WOT, NO WHISKY? HOTEL KEEPER EXPLAINS WHY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 45, 24 January 1949, Page 5

WOT, NO WHISKY? HOTEL KEEPER EXPLAINS WHY

Provisos In OldTime Loan Terms There is a shortage of whisky in hotels. This, of course, is not startling news. Nearly everyone knows it is very difficult to get in large supplies; but how many people know why it is scarce at the present time? Why there are so many stocks in New » Zealand but which cannot be used until next September? These questions are some that ■have long been a source of conjecture amongst lovers of whisky. To find a possible answer, if there was any, the-Beacon looked up a Whakatane hotelkeeper. Could he -explain why whisky was hard to obtain? He could and he did. The Real Cause “The real cause of the trouble starts away back when Governor Hobson was in control of New Zealand,” he said. “A-t that time the 'country was vastly different from what it is today. It was very short of money and could not raise a loan ;amongst the people. It -had, therefore, to go overseas. “After a considerable amount of • negotiation a loan was finally raised : from the United Kingdom Distiller- : ies—with two provisos. “(a) That New Zealand should - never distil its own spirits and “(b) That any spirits sent to New i Zealand must be kept in bond for .a minimum of five years. “During all the years since the loan was raised New Zealand has kept to those original two conditions. Distilleries Bombed " r * r ~ “Up to 1939 Britain was able to ■ satisfy the demand for whisky in this country. However, during the war six of the largest distilleries in the United Kingdom were bombed and destroyed, resulting in production of the spirit dropping by about "60 per cent. This meant that the smaller distilleries had a larger ".load to carry but they could not -scope with the demand. Since the war the United King'dom has.been trying to increase the output and has been shipping large quantities to New Zealand. But here again, they cannot be used, as they are required to be kept in bond for five years. At the present time, hotels are getting only small allocations of the spirits that went in to bond five years ago. And the supply position then was not very good. , Position May Improve “However,” said the hotelkebper, *“I have hopes that the position will ;be improved by the end of the year.’ And that is the story, according -to a Whakatane hotelkeeper. So, . next time you take your place in • the scrum for your quota of the . amber coloured potion, remember - that your ancestors of a few years "back are'to blame for the present -situation.