TRADE TOPICS

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XX, Issue 1115, 24 August 1911, Page 20

TRADE TOPICS

The N.Z. Licensed Victuallers’ Association, at a special meeting held in Wellington on Friday, unanimously adopted the following resolution: — • That this meeting most strongly protests against the effects of the action of the Boundary Commissioners, which virtually extinguishes a number of hotels without the voice and vote of the people having been taken, as provided in the licensing laws of the country.” It was pointed out at the meeting that the loss of hotels brought about through the alteration of boundaries might be far greater than the results of the general licensing poll, and each recurring period for boundary adjustments would increase the possibilities of the inclusion of licensed houses within No-license areas. The loss on the present occasion would be at least nine licenses, if restoration was not carried at the next poll. " J - J * A new scale of fees under the Licensing Act of 19 0 8 will come into force on September 1. In the old list of fees there were some uncertainties. The old scale was gazetted under the Act of 1881, and. as there have been many Licensing Act changes since then, revision was necessary. Things have arisen under the licensing changes for which there was no provision in the scale. The alterations are described as "really revisions Io make for clarity”; and it is said that the officers should experience less un certainty in the uint.ler of precisely what tec to levy.

The Egmoni Hotel, Unworn. nttr rowl.v (•.‘-leaped destruction by lire on Thursday morning, an out break only being suppressed after diunngo to Iho oxlcnl of .CT.'HI had boon done. The itmount, hi covered by insurance in the Phoenix nnd Sun offices.

The publication of the resuits of the deliberations of the Representation Commissioners respecting the adjustment of the electoral boundaries brings once more into prominence the injustice of the present law in its application to hotel licenses. Even the strongest amongst the advocates of no-license must, if they are fair-mind ed men and women, recognise that tnere is a strong element of hardship in the automatic abolition of licenses through the arbitrary changes that are made in the boundaries of electoral districts. The principle of the licensing law is that licenses may be abolished if a certain substantial proportion of the electors in the district in which those licenses have been, granted so decree by their votes at special polls taken for the purpose. What proportion of electors should he required to express an opinion in favour of the abolition of licenses in a district in order that their judgment may become effective may be an arguable point. But there is neither principle nor justice in an arrangement whereby, as the outcome of a readjustment of electoral boundaries without any reference to the licensing, question, the holders of licenses that have been granted in virtue of the popular vote forfeit these simply because the locality to which they belong has been assigned to a district that has previously registered an effective decision in favour of nolicense. —‘‘Otago Daily Times.” Speaking to an interviewer in Wellington with regard to the alteration of boundaries, Mr A. M. Myers, the nicmuer for Auckland East, pointed Out that in nearly ail cases where parts of license districts have been auded to no-license ones, the population in the no-license area is greater tlian thac in the li-enseci portion transferred, with the result tnat the hotels, included will nave to lace a three--1.1 tils vote ror restoration, instead of a two fifths one for continuance, and it can be readily understood that the trade is voicing a strong protest. The Ohinemuri district has absorbed Te Aroha, Waiorongomai, and Katikati, where there are no less than six licensed houses, three of which are owned by the licensees. Where, asks Mr Myers, can the community of interest be between Te Aroha, a typical tourist resort, and Waihi which is entirely a mining town? An extension of the Wel.ington Suburbs seat up the west coast to Pl.imnerton will result in two hotels —one at Pahautanui and the other at Porirua- —being included in a nolicense area. Their licenses will disappear next time unless the Suburbs seat alters its attitude on the question. It is stated that the Grosvenor Hotel and Star and Garter Hotel, which were included in the establishments closed by no-license being carried in Wellington South, are now in Wellington Central, but there is no statutory machinery by which their licenses can come again into operation. * -r- > .-ji The big changes consequent on Taieri’s disappearance result in two hotels going out of the old Tuapeka electorate into Oamaru, which is a nolicense area. The Mataura no-license electorate lias "wet" boundaries, but it has not extended them, and no hotels will be affected. Bruce now embraces Beaumont and Waipori. and hotels at both places will be closed. The Clutha boundaries will not affect any hotels, but the encroachment. of Oamaru into what was formerly Tuapeka will close two hotels at Mcßae’s and, it is believed, a third to the south.

"Givis,” whose “Passing Notes” are a feature of the Saturday’s issue of the "Otago Daily Tinies." discourses thus pleasantly upon the "No-License” Convention’recently held at- Balelutha: —"Writing to the 'Daily Tinos’ the ol.lu r week ti visitor Item Hie North Island described the virago of Balclutha us 'a eomoiory.’ That was un

fair, as I told him. There is eating and drinking at Balclutha, buying and selling; marrying and giving in marriage; how can it be a cemetery? Balclutha is a quiet place; when you have said that you have said the worst of it. As a retreat for the Nolicense Convention, secluded, out of the world, where uninterrupted the conventionists might repeat to each other the old arguments, and thrill each ether by the old appeals. Balclutha was ideally perfect. Moreover, for 17 years Balclutha had “ enjoyed no license (as they said); enjoying at the same time the privilege of getting all the beer and whisky it wanted from the licensing district just over the border. The abolition of the publichouse bar and the grocery bottle business shed a Sabbatical calm; but if for medicinal purposes you wanted a drop of Scotch there were perhaps few houses barring the manse where you couldn’t get it. On these terms Balclutha “enjoyed no license.” Reading the Convention speeches, I feel mySelf touched by sympathetic emotion, all in a glow, “the freezing reason’s colder part” thawed and melted. They are all good men these ministers of religion, who when temperance is in question, despair of the Gospel and fall back on the. police; their moral earnestness is as catching as the measles. Then there is Mr A. S. Adams, protagonist of the No license cause; —but Mr A. S. Adams deserves a little niche to himself. . ' . • ' ’

“What chiefly interests me in the Convention speech of Mr A. S. Adams (“Civis” continues), is what isn’t there. It was precisely there I expected to find some mention of his spoiling the Egyptians to the tune of £390 or thereabouts (wasn’t it?) for drafting a Bill, or helping the Government draftsman to draft a Bill, on the liquor question. The Bill as 1 understand never came to the birth; through no fault of its own it wag a miscarriage an abortion; if the facts are otherwise Mr Adams has only to say so and 1 will put the matter straight with apologies. That the Bill came to nothing wouldnt lessen the merit of Mr Adams in drafting it, or helping the Government draftsman to draft it; and the same fact would positively enhance the merit of getting sufficiently paid for it. I hope the pay was sufficient; I haven’t a doubt it was well earned. But the how, the why, the wherefore, these are the points on which we desiderate information, and these are the points on which Mr Adams maintains a masterly reserve. As a windfall incident to the liquor traffic, a sort of byproduct, the £390 or whatever it was might have figured gracefully in the statistics of the Convention; it might even have had something to say to the £25,000 to be raised as a cam paign fund. And all the moral fervour of Mr Adams’s eloquence' leaves me still wanting to .know, you know, and still unsatisfied.

The clauses of the Act dealing with the in.orporation of a licensed area into a no-license area such as has occurred in the ease of Te Aroha and Ohinemuri are as under: —“If when the first ..licensing poll is to be taken in the new district the grant of licenses is, by reason of a former licensing poll, or by Virtue of a Proclamation prohibiting the grant of licenses therein, prohibited throughout any area thereof-containing more than half the population of the district, the poll shall be taken under section eight of this Act as if the grant of licenses was prohibited throughout the whole of the new district. If the result of a poll so taken under section eight of thi s Act is that licenses are not to be restored in the district, the determination that no licenses shall be granted in that district‘ and the provisions of sections six and seven hereof shall a PPIy to the district accordingly. All licenses existing in the district at the t ine when the poll was taken shall, unless sooner forfeited or determined in due course of law,, continue in force until the thirtieth day of June next following the taking of the pod, and shall then lapse. Until the first licens ng poll in the new district comes into force therein the result of the licensing poll in force in the original district immediately prior to the change shall continue in force throughout the whole of the area thereof in like manner as if that dis trict existed unchanged.”

Visitors to Christchurch requiring a private hotel can secure every modern convenience and excellent table at a moderate rate by ringing up ’phone

1204, or by applying in person at 47 to 51, Manchester-street, Christchurch, only two minutes’ walk from the railway station. Mr Thos. Hughes, the proprietor, is an experienced caterer for the public, having been proprietor of leading hotels and the Leviathan Private Hotel. The'Windsor Private Hotel, which has just been rebuilt to the plans submitted by Mr Hughes, is a credit to the city. Erected on the very latest architectural designs it contains every modern convenience for comfort, cleanliness, and good living, and visitors will be pleased the minute they are inside the Windsor. The dining-hall is spacious, and contains 17 tables. It is well furnished and cosy, and what is also important, Mr Hughes’ chef has experience and is an expert in the culinary art. The whole building from top to bottom is new, and the furniture is also new. Bath rooms, sitting rooms, bedrooms, are all well lighted with gas, and furnished with taste. A competent staff of servants complete this very desirable abode for those who wish to stay in a private hotel.

Forty gallons of beer in two months was deemed by the Invercargill Bench to be too liberal an allowance for a secondhand dealer, who was 'shown to have procured that amount. He was consequently fined £3O on a charge of keeping liquor for sale in a no-license district.

The balance-sheet of the State Hotel at Gwalia (W.A.j shows receipts £BB5 6 and expenditure £7169 for the year. The place, which is capitalised at £10,399, was opened in June, 1903, since when its profits have been £16,24 0, which effaces the capital account and leaves a surplus of £5841.

Among a section of the Ashburton population there seems (says the “Mail ’) to be a strong determination to combat strenuously the Prohibition party, and some even already proclaim that at the forthcoming election temperance reform will receive a setback. It is stated that even a proportion of the fair sex also favour a return to the old order of things on the ground that the vile stuff sold at sly grog-shops is doing much more harm than that procurable from licensed houses.

The narrow escape of the Makuri Hotel from being “wiped out” by the readjustment of electoral boundaries is being commented upon in this district, says the Wairarapa “Times.” The Masterton-Pahiatua boundary travels along in a straight line until near Makuri when it makes a sudden bend southwards, presently continuing again in the old direction. Makuri happens to be situated snugly in the little elbow thus formed, and the elbow comprises Palratua (license) territory.

‘ 1 was a bookmaker, but since the passing of the Gaming Act I have no occupation,” said a judgment debtor in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court on Friday. “How have you been living, then?” he was asked. He re plied that he had been living on his wife. His wife and daughter were .both working in town. Getting on to the subject of his means of making a livelihood again, he declared that the Gaming Act had taken his living, away from him. He said that he had been trying to get something to do ever since, but had not succeeded, and had to live on the earnings of those whom he had alluded to. The magistrate told him that he had better “begin again.” No order for payment of the debt was made. * # At the Gore Magistrate's Court on Thursday, Matthew Cros, fishmonger, was charged with selling liquor in the no license electorate of Mataura on July 26. After hearing evidence, the magistrate convicted the accused, and inflicted a fine of £5 0. and costs £1 3s. Leave of appeal was granted. a: The Club Hotel, Waitara, has changed hands, the new licensee being Mr A. J. Jury, who, with Mrs Jury, have entered into possession of that well-known hostelry.