ~ » • * Mr Douglas, late of Feilding, has acquired the Club Hotel, Masterton, and will run it as a first-class temperance hotel. Mr S. Moses,-who, after 28 years of service as a commercial traveller representing Messrs. L. D. Nathan and Co., Limited, is now retiring from the road, and taking an important position in their warehouse, was entertained by his fellow-travellers in the Central Hotel, on Saturday evening. The chair was taken by Mr W. Boak, who, after a few eulogistic words, presented a gold albert and medallion to Mr Moses. * * * * A woman pleaded guilty in the Wellington Police Court a few days ago, to a charge of entering licensed premises during the currency of a prohibition order. Mr H. F. O’Leary, who appeared for the woman, stated

that his client had to go out and seek work to earn her Hying. The proprietress of the Thistle Inn. had offered her employment to do clean- ‘ ing work. His client had accepted the offer, and had been earning money there for three weeks when “some kind friends” acquainted the police of the facts, and so the woman had one means of livelihood taken from her. The magistrate in imposing a fine, said that the defendant had no right to acept employment in a hotel while she was the subject of a prohibition order. By doing so she was qualifying for Pakatoa. ss • Sis 4. * To meet its rapidly increasing requirements, the Grand Hotel, so popular with visiting tourists from all parts of the world, is to be considerably enlarged. The third storey of the present building is to be completed, and another storey added. Other substantial improvements include the enlargement of the diningroom, the installation of an electric passengei- lift, and the erection of a handsome porch over the front door. The expenditure is estimated to run into a sum of over £lO.OOO. # sjs 5K n: “When is a pint of beer not a pint?” is a question which has agitated the Munich courts. The point cropped up during the hearing of a criminal case, in the course of which it was alleged that working men were swindled of huge sums annually, owing to the short measure with which they were served when calling for their “pint.” It has now been definitely laid down that the standard measure of a pint or a glass of lager must be all beer and no froth. *** • • In giving evidence in a licensing case at Lower Hutt, in which two men wer charged with being on licensed premises on Good Friday, when the same were directed to be closed, Constable McKenzie ' stated that he tried to gain admission on the day in question, but all the doors were locked. He waited about for' some time before a door was opened,' and when he got inside everything was cleaned up and in order. This led Dr. McArthur, SM„ to remark: —“I think all hotelkeepers should be bound to keep a door unfastened always', so that the police could at any time enter the premises to ascertain whether the' law was being broken or not.” A message from Sydney states that the Full Court has reserved judgment in an important case arising out of the late local option poll. At the 190 7 election the Leichhardt electors voted for reduction, and at the last election they reversed, their decision and voted for continuance. The point at issue is whether the. last vote nullified the previous vote, giving the hotels voted put in 190 7 the right to keep open. The case is a test one, altogether 172 hotels being affected, representing property valued at nearly £lOO,OOO. Winchester-Wolseley-King sounds quite British and military! And so it is.. The Christchurch-Dunedin express train daily passes one of the most English-looking, charming places in the Dominion—the Winchester township, and in the streets of Winchester stands the Wolseley Hotel, which is owned by Mr E. F. King, a truly popular British landlord. The exterior of the hotel, as seen from the road leading to the town from the station, is picturesque. It stands out in relief from the dark foliage and accurately-trimmed hedges, in beautifully worked white brick and plaster of Norman design. Inside everything is in keeping—spotlessly clean; din-ing-room, sitting-room, commercialroom, bedrooms, all nicely furnished, comfortable and homely. For Mrs King presides over this department of the hostelry, and she is to be complimented on the excellent way in which everything is kept, and the perfect working of her staff of servants. The cuisine also is highly commendable. The Wolseley Hotel has acquired a lucrative tourist trade. Winchester is the centre of one of the best trout fishing streams in the Dominion—the Waihi, Haelaemoane, Ophi, Rangatata, and Orari rivers, are all within easy reach of it. Anglers from the North Island and abroad have grand sport from these rivers. Then the district generally is so truly English, with its farm lands, and beautifully kept hedge's, its rolling downs, and charming scenery as far as the eye can reach. The land is noted for its 40 bushel wheat to the acre. With such a district, it is not surprising that King’s Hotel should be in keeping. It is the noted resort for week-enders from Christchurch and D’unedin, and

the towns en route, and too much publicity cannot be given to the excellent accommodation one can get when he reaches Winchester. There is first-class shooting in the district — hares, rabbits, and ducks in abundance. ft ft ft * The Takitimu Maori Council has decided to recommend to His Excellency the Governor that the Takitimu Maori Council district should be brought under the provisions of section 4 6 of the Licensing Amendment Act, 1910, with a view to the taking of a referendum amongst the Maori people of the district (which embraces Gisborne and the neighbourhood), to decide whether liquor should be sold to the natives therein. ijt ❖ sj: The age limit question was responsible for W. G. Abbott, licensee of the Commercial Hotel, Te Awamutu, and James Jackson, licensee of the To Awamutu Hotel, being charged by Constable Lander with supplying beer to Eric Jack, a person under the age of 21 years. Mr Cox defended, and after hearing evidence, the magistrate dismissed both informations. Jack admitted misrepresenting his age to the licensee when challenged. ft ft ft * The Carterton ‘‘News,” discussing a licensing case heard in Masterton, says: The present case is an eyeopener. It gives Masterton residents who choose to have their customary glass of ale or wine at their dinner, or by way of “nightcap,” to understand that they are on the police's little list. The sergeant knows their “tricks and their manners,’” and no doubt keeps a strict record of . the average number of glasses per diem consumed by the family. This close supervision is no doubt necessary in effectively carrying out the law, but it has an unpleasant savour of the Pau] Pry Order, which is somewhat offensive to those who are neither sly-grog sellers nor “droppers.” ft ft ft * One side of a story always holds good until the other is told. The NoLicense people are jubilant (or pretend to be so, which is much the same thing) over the alleged discomfiture of Mr William Thompson by Mr T. E. Taylor, M.P., in connection with the latter’s challenge anent Maine. Mr Taylor alleges that he has disproved Nir Thompson’s statements. Here is what Mr Thompson has to say upon the subject:—“My challenge to Mr Taylor holds good. lam prepared to come to Greymouth, if he will do the same. I engage to prove on the public platform, the Mayor in the chair, and two accountants to check the figures for drunkenness under prohibition in Maine, that I was absolutely correct in every detail. If I was proved. wrong, never again would I say one word against prohibition. Mr Taylor has the chance of his life. Will he . accept? A victory for him would os-' tablish his case in the Dominion, and effectually and finally close the mouth of every ant-prohibitionist in New Zealand; a defeat would damn his cause and show the unfair methods to which he and his party have stooped. The counter challenge, so called, is only the veriest trifling with the subject, and a deliberate attempt to draw a red herring across the scent.” * ft ■ * * An interesting licensing case was heard in the Magistrate’s Court, Masterton, when Samuel Keedwell, manager of the Greytown branch of the W.F.C.A., was charged with failing to furnish the Clerk of the Court with the sufficient address of two persons to whom liquor was supplied. Evidence for the prosecution was given to the effect that in one ca'se the liquor had been returned as addressed to “A. Hayes, Masterton.” As a result of the insufficient address the police were unable to trace the person to whom the liquor was supplied for some days. His Worship entered a conviction on the first charge, but imposed no penalty. In regard to the second offence a fine of 20s, and 9 s costs was imposed. *«* . * The unusual sight of the hat beingtaken round in the Christchurch Police Court was witnessed the other

morning. A man who had been fined ten shillings for being drunk while in charge of a horse and cart, and the same amount for breaking a prohibition order, ,a(sked for time to pay, remarking to the Magistrate (Mr T. A. B. Bailey), “I always pay.” He also urged, as an argument in favor of granting him time, that he had fourteen children, ten of them being still young. The Magistrate allowed him fourteen days to find the £l, but the man thought this was not enough time. Chief-Detective Bishop suggested that a collection should be taken up on the spot for the man’s benefit, a suggestion that Mr Alpers acted on. The amount received was 14s. Mr Alpers then asked bis Worship to reduce the fine to the amount, this being Is for each child, which would be an encouragement to the birth-rate. The Magistrate altered the fines to 15s, and the required 15s was then subscribed. :1s ft ft ft , Within the next two weeks every barmaid who desires to continue in the calling will have to apply for registration under the Licensing Act of last session. The last date for receiving applications is June 1, and any barmaid who has not by that day communicated her request for a certificate will be compelled to seek other means of gaining a livelihood. « * >:= * Lest teetotallers should be too much elated and the liquor dealers too depressed by the Kaiser’s temperance campaign, the semi-official newspapers have been directed to announce 'that the emperor demands teetotalism as little as he approves alcoholism. He realises, they say, the good effects on sailors of a good drink of hot grog in cold stormy weather and he does not aim at its prohibition in the navy and army. He objects to excessive drinking, especially of compulsory drinking, but has no idea of combatting excessive indulgence by excessive abstinence. ft * * * Mr T. Hutchison, S.M., gave his reserved decision in the cases of the Police v. Thomas Tansey, at Oamaru last week. Defendant was charged on two informations with having sold certain liquor to be sent into the nolicense district of Oamaru without furnishing to the Clerk of the Court the necessary information required under the Act. Mr Ongley, who appeared for defendant, had previously stated that according to his Worship’s decision in similar cases a plea of guilty must be entered. At the same time he. had pointed out certain extenuating circumstances and asked the magistrate not to impose a conviction in view of the fact that such would constitute a breach of Mr Tansey’s license, and therefore be an unduly • heavy penalty. The 1 Magistrate stated that after consideration he had come to the conclusion that the cases were such as would be punishable only by a normal penalty, therefore he would accede to Mr Ongley’s request and dismiss the informations under section 92 of the Justices of the Peace Act. * * ft ft That popular rendezvous at Ashburton, the Somerset Hotel, has changed hands and is now under new management. Mrs Wm. Young, the proprietress, has had many years of catering for the public, and patrons can rely upon cleanliness in every department, well-cooked meals, and all the comforts of a home whilst at Ashburton. The tariff is most reasonable.