HOTEL FOR TANEATUA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 253, 13 July 1918, Page 8

HOTEL FOR TANEATUA

O_ ACCOMMODATION LICENSE GRANTED APPLICATION OPPOSED BY POLICE TROUBLE WITH NATIVES PREDICTED By Telegraph.-Press Association. Opotiki, July 12. At an adjourned meeting of the Bay of Plenty Licensing Committee yesterday an application was mado< by John Peebles for au accommodation license at Titneatua. Mr. Elliott appeared for the applicant, and tlio application was opposed by Mr. Selvryn Mays on behalf of the police. A letter from the Bishop of Waianu protesting against the granting of the license on the ground that it would be a menace to the Urewera Natives was read. Mr. Elliott said ho was now in a position to prove that there was a vacancy. Since the last meeting was held the Atiamuri license had lapsed. He handed in documents showing that the license fee had not been paid, and the licensee had abandoned the premises on June 30. In view of the decision in the case of Wagstaffo v. ODonneJl, Mr. Elliott applied for a license for Peebles at Tanentua. The chairman (Mr. Dyer, S.M.), said he had received plans of proposed additions to the premises for which the lioenae was applied for. Mr. Elliott undertook, if the license was granted, that those ndditions would be made, with any other additions necessary. Mr. Elliott called three witnesses, including a brother of tho applicant, and the agent who collected signatures in favour of, the license. They stated that .the accommodation wis inadequate since tho applicant had closed his boardinghouse. Under cross-examination they all said that they hoped the liconse would benefit business in the town. They v/antod to soo the town progress, nnd wanted an improvement in the value of property. They nlso admitted that for 6ome years past tho town liad been stagnant. Mr. Mays pointed out that the Court of Appeal had laid down that whether a icense was required in the ■ neighbourhood must be considered from the administrative and the police standpoint. Tho fact that tho Atiamuri license might be lost to the district should not bias tho committee in favour of the application, as the applicants took that ■ risk. Riia's probation timo would ex- ' piro early in August, and it was a serious responsibility to grunt a license five miles from his boundary. Taneatua wns an important farming district, mainly dependent on Native labour. The establishment of a license would make lab- ■ our conditions chaotic. Tho tendency • at tho rjrosent time was to restrict the consumption of liquor, and tho respon- ■ sibilitj on tho committee was a grave i orib. Constable Cummings, who has been ; stationed at Whakatauo for eight years, ; rmd has an intimate kno'rtedgo of the ; Natives and tho liquor troubles, includi ing the prosecution of liua in 1915 and ' 1916, strongly oppose.! the granting of the license in thq public interest. . He • had hnd no complaints of shortage of ■ accommodation at Taneatua. If there i was any lack l of accommodation, it was ■ due to tho applicant closing hie board- : inghouse eighteen months hgo. If the I lieenso was granted an cxp:io.need polico : officer must bo permanently stationed at - Taneatua, and that was impossible at 1 tho present timo. ' , John Hannah, Public Works engineer injohargo of the construction of tho ) Tauranga-Opotiki railway, stated that > the line would pass through a portion ■ of Tanoatun. His lifelong experience of: ' public works showed that a licensed • houso in the vicinity of a route was 1 highly detrimental to tho workers and ■ tho public interests. Gangs became dis- ! organised after pay day, and the loss of ■ efficiency accounted to as :iiuch as fivo v days monthly. Simitar (reasons were ' largely instrumental in the refusal of a license at Oakloigh last year. > Andrew Stewart", 'Assistant. Public 3 Works Engineer, fully corroborated Mr. " Hannah's evidence, on 19 years' c.xperi- | ence.' ' Five Taneotna settlers, identified with 1 the fiottlomont almost since t'jn beginning and irepresenting largo productive! interests, all opposed the license on tho grounds that mort of the farmers were almost entirely dependent on Native labour, and the liennso would feriously endanger the position and undoubtedly disturb the peace of Ihe neighbourhood. There was no genuine local demand for l the liconse, they stntsd, nnd n bad feaI tnre wjis tho proximity of the proposed a hotel to the school. From a national ] point of view, at the jMreeent time, they felt strongly that tlie application should t be rejected. To Powhare, an influential Ituatokl - Nativo, formerly chairman, and for 17 years member for Mntafna district on a the Maori Council, said he had been deli puted by a genoml meeting of four i. tribes to oppose the license. On their - behalf he informed tho Bench that all • broad-inihdeil Natives were opposed to 9 the liconse. Sergeant Ferguson, in' charge of the district, including Tanontun, corroborat--3 ed the evidence of Constable Cummings. 0 Inspector Shenhan, in charge of the y whole police district, informed the Court '• .hat it would be absolutely , essential to P station an experienced constable at Tonea atua if tho license were granted. Tho ; > police force wns much under elrensth, s and he was unable to staff ninth more r imporlflut places. He had had a long " experience of Public Works gangs in the k vicinity of hotels, and fully endorsed Mr. n Hannah's evidence. He prddicled grave fc - trouble with the Urewera Natives if the s license was established. Under present conditions especially no committee was 18 justified in granting (he application. 0 A; remarkable feature of the evidence 0 in opposition to the license was that out of the twelve witnesses called <.nly one '' was a Prohibitionist. ;s After a retirement of forty minutes ■ 3 the chairman announced that a majority of the committee had decided to grant the applioation. The tour elected niemII lyre voted for the application nnd the " chairman against it. At the r:>;iwst of " the committee, the chairman announced- "', that tho reasons of the majority, .-horfly, >• were the result of Ihe last fommitteo ''■ election, that the lion?? wns required m l> the neighbourhood, and that the danger lo the. Natives had boon exaggerated. 3, The chairman's masons the. ! * v license vere-d) Tlifl I'vi-lmco did not. ■ 3 show the lioon?p to l>o vequnrivl. ('.'.l Ihe evidence showed a boimlingriims* witha out a liceiwn lo be quite su Ilk-ion I. (X) 10 The menace to the Natives wns real, ■ and his own i-xperienw s'mwi'd the ler--13 riblo havoc wrought by li'l«or amongst the Maoris, (t) There were already too „ inmiv facilities for tho Native? to get liquor nnd the proximity ot raneatun to Uir'nwera would make matter," worse. ("■.) Tho imivKrsal tendency to-day was "' In restrict thn consumption i:f liquor " dnriug the war (for Wimplr, I, q (dock . closing and tho anh-slu.nlnig lavv). and ,1_ to grant tho application vmildi lr,ivr>™ ... this principle. Moreover, it wns obvious ?, that tho. Atiaimi.ri house did no.; pay, r , but tho Tanoat.ua license, was being w enught for Tmcmipo on the increased roii- " sumption of liquor it would pay. (fi) In the face of (he example of the worlds Bs in ataiuloiiing tho wniMir.pl,mi of liquor he could m>t r.:iw-iy.>>.,.> support the grant of the «'7