LIQUOR SALES AT INVERCARGILL

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24914, 29 June 1946, Page 8

LIQUOR SALES AT INVERCARGILL

TRUST’S SECOND YEAR MEMBERS PLEASED WITH EXPERIMENT <P.A.) INVERCARGILL, June 28. The Invercargill Licensing Trust will complete its second year of operations on July 1. In 1944 licensed premises were opened in Invercargill for the first time in 38 years. In a statement reviewing the trust’s operations, the chairman (Mr Hugh Ritchie) said he thought he would be expressing the opinion of the trust when he stated they were well pleased with the venture as an experiment. The change-over had worked smoothly, considering Invercargill has been under no-licence for so long. Even those people who were opposed to restoration could have very little to complain about drunkenness in the city. Sales of liquor, during the two years the trust had been operating, totalled more than £400,000. Although that seemed a tremendous amount to be spent, it at least gave an indication of the amount of liquor brought into the area when it was under no-licence.

Progress in providing accommodation for the travelling public had been slow, but the trust had endeavoured to make the best use of the premises it had taken over. Trust members still realised their responsibility in providing accommodation, but most of the buildings that could be acquired were beyond repair. Everything possible was being done to meet the demands of the travelling public. Managers of the trust hotels had the addresses of private houses willing to accommodate visitors who could not be accommodated in existing hotels, and practically no one was turned away. From inquiries made, he thought the accommodation position in Invercargill was as good as. ’f not better than, most cities in New Zealand. The completion of the Hotel Southland had been delayed considerably because of the removal of most of the workmen to the Grand Hotel, but it was expected that the Hotel Southland would be opened about September. The Brown Owl experiment, which at first had not been a paying proposition. was under efficient management. and was now improving both from the service and financial standpoints. When the Brown Owl was enlarged, considerable improvement in service to the public would be possible. Members were still optimistic about the policy of sit-down drinking and they proposed to give it a fair trial before giving consideration to the installation of open bars. From a financial standpoint, trust members were satisfied, because the large amount .of present expenditure in renewals and so on would be nonrecurring. It was expected that after payment of socipl security and income taxes a profit of between £14,000 and £15.000 would be carried forward for the two years. Mr Ritchie said he was still of the ©pinion that, considering the trust had assets (including the sole rights to retail sale of liauor in the city) worth more than £500.000 and that it owed the bank little more than £200.000, an annual distribution of about 50 per cent of the profits earned should be made to worthy objects in the province.