WHEN THE HOTELS OPENED.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1918, 28 November 1913, Page 8

WHEN THE HOTELS OPENED.

DISORDER IN THE STREETS. THIRTY-EiGHT MEN ARRESTED, (By Tcltgraph.-Press Association.) Auckland, November 27. Tnirty-ciglit men wore arrested within a couple ol Diours in the. latter part of the afternoon on charges of drunkenness and other consequent offences. '1 lioro was a goo:!' deal of disorder its the lower part 01 the city, and a large force of foot and mounted police was engaged for nearly an hour in controlling traffic. During the previous nineteen days all the city-' and suburban hotels bad been closed by magisterial orders, and :hoy were opened to-day only between i) a.m. and 5 p.m. upon condition that no liquor was sold for consumption off licensed premises. A close watch was kept on the hotels by the police, and although a good tradewas done in the. bars no disturbance had oxurcd when the city magistrates again met to review the reatter. ,Consequently they decided to allow the bars to bo open to-morrow from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and also that if there, was no apparent reason for further restriction, to suspend the existing order on Saturday, and so allow the hotels to remain oneu till 10 p.m. A disturbance, in Queen Street 09currod later in the afternoon, and the magistrates reviewed their derision. They decided that it 'would bo advisable to close tile bars at 5 p.m. to-morrow, and the hotels will, therefore, be open from (.) a.m. to 0 P.m. Tin's decision was made "in consequenco of the excessive amount of drunkenness.". Tlio magistrates will again consider the'restriction of hours to-menw.

All the arrests were made in Queen Street or its vicinity. TUeve was no .serious disturbance, but as the hour of closing approached groups of drunken men gathered on the footpaths, and in many cases obstinately refused to move away. A great deal of coarse language was used, until finally the polico were instructed to break up these groups and arrest anyone behaving offensively. The appearance of the mounted constables attracted many curious siicctaiors, but all were "moved on" indiscriminately. The special polico v.ero working under the instructions of the uniform men, and no arrests were made without tho authority of tho latter. Twenty-two men were arrested o\i charges of drunkenness, and a similar charge was made against sixteen others, of whom six were charged with disorderly lichavionr, three with assault, tlirco with using obfeono language, two with resisting the police, one with disorderly behaviour and with resisting the police, and one with inciting others to resist arrest. The men were described to the police, as seamen, watcrsi'.lo workers, and general labourers, and in addition several of them are known to tho police as "undesirable diaractcrs." '