LICENSING COMMITTEE.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17471, 3 June 1922, Page 12

LICENSING COMMITTEE.

ANNUAL MEETING. The annua! meeting of the Christchurch Licensing Committee was held yesterday. Present: Mr H. Y. WiJdowson, 3.M. (chairman), and Messrs H. Holland. R. Matheson, W. H. Rose, and Dr. H. T. J. Thacker, M.P. The chairman said that the report of the police was satisfactory with a. few except : ons. It was noticeable that the licensees had generally taken a personal interest in their businesses. The premises had been kept clean and the Tublic Health Department authorities reported that in this connexion everything was s mitary. The police report, however, was .-.averse :ls regards :*iro alarms, the officials being of the opinion that batter provision should be made immediately to provide against risk of fire. The .committee would request licence to see that the ne.es ry improvements were made before the next meeting, otherwise the committee would have to take into consideration the question of whether the licenses shou'.d be renewed. The report enclosed a list of offences committed by licensees during the past twelve months. The committee was aware that a great number of hotels had been conducted creditably during that period and to them the commit-

tee's remarks of an adverse nature would not apply. There were, however, a nu nber of cases where licensees i had been guilty of selling after hours. I It had also to be pointed out that ■ women were to be found drinking in , many bars about Christchurch. A ; special report had been submitted by the police concerning thia state r. f ' affairs. There was an hotel in SydenI ham which, according to report, was visited by a large number of woI men. There were generally (J or 8 to be seen there at some time of the day and as many as 18 had been seen. Sydenham was notorious for the amount of drinking that was done among women. The hotel referred to catered for women and had up a notice: "For ladies only," which could be seen from the street. If this notice was removed it would result in a reduction of much drinking. Something must be done immediately to stop such a practice. Of course it would be admitted that women had as much right to drink as men, but no licensee should encourage such a trade. The committee was of the opinion that the licensee should discourage drinking among wsmen at his hotel. Another matter that the committee had to draw attention to was the lack of accommodation for the public at hotels in Christchurch. As was no doubt known, a Parliamentary Committee was now considering this question. The Licensing Committee considered that such a move was in the right direction as the accommodation in Christchurch was inadequate. Complaints were made by the police to the effect that when visiting certain hotels after the closing hour they were not given admission as soon as they might be. Means had apparently been found to give warning of their approach. If anything of this nature came before the committee they would take some action to stop the practice. The law was that the police should he admitted promptly. With regard to spying, if any such oases were brought under the notice of the committee in future, a serious view would be taken of tnem.

The following transfers were granted:—Cafe de Paris (Percy Mills to C. A. Tulloch); Tattersall's (C. G. Craddock to E. M. Sheedy); New Albion (Jane Sullivan to A. M. Bniff) : Oxford (J. J Coffev to J. R. Blackie); Eastern (A. W. Wells to T. Aspell). The following new licenses were granted:—New Albion (A. McDuff), Oxford (J. It. Blackie), A.l. (M. O'Brien), City (I>. Young), Club (T. W. Hart), Tattersall's (E. M. Sheedy), Cafe de Paris (C. A. Tulloch), Weilington (W. C. Evans), Railway (A. Pringle), New Zealander (A. H. T. Finiayson), Provincial (G. H. Bailey),. Eastern (T. Aspell), Royal, George (F. S. Andrews).

Owing to the illness of the licensee of the Star and Garter Hotel, the renewal of his license was held over until June 16th. The question of granting a renewal of the license of George Humphreys was also postponed till June 16th, to enable steps to be taken in the direction of forming the business into a company. Licenses were renewed in the case of the remaining hotels in the district and of 10 wholesale dealers.