LICENSED TRADE

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 102, 27 October 1945, Page 11

LICENSED TRADE

CONTROL OF HOTELS

COUNSEL'S PROPOSALS

Hotels had been purchased by brewing interests for use as beer outlets, with no intention of improving accommodation, said Mr. J. D. Willis, counsel assisting the Commission, in his final address to the Royal Commission on Licensing yesterday. He considered that if a central board were set up to control the licensed trade one of its functions should be to supervise the conduct, management, and accommodation of licensed houses. A board could set a standard for accommodation and see that that standard was maintained, said Mr. Willis, who cited various hotels .with as few as three rooms for guests. In generally supervising the liquor laws, a board's, functions should include the granting of licences and of charters to clubs, collection of fees, and the ' * fixing of prices for liquor. If the present system of licensing was to continue, the number and types of licences should be considered, along with the questions of brewery and chain ownership, good wills, rentals, and tied houses.

DIFFERENT RETAIL LICENCES

For retail licences, it might be that many of the difficulties now existing would disappear if different classes of licences were issued for different fees, said Mr. Willis. One solution would be to issue a licence only to hotels providing a reasonable amount of accommodation, although in some centres it would be found that, say, 50 bar taverns were necessary but 50 hotels with accommodation were not. The Commission might consider the possibility of vesting bar licences in local trusts, leaving the hotels proper to private enterprise. Mr. Willis said that there was definite proof that some managers of hotels for breweries shared in the profits of the houses. Regarding tied houses, one of the main points to be borne in mind was that breweries had for years been fighting for hotels, with the inevitable consequences. It would be a good thing if it were.made illegal for breweries to have any-interest in or control over hotels. -Nothing-substantial had been brought before the Commission in favour of tied houses except that breweries could provide hotel finance where nobody else...could.. That argument was fallacious, submitted Mr; Willis.

HOURS AND PRICES.

i One of the greatest causes of dissatisfaction was the matter of hours, said Mr. Willis." It was not for him

to make any submissions on the question; the test would be the interests of the public—what was desired and what ..would tend to the general welfare. There did not appear any need for the actual number of hours, whatever their spread, to be increased. Mr. Willis submitted that the prac-

tice of charging the same price for dif»Cerent measures would be tolerated in no other trade. There seemed to be no difficulties in the way of charging varying prices-for standard measures to some extent at least. Breaches of the Licensing Act were numerous, usually deliberate and not committed in ignorance of the law. The reported number of cases of breaches must necessarily be small in comparison with the actual number. The time had come for the Commission to.consider whether* licences should be endorsed for a deliberate breach and cancelled or suspended for a long period for a second deliberate breach; -The public would fall in line with the licensees' policy regarding afterhours' trading.;

DANCE HALLS AND FUNCTIONS

There had been a yearly average of 957 reported breaches of the amendment regarding,liquor in or near dance halls since 1939. The Commission might consider, a slight modification of the law to--beer, and wines in cabarets when strictly'private parties are being held. Safeguards .would be necessary. There shoukLbe''no general relaxation ins favour of -, in_> dance halls generally-because oYTrhe difficulties of supervision, the - temptation to young people, and tlie dangers of motor accidents. ;.:■•'".- '■*•■•..'

Bona fide functions at hotels, such as reunions, should be allowed liquor in the dining-rooms.

Questions for the Commission regarding clubs, he submitted, would be: Whether there should be an increase in charters; the hours to be observed; and whether charters should continue to be issued through the Minister of Internal "Affairs or by a board or authority. controlling other licences. Safeguards could be: Full powers of } inspection "by the police; the adoption of the Scottish and English recom- j mendations that it be made illegal to | take liquor from clubs for off-consump-tion; and clubs should be prosecuted under the Act in the same manner as hotel licensees, with the possibility of loss or suspension of charter. Existing districts in which No Licence prevailed were a distinct anomaly, said Mr. Willis. Substantial quantities of liquor went into such districts both legally and illegally, and keg parties claused trouble. If licences were restored in present No Licence districts it would have to be considered whether they should be operated under some trust or municipal control. Mr. Willis - deplored the continuance of the typical anachronism making it illegal to take liquor from the \city of. Wellington to-most of its suburbs without .a permit. Counsel for the New Zealand Alliance had charged the Customs Deaartment With subservience to the licensed trade, but Mr. Willis considered that an unwarranted word. Whatever tne merits of the matters revealed in evidence, the sweeping statement that undue privileges had been allowed brewers by the Department had not been justified. ' . As for the Westland Breweries excise evasions, it was his duty to remind the Commission that the Minister had been fortified by the opinion of the SolicitorGeneral in dealing with the case. . Mr. Willis dealt categorically with items raised by the New Zealand Alliance alleging subservience by the Department to the trade-, and explained his conclusion that no such existed, as the apparent so-called "privileges" allowed were not contrary to the law. The allegation that "Finsbury" gin had been compounded from spirits of wine had not been supported by evidence. There appeared no sound reason why properly-instructed senior postal^ officers should not act as excise officers at breweries remote from ports where Customs officers were located permanently. '

STRENGTH OF BEER

Strength of beer today was the result, of war regulations designed to conserve, sugar supplies, continued Mr. Willis The Commission would doubtless give consideration to the desirability or otherwise of increasing the N strength when sugar stocks made that f6Evidlnce had been, given that the addition of sugar to New Zealand wines in. the making was a proper practice, within limits, said Mr. Willis. Fortification of sweet wines was essenr tial if quality was to.be maintained. The complete elimination of wine imports was not considered desirable. The most promising proposal regarding the establishment of a brandy industry in New Zealand, if that were considered desirable, appeared to be for a strictly limited number of accredited wine manufacturers to be given licences to manufacture brandy under proper control of the Customs and Agriculture Departments to enable them, through their present organisations, to develop the industry quietly on a competitive basis.

WINES IN RESTAURANTS

"There is a considerable volume of evidence favouring the encouragement of the lighter as distinct from the more heavily alcoholic wines," said Mr. Willis. "Beverage wines containing not more than 24.5 per cent, proof spirit might be permitted, it has been suggested, to-be sold by the bottle by licensed grocers, and by the glass by licensed restaurants and private hotels for consumption on the premises with meals. The exact conditions on which permits to sell liquors in restaurants should be granted would need to be clearly denned if the Commission feels the introduction of such a facility desirable." Mr. Willis has concluded his address. The Commission is to sit on Tuesday to receive information on certain miscellaneous matters. It will then retire to formulate its report and recommendajtions.