Hotelkeepers and the Half-Holiday.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 228, 27 March 1895, Page 3

Hotelkeepers and the HalfHoliday.

(Per Press Association). Wellington, March. 26. The opinion of Mr W. B. Edwards, the well-known solicitor, has been taken on the question whether the sale of tobacco, cigars, &c, by hotelkeepers brings them within the provisions of the Shops and Shop Assistants Act, and a summary is published by the Post. He thinks the word " shops," as denned by the Act, is sufficiently wide to include every hotel whether tobacco is sold or not, as aerated waters and other things not covered by the license are necessarily sold ; that the sale of aerated waters and food is incident to the business of an eatinghouse is not, Mr Edwards says^ tenable contention, as the sale is -as a licensed victualler. Licensed victuallers are not mentioned in the Shop and Shop Assistants Act, and it is plain they were not intended to be affected by that Act. Every hotelkeeper has been in the habit of selling cigars, &c, and there is nothing in the Act to show that it was ' intended to interfere with this being done. " The , conclusion to which I have come," says Mr Edwards, "is, therefore, that the sale of tobacco, &c, as heretofore carried on By licensed victuallers doeß not make them subject to the provisions of the Shop and Shop Assistants Act of 1894. In any case a fine under the Act would be the only punishment, and a conviction would not affect the license. In conclusion, Mr Edwards says: "I am pretty confident that it would be held by the Supreme Court that the sale of tobacco, &c, by hotelkeepers has not been in any way affected by the legislation of .1894."