MEETING OF LICENSED VICTUALLERS.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 50, 23 June 1880, Page 2

MEETING OF LICENSED VICTUALLERS.

A meeting of the' licensed victuallers of • Manawatu : and? Rangitikei , ; was Held on Monday afternoon, at the Junction Hotel, Sandon, for. ; the.: piirppserpj ..taking some steps with., regard to meeting the burden lately im posed upon the. trade, in the shape of the.3«er,Tax.. % .' " * "' ' i"l: : . ; ? ; ' There were "present — M : essrs, Dalziel, Broughtpji, . Qjlfeert, G-wynnej Batchelar,,; aiid Weight. Mr. Dalziel was unanimously elected to. preside,' whereupon h? "read; letter* of-'applpgy ffpm, Meoir^ Diards, and. Carroll (Palmerstdhj, M'Kehzie (Otangnaki). and \ybyte (FpxUn), all: of w,hom; rqgrette.dj then- inabilitjr to' 'be. present, but i stated, ihea wfllingnffii to^be.bpund Bjr.'any 'res^olu-; tions which the meeting' might /^assl i ' \ i The OhaibkJlU, in; opening the proceedings, said he presumed.it was.quite unnecessary, for him to explain to. the, meeting jthereason for' whicil'thejr.. h^.dm;et together^ a_. most opppessive^ta^c haof been imppsedc upon one braocK of theliijtior trade, and: it had. been sought "by the.brewers to mate the whole brunt of ! it fall-- upon the . licensed victuallers. He. did not sje^ that such ,a^ course,, was "fair or equitabJe^find^ tlie tneefciug of that.. day had beeii: called ito r see. whether the publicans would submit ltd the imposition, or .band, together, tq resist it and. ■ protect their interests. ■' to bear. half the burden imposed* by the &p---•vernraenf;, but/hel thought tnVywerei^Uy, justified in expecting tfre. brewers; to^fcake the resppQs.ihility7o^the "pth_e'r;hjrif. ; That was the. oause. of their being brought to : . getherj and, as : far. as' he Saw, the; remedy, lay entarely in t^eir own : hands,- as certainly tjhe. brewers were.not in a.p.p|it«>n.'to qnfdrce the Very flue-sided, arrangeiixenps wliiph had been proposed, or in t fact to dictate terms at all to the publicans. He had been making, (enquiries oi^yie.nxa^ter, -and b< found that English bser.cpuld. be supplied' to the districf it's prjce" very slightly in excess of that, hitherto/ been, paid for. the, local ! article. ' If the, brewer? refused; to!, :act as; the class fiad in otTier parts of; metfe, '^he. p^bUcwis half-wfty, and pay.half th_«. taxr-then, he, would suggest that they be quickly briought y to, their senses by the, custom of the district being" transferred to the South'. The publicans, " anfJ vjpt. the brewers, w,ere in, possession, of the.jtrump. card, fbj, while the, former could send their orders to Ohristchurch, ' or. Duned.in,^ : ip would be" something like sending opals to Newcastle for the local brew.ers to uttempt to compete outside the district. • i/Lv. BsoTTopEpN waf -entirely in, accord " with the Chairman, but' although it ; | might be quite, wjse and politic that thpse. present should adjopt the, course suggested, ! some'. thing more remainod to be.' done, He w,ould propose, that a resolution offering certain terms to the brewers., shouldj !>*'■ ■■ passed, which should be submitted to;thena, and in the. erept, of a refusal to accept it, then that a bond should be draw.n up, and submitted for signature to everypu.blican.in. Eangitikei and Manawatu, each and- all should .pledge^tiiemsekes to deal^ with nojarewer who ;,did npt^^bear, his !, share of the tax. .•'->•--: *'■:-♦ • - ; Mr. Batohklib highly approved of Mr. Broughton'B proposition, which he';felt quite (siire would, as the.Chairinan hiad intiipated, have the effect of bringing the brewers to their senses. He could not understand the action of the Licensed Victuallers of " Wanganui, who, instead of acting with a view of protecting their own interests, ha^ actually gone; hand in?,hand rwjtb the. brewers. Since the agitation had commenced he had bean making coi^sidepabie. inquiries, and. ho ' found "that the Dunedin brewers would de- 1 liver stuff in the North Island at precisely, the. same figure ts it was ' delivered put , of the brewery, There could be. no question about the publicans having the game iathep. own, hands, for it certainly lay in! their power to dictate, to the brewers, not brewers to them/and if the. publicans were^ greedy or. selfish they could, if they ohose,^ compel them to pay »ot" a half bujb the whole of the. tax. That they Tjere. willing to share the burden^ When they had it in. their power to. get but of it, shouldj ceri tainly have some^weight with the breyers,,. who if they were wise would; accept the inj evitable/ and -xidt pre?s niatterr fij a 'stage, which would undoubtedly result in.a greater discomfiture, i He agreed with Mr. Brpughton that unless* the publicans throughout this, twi) cbunties were, unanimous and de-r. termined to act in. concert, they could not carry their point, but if all pulled- together' the brewei3^er^4»pund^give s w.ay,; H^?. would further 'suggest that:, the Chairman; should have full authority to act in the master ;,, firgt, to have the /bc^nd by every publican i» the district.; nextto'communioate thViutisknce of that bond to the brewers-; »nd 'thirdly, to teletriph^tp^jthe

rangements could be made for a supply upon the proposed terms. The O^AißitAiT said he would be only too happy to carry put the wishes of- the; meet* in,g, at the samp time he was of opinion that beyond the signing of the bond, the publicans of the district should' be free, to act afc they • pieased-TtTiat- *ia, they wjere> free: to, supply {heir customers with English or any othei! beer, providing it was not obtained from firms refusing tq agrea tq the terms of the resolution. Mr. B^uaHTOir said that of course there might ha one. or two houses in the district whose proprietors might not be free to. sign the, bond. ■'.... :*.. ' j •■■?:«.■-■-.:- The Chairman not awara> of a.riy such, but even supppsing that there, vrere what was known as " tied-up. houses," the. brewers could not force their beer on. to thern, at thejr own pricey as although the publicans ra,ight be. bound to repeiise their suppjif? fr» < nvicer>ain.br»wery,.itw ofl eonditfcq that they v?ere charged; the. rate rjo)ing.^m6ngst the, bade;';*!^ therefore, thet" majority w,ere. suppled at 12/ a gallon less, than .was . jought to be; charged to the rest, any publican could resist it. .Mr. Weight said he" had not the. least •doubt that all it wanted was a little pressure to make the, brewers give way—as assuredly they ought; If the publicans were ty*ue to, themselves and combined together in the manner proposed, the brewers would . ,have ftp takJ9..a£j^from,c^ c&jiiiihly^fcns^du^it WhawT done without !V ' v Mr:'''(feiß^ip/teid'tluiliVfct|jß brewers in othe.r parts of the colony:— lnvereargill and else.where.— hadnot attempted to shirk thpir responsibility or. saddle, the publicans with, the, whole pf the burden. The Gfovernme^t did not gauge . beer, in, ih'a lime manner aa they did spirits, and about ; fifty gallons is all that they . claim on. This/ divided, bjstween the. publicans and. thftbrejrers would not press so very severely as if either, of the, bodies had to meet the impost alone. To him it certainly appeared . .•pmewhat coolthat the. latter "who were the producer*, and. uppn "whomin "reality, the. tax was, Jleyiedv" shpuid seek' to 'get .'out of all, responsibility, Und ; shift it over tb;'thj». shoulderi of the. retailers^ -"and consumers. ••..";■.. "Mr, Batghblab- said that; the; way. in which the'brewer's accounted for suchactipn, was 1 by saying that ifc- was not a Beer Tax : whifth had been levied, but an increase, upon .the duty, on beer. Li reply to: that, he might' point out "that when the duty on spirits had^been ■ raised two shillings, the publicans did not go to the importers or' merchants and ask,,theia to meet. it. In f 6rderi'howeyer, : to bring 5 tfie matter ta r »ri issue, he. would mover— '" -. X : -That this meeting pledges itself- tp deaLwflk no 1 brewer who will not undertake to payialf Jhe.rate per ! gall6n ; imposed, by.. the ; Beer' Ear; that" theChairman be requested-to -f pryrard tbiß. resolution to the brewers foritbJeir consideration and;reply— and fortheri that he attach to'it a bond; or agree-. nißnt, tobeiorwarded to all the publicans in the r "districfcso that they ' may.attach their,sigM,tures, t stating &eir willingness to; be'bonnd ; by the con- - dition thereto, cOntataed. •>,;: ! % ;: -X- ' f The..;!resolution was: seconfled- \b^r Mr/ . BBoy&BaoX; and carried unanimously. The Sejtt^^stion:? w.hichl engaged the .'attention ot-Hhe^ meeting was : the. advisability of the^trside'i^ future. discontinuing the practice, oi supplying^pjpjts. of; beer, to ; „be droinjt ; on iaeipreniises' !■. ' "in speaking i.to the! subject, Mr. Batchiiab said thaf of course, the, publio.should be called jupon to beat in. some im.all proportion its share of the. tax, and those; present would readily 'admit the impossibility, or. father the futility, of railing the '.pint of beer to " seyenpeniße.; . such a ■ course pursued, M ni.nfvOW«i' o s^ Pi 11 '] 111 * Qe ! extra'penTny would * »ever be r "got at the i same, time, and" the consequence ;be that a' .book-keeper.wouldthaXf. to be employed; to : keep, tbi.rqn^of the owing coppßrsy t !B&»,hadi therpfpre, cQm,m.ence.d;a plan tlieoaw, and : obviate. the diftwu'lty. Since the! imposition of the tax he had knocked pfE the tupplyirig of pints altogether, and .those.who wanted a long drink Vad. to be contented with a big : glass. Tfie man 'who was not satisfied .^ith:---a large, glass- was a glutton w,no, ought - ript~ ; be allowe,d.ip liv,e v : , '/■ : '_... .--,. , ■''. Mr? Bi6u<jHTO2f. agreed- with the wisdom, of ttie proposed step, which, if it were car'riedinto effect, would consign all his pew-, iterkto a top shelf in th^b'ar^where, brightly .burn^hed up, they would remain relics of. i a good oid, by.rgbn^fge. - : The Ohaebmait said thfl. gr.eat thing m' dealing with the, matter. was to^havethorpugh I unanimity. ■ '-Thprf Vpulii -be nbuse.; whatlever in; one publican, doing away with.the pewter, if aaoliher adhered to its use. - The, matter,, was ..then discusped a'tapme ■ considerable length, and it wa«,finall % ag^ fJ < jby those, present that in. the future large ; glasses snould supersede pints.. Mr. BATOHBiAB next referred <» the matter of bpttled beerybut the. prevailing i.opinibrL appiaTed', "to. v , bei.that: it"> would,, be. .better the. charges uppn that chVss '.of gpbdß at the.old figure, '.'■', ; „' "A Vote of thanks to the. Chairman, then brought the meeting to a. close. 5 -