TWO NEW HOTELS AND WHOLESALE LICENSE SOUGHT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 48, 7 October 1949, Page 8

TWO NEW HOTELS AND WHOLESALE LICENSE SOUGHT

(Special to Beacon) Rotorua, Thursday.

Two further hotels at Whakatane in addition to one or more wholesale licences were advocated by the Town Clerk, Mr L. D. Lovelock in evidence on behalf of the Whakatane Borough Council before the Licensing Control Commission at Rotorua yesterday. Mr Lovelock said the Council considered one hotel should be of Three Star standard and the other Two Star.

A town plan had been prepared, and this provided for an ultimate population of 10,000. There was distinct evidence of a shortage of licensed accommodation in Whakatane. People who could not obtain rooms were forced to go as far afield as Rotorua, and several sporting fixtures which would have been held at Whakatane had been held at Rotorua. There was only_ one private hotel at Whakatane, and even if another were built it would not assist the travelling public, as it would be filled immediately by permanent guests, the Council considered.

In answer to Mr H. E. Barrowclough, representing L. D. Nathan and Coy., Mr Lovelock said that portions of Whakatane were subject to flooding. He was not fully conversant with the harbour proposals, but considered that two harbours could be operated economically at Tauranga and at Whakatane.

To Mr W. S. /Spence, representing Hancock and Coy., he said the Council considered the two new licences advocated should provide 60 beds, 35 at the Three Star establishment and 25 at the other. He considered that 60 extra beds cpuld be operated economically. Mr L. W. Luxton, member of the Whakatane County Council, said his Council advocated one new hotel and one or more wholesale licences. If development at Murupara were going to be considerable, the Council would support the granting of a publican’s licence there as well. Bar accommodation in Whakatane was overtaxed. “We are fortunate in Whakatane that we have a friendly type of Maori who does not resent being jostled in hotel bars,” he said to Mr Barrowclough. The witness said he considered there was room for only one port to serve the Bay of Plenty area. On behalf of the Whakatane Chamber of Commerce, Mr G. A. Wilkes said the Chamber advocated one publican’s license at the opposite end of the town to the existing hotels. It also considered one or more wholesale licences should be allocated.

Evidence was also given along the same lines by Mr R. E. Champtaloup, touring manager of the Automobile Association. The chairman of the Commission, Mr A. M. Goulding, S.M., in "’congratulating the witnesses on behalf of the Whakatane Borough Council on the manner in which they had marshalled their facts said, “This is the kind of evidence the Commission wants.”

Need for a licensed hotel at Edgecumbe was stressed in testimony by the proprietor of the Edgecumbe Private Hotel, Mr I. B. Rundle. Submissions concerning the proposals for additional hotel licences at Whakatane were made by Mr H. E. Barrowclough, for L. D. Nathan and Coy. Counsel said it was conceded that the accommodation provided by the two hotels there had become inadequate. However, nothing could be done immediately to alleviate the position, and he suggested that the Commission could well stand down the whole question for 18 months. There was the question of how the district would develop, he submitted, and this was wrapped up with whether a port was established at Tauranga or at Whakatane. Until that was decided it would be difficult for the Commission to know how additional accommodation was to be provided. Mr W. S. Spence, who appeared for Hancock and Co., supported this theory. There was .a possibility that a licence granted to Whakatane now might become redundant later, he submitted. Mr B. S. Barry said the evidence given in support of additional licences concerned the present day requirements of Whakatane, not the requirements of Whakatane subject to developments at Murupara or on the location of a port. If the position were acute at Whakatane now it would he even more acute in 18 months; and in three or four years (which time it was suggested would elapse before an hotel could be built) it would be desperate. Evidence called in relation to wholesale licences clearly indicated that there was need at Whakatane for such a licence, he submitted.