LICENSED VICTUALLERS ASSOCIATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5791, 21 October 1879, Page 2

LICENSED VICTUALLERS ASSOCIATION.

A special meeting ot the Licensed Victuallers Association was held yesterday afternoon at the Star Hotel for the purpose of taking into consideration the report of the committee appointed to consider the Local Option Bills which it is proposed to introduce to the House during the present session, and also to make arrangements for the forthcoming conference ot licensed victuallers from all parts of New Zealand. There was a very good attendance, and the chair was occupied by Mr. Worth, president of the association. The Chairman explained that the committee had considered the Bills of Mr. Saunders and Mr. Acton Adams, and had drawn up a report on the subject. The suggestions which the committee had made were, among others, the following :—That the licenses throughout the colony should be £4O and £SO for eleven o’clock and twelve o’clock houses ; that publicans should only be required to keep lights burning until their hour of closing, as prescribed by their license ; that clubs, which were very greatly on the increase, and which injured the trade, should be placed on the same footing as hotels so far as the licenses are concerned ; that there should be four classes of licenses, vis., for town hotels, for country hotels, for accommodation places, and for ferry places; that the license fee for the latter should be £l, working up to £SO, in the case of town hotels having twelve o'clock licenses. The committee was of opinion ' ,:u,t the clause of the Bill iu reference to t-- rollers should be reduced frem five to ’’ -.j miles. On the question of the renewal of 1.-c.-ases they very strongly objected to the right of females having a vote, and suggested that the franchise in this respect should be extended to those only who wsre upon the ratepayers roll. For this they gave what they considered to be a number of very conclusive reasons. The report also suggested the establishment of a Colonial Licensed Victuallers Association, and a yearly meeting of delegates of the trade from all parts ot the colony, and the formation of an insurance fund within their own body, which it was reckoned would give £20,000 a year—half of which it was proposed to spend in the purchase of plant, &c. It also reeommended that a yearly gathering of the members and their wives and families should be held, and the establishment of a Widows’ and Orphans’ Fund, The report referred in a very special manner to the system of credit in the public house trade, and suggested that an effort should be made to put a stop to the evils under which the publicans suffered in this respect, by there being a mutual interchange, monthly, of the names of customers who availed themselves of the Tippling Act to “ stick-up ” drinks to aa unlimited extent. It was proposed that this Hat, to be distributed among all the members of the Association, should be called the Black List. A member hero asked whether it was proposed to have the list in question in mourning. (A laugh.) . The Chairman ; That will be just as you please. The meeting then proceeded to consider the various questions brought forward in the committee’s report, and after a good deal of discussion a distinct understanding was come to as to what should be laid before the conference, which is to take place in a day or two, at the Athenaeum. The following members were appointed to represent the Association : Messrs. Worth, Light, Wackley, Bright and Press. It was arranged that prior to the con - ference breaking up a grand banquet should be given. A vote ot thanks to the Chairman concluded the proceedings.