EARLY CLOSING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 10, 6 October 1917, Page 8

EARLY CLOSING

AMENDED BILL PASSED

SIR FRANCIS BELL, speaking on the motion to commit tho Hale of Liquor Restriction Bill, said that the Bill had come bi'ck from the Statutes Revision Committee with important amendments. Tho Council was indebted to the Hon. O. Samuel, chairman of tho committee, for tho care and attention ho had given to the improvement of the Bill. The committco had communicated with various branches of the licensed trade, and had heard counsel and witnesses on the points raised. It had .'also received communications from various parsons who desired their separate views to be expressed. The committee had heard the parties fully before proceeding to deliberation. Tho only difference between the parties had been as to the method of adjusting rents and the system of arbitration. The licensees who were not owners had suggested a uniform all-round reduction of rent, but the committee had soon satislied itself that this proposal was not a reasonable one. The committee had felt that Magistrates could not be spared to hear cases connected with the reduction of rents. Ho had no doubt that the sys;tem of arbitration proposed in the bill would be satisfactory to all the interests. The , clause dealing with arbitration had been prepared almost entirely by counsel for tho parties most intimately concerned, and ho had felt that tho committee should not alter it. This portion of tho Bill was quasi private legislation, and he hoped the Council would feel with him ■that the people most concerned, namely, the owners and the licensees, should be ullowed to have their own way in the adjustment of details of arbitration. There had Been some difference of opinion regarding tho proposal that a licensee who intended to take advantage of the rent reduction clauses should supply to the clerk of the licensing committee within twentyone days of the coming into operation of the Act an inventory of his t>tock-iu-trade. The information would be required as the basis of arbitration. The committee had postponeii the' operation of the Act from November 1 to December 1. It could not accept the suggestion of the trade that the old hours should, continue until the licence; '.spired in June next, bu.t it had felt that a measure which wae being passed in October ought not to operate without an interval of a few weeks. He would not agree to extend the period further over the Christmas holidays. Hβ felt that to do that would bo to make a iarce of the whole business. He did not approve of a proportionate refund of license fees. The license fee was a fixed sum for all hotels regardless of the amount of the trade done. A clause had been inserted providing that a licensed house might be closed during the operation of the Act if the licensee and the owner could not profitably keep it open. Representatives of country hotels had pointed out that there were small hotels in country districts where practically the whole trade was done in the evening, the people being at work on the surrounding farms during the day. The clause provided that in such a case an hotel might be closed without loss of the licence. The license fee would continue to be paid. He promised to add the words: "Premises once reopened may not be again closed under authority of this section." Wholesale traders had been put on the same basis as hotel licensees with respect to the new trading hours. The provision that had besn made for the people who want ed to take breakfast or dinner on licensed premises, and for the guests of lodgers, and persons having business with lodgers or licensees, was necessary under the new conditions. H would not be reasonable to deny people all access to the hotels before 9 p.m. and after 6 p.m. But theso people were not to be supplied with anv liquor outside the hours nxetl by the 'Bill. *It inTght seem drastic to deny visitors and, guests of lodgers any , liqulor with their meals,- but ho felt thai (he door would bo opened to abuse it liquor could be served with mea s. Th Hon. O. SAMUEL enid he . o>l not approve of the Bill in any shape or form He did not believe that the war would be shortened!)}' any such legislation. Ho regarded the liquor trade.asi a lawful trade, sanctioned by the State. I ho trade had been subjected to meoial restrictions. The people had the right at triennial licensing polls to say whether or not the trade should continue, u they decided that it should cease the hotels were to be closed at the end of the current contracts The Mate had the right to penalise the individuiil foi the good of the whole, but he felt that n every such case the individual should bo compensated. The licensed trade should not he deprived or ils income b> ■an amendment of the law without cmiipensation from the public interests tUα were supposed to be benefited , by the change. Early closing was going to affect, detrimentally hundreds ot thousands of pounds worth of income H was not merely a matter of reduced income. The Bill meant that many l> mnesses would cease to ne worth can } ins on at all. It would close up dozens, probablv hundreds, of hotels, and he believed ft would reduce the demand for complete prohibition. He predicted that within eighteen months 400 hotels, out ot some 1200 in New Zealand, would he closed, and that 100 others would not bo paving 2 per cent, on the amount of capital invested in them. Hundreds of people would he ruined- and hotel property would be depreciated by not lew than ,£2,000,000. He was sincere in his belief that theso figures were sound, and I he felt, therefore, that if this enormous loss was going to be imposed on the hotel owners and licensees in the public mteust the public should pay compensation. Hβ had no doubt that tho Bill would pass, but he could not neglect, to opposo it. The proposal that tho Bill should come into operation on December 1 was an added" injustice. The. term of-(he existing licenses extended to .tune next, 1-ut 1 theso licences were being treated as "scraps of paper." The. expression v-as not too strong from his point ot view. The Hon. .1. RAM?, said that no individual had any right to carry on a business that would be hurtful to the nation and that would hinder the cfiective conduct of the w«('. Many trades hud suffered during tho war. ~ome businesses had been completely ruined by the war, but the people affected hart not made any claim for compensation. Did the opponents of the Bill forget that in tho ordinary'course a licensing poll would have been held this year? If the poll had been taken in the present temper of the nation the trade, would huve been wiped out completely. Mr. Samuel: Then I would have had no ground for complaint, iho Mil anticipates tho vordict of the people. Mr Barr said that the evidence taken by the committee showed that many licensees had no greater claim to compensation than tho men who lost money on tho totalisator. They had taken up hotels during the war period, paying uany thousands of pounds in premiums, and their enterprises wore speculation pure and simple. The restriction of drinking \tas necessary in the public interest. Seme of tho men who were complaining fibont the cost of living would find their difficulties disappearing if they saved tne^

money they now spent, in drink. Hβ did not approve of the postponement »f the operation of tho Bill from November I to December 1, but was prepared lo accept the decision of tho committee. The Council went into Committee on tho Bill at 4.20 p.m. The Hon. J. Ban , moved .1. new c'niise providing that it shnH not bo l.uvful for liquor to be consumed in i.ny restaurant, eating house, marble-bar, or other plnce of public refreshment during tlie hours when hotels are closed. Tie said the clause had been suggested by the licensed trade. It was intended to prevent persons taking liquor to places of refreshment after 6 p.m. Sir Francis Bell said if tho result of early closing was going , to) ho a lot of bottle-drinking in the restaurants tho clause might be useful. There, was a. similar clause in the law of Victoria, where six o'clock closing , was already in operation. The clause was adopted. The amendments made by the Platutes Revision Committee were adopted, and the Bill was reported with amendments, read a third time, and passed. The Council adjourned at 4.50 p.m.