LICENSING BENCH

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 217, 8 June 1920, Page 6

LICENSING BENCH

ANNUAL MEETING

DEFECTIVE FIRE ESCAPES IN HOTELS

The nnnual meeting of the Licensi: Bench was held yesterday. Mr. W. . Riddell, S.M., prosided, and tho oth • members of the committee present we Messrs. C.---W. Chilman, John Smith, . Petherick, W. J. Helyer, and F. Meadocroft. Mr: .Riddell, speo.king on behalf of t' Bench', said the police report showi that the position to-day was that licansi houses were being well conducted. The were' a number of repairs that were co sidered necessary at some hotels, and tl matter of fire-escapes called for a gor deal of attention. Tho hotels were 1 censed for tho benefit of the travellii public, and it was necessary that hote , -keepers should, see that their quests wei accommodated ill s ( uch a way itliat in tl event of fire they would have a reasoi able chanco of escape. It was absolut ly necessary _ that the fire-escapi should be put into a proper conditio) and those hotels that had not done : would have Mio granting of licenses ai journed until June 28, to enabl the work to be completed. In some < tho hotels, especially those in residents areas, drinking by females was carrio on, and they remained on the premis( longer than was necebary'to obtain r freshmen*. The police stated thr thero was a marked increase in tl number of women drinking -in hotel and that some of the women visite hotels accompanied by children. Som 3icensees had taken acitive steps to cof with this matter, but others had dor nothing. Licensees should see that fe males did not remain on the premise longer than was necessary to obtain sue! refeshment as they might require. The Polite Report." ■' Tnsoector M'llveney submitted the fol lowing report on behalf of the police "I regret to say that in my opinioi I there i? need for improvement in connec tion with ithe care and sufficiency of fire escs-pes in a. number of the license< houses. Tn some instances I found th passage approaches to the escapes block ed with articles which should' have beei consigned to the rubbish heap or at leasl removed from the premises—old wire woven stretchers,i broken and disusec chairs, empliy cases, and so forth. Or the outside platforms and trapdoors were found old chairs, empty cases, and generally an array of flower-pots and old kegs filled- with soil in which plants were growing. It is, I submit, needless tc comment upon the usefulness of 6uch socalled fire-escape# in cases of requirement at the outbreak pf fire. I requested the immediate removal of the obstruc. tions to which I have _ referred, ./ In other cases the directions inside the buildings as to where the escapes are situated were misleading: or inadequate, An undertaking was obtained that the obviously necessary alterations or improvements would be made forthwith "I am of the opinion that in the large buildings where the front fire-escapes terminate at tho balcony at the level of the second story, the provision for the public safety is insufficient. - Each balcony has a three or four feet fence at its outer sides, and witli the exception of Barrett's Hoiiel. there are not any means provided wHereby people may safely descend from the balcony to the footpath, ' a of approximately fifteen to twenty feet. In the_event of a fire occurring in these buildups., to jump or fall over the fence to the ground would almost certainly result in the death of somo of the unfortunates who attempted to escape. 'At the Grand Hotel there was at one time a flexible wire-sided ladder which could have been thrown over the side of the balcony for use when required, but it has bden allowed .to rust to pieces. At Barrett's Hotel 'there is a flexible chain-sided l#d- . der with ample wooden steps. It can be thrown over .the side- of the balcony, for use at any ,1 suggest that a similar ladder ]» insisted upon at the Grand Hotel, the new' Commercial Hotel, the Post Office Hotel, the Cecil Hotel, and the Occidental Hotel. "At the Roval .Hotel .the fire-escape at the south-easltern corner of thei building leads from the upper 'levels to what was once the firm iron: roof of. an adjoining house. This roof has corroded, and is unsafe.': There are not any existing .means of escape from the foot of the ladder-excepting.'to jump over a brick wall, approximately twenty feet in height, to the footpath in Dixon Street. At the bottom of the present ladder, I isuggeif; the erection of a landing-place from which there should be a descending -ladder (preferably a chain-sided flexible ladder) -available to ensure reaching the footpath with as little risk as may bo the New Zealander Hotel all lnd;'dors from the upper portion of the front-, and western side of (the building lead to a common platform at the sec-ond-story level, but the oply.escape from it would be by successfully traversing the platform to tho rear of- the house, where 'there is a descending,;ladder. In the event of a fire at the side or rear of the hotel the inmates would have to jump from the second story level to the footpath. --In my.opinion, at least one descending ladder is neccssary to provido for public safety, and I iccommend that it be. placed there without delay. "At the Central Hotel—an old woodeii building—the., fire-escape ladder, alt the corner of Fealherston Street and Lambton Quay appears to have been placed so as to be positively dangerous, if not absolutely, useless, in case of fire. To reach it one would require to bo able to •perform an acrobatic feat by, swinging Tound from the windows on cither sido of it. I suggest that it be placed in more direct, communication with one of the windows, and thus bo accessible to any inmate, young or old, who may have the misfortune to require its use. "AJfc the back of tho Post Office Hotel building the ladders from the respective floors lead into a small triangular enclosure, from which tho only outlet is through the house itself on the ground .floor Should a fire be so situated as to involve tho ground floor as well as one or more of the upper floors at or near th/ 5 front of the premises, the unfortunates who may have recount to the back ladders will, in my opinion, find themselves in a death-trap, unless they have sufficient time to ascend to nn upper story, from which they may succeed in reaching a frontal ladder, by which they may descend to the balcony. But, at present, the fire-escapes end at tho level of this balcony, some twenty feet abovo the footpath, hence my suggestion for an additional ladder. The absence of light (due to the removal or destruction of electric light, fittings) in the passages which the staff and other inmates would have to negotiate en route'to the .ladders, and tho fact that rooms 3, i, 5, 6. and 7 on the third floor have no direct means of escape, sltill further accentuate the situation at this house. "At tho To Aro Hotel the wooden fireescape at the back of tlie_ premises requires some slight renovaltion." Great Improvement- Noted. During the past six months, Inspector M'llveney stated, a very great and general improvement in tho conduct of licensed houses in the Wellington district has been noted by tho sectional sergeants During the past three months not a Bingle complaint had been received from the public regarding the conduct of any Jlotel in Wellington, which was very satisfactory. There was, however, need for more careful supervision in some of the hotels, principally, though not exclusively. those situated in residential areas, to provide against tho encouragement of drinking by females. As was pointed out in a previous report, thero had been a marked increase in tho number of women who were seen drinking in the hotels of tho city, some of tho women being accompanied by children of tender years - In the.course of his recent inspection ho saw sevoral instances where males and females wero allowed to congregated mix together, drink together, and remain together in aide-rooms much longer than was, in his opinion, necessary for tho purpose of obtaining reasonable refreshment A number of hcensees had taken steps to deal with the matter, but he wotsd be fe-lsd to seo others recognising the advisableness of following their exnniplo. . AH licenses wero Tenewed except tne following, which wero adjourned to June 28 in order that certain repairs mav bo effected Hotel Cecil, Princess Hotel, New Occidental Hotel, New Commercial Hotel. Post Office Hotel, Central Hotel, ■

City Hotol, Clyde Quay Hotel, Royal OaJc Hotel. Te Aro Hotel, New Zealander Hotel, Clarendon Hotol, Brunswick Hotel, Victoria' Hotel, and Royal Tiger Hotel. Tho following transfers wero approved: —City Hotel, 11. W. Barrs tto J. A. Duncan; Metropolitan, W. n. Richards to James Lewin; Cambridge Hotel, Philip Luca>vS Firth to Trancis Patrick Brady; Thistle Inn Hotel, William Hannnfin to Michael MUnxoo; Panama Ilotol, J. C. Mason to J. R. M. Morley; Caledonian Hotel, R. Cann to L. W. Broughiton; City Hotel, J. A. Duncan to J. R. Brown. All' wholesale liowuea wore renewed.