THE IDEAL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 620, 26 August 1933, Page 6

THE IDEAL

TWO COURSES FOR FOURPENCE AT MELBOURNE HOTEL BARS. "UNFAIR ADVANTAGE." A tasty Bay flounder for 6d — with oyster sa.uce, 9d. A dozen Stewart Island oysters — or, if you prefer them, Sydney Rocks — for the same price. A bacon omelette or a rump steak for 9d. Schnapper for 4d. Tomato soup or consomme for ld. The bar of a Collins Street, Melbourne, hotel offers you these delieacies at something less than what the race-courses and showground caterer knows as "city prices." In Bourke Street, and other city thoroughfares, you can fare further and equally well, with a changing menu and diminishing prices. There are roast lamb and beef, with vegetables, for 3d; a wide range of beef steak pudding, Murrumbidgee (sea pie), and braised steak, at 2d, and the list goes down to the modest sandwich, sausage rool and frankfurt for ld. You can have a good two-course meal for a modest 4d. Depression Revival. There was a time when the counter lunch was an essential part of the hotel bar's attractions. Licensees vie with eaeh other in the free provendor distributed to their patrons. Whole joints and hams and other appetising dishes were provided, and the bar counters literally groaned with good things. But the golden era of the counter lunch seemed to have passed, with many other things, in the war (says the Melbourne "Herald.") In recent years there has been a revival, due principally to the depression and the need to attract trade. The Licensed Victuallers' ,Association's attitude to this revival was that it was unfair .competition. A clause was inserted in the agreements signed by licensees, in which. they undertook not to distribute free food nor to sell any without a reasonable margin of profit. The Association has now issued a fresh appeal to licensees. The secretary said that if . hotelkeepers put on free counter lunch, they seeured an unfair advantage. If all did it, it simply added generally to overhead expenses. Either way, it was not in the interests of members. The objection was not to the counter lunch being sold in city hotels, if the price charged covered the cost to the license'e. It was to free distribution. The provision of free biscuits and cheese seemed to be the principal breach Qf the agreement.