Relaxed drinking laws supported by council

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 661, 5 November 1996, Page 5

Relaxed drinking laws supported by council

Liquor saies on Sunday and lowering the drinking age to 1 8 are two changes to the liquor licensing laws that the Ruapehu District Council would like to see made. Councillors accepted a set of submissions on the liquor licensing laws at its meeting on Friday 25 October. "While the current minimum drinking age is 20 years old, lowering the drinking age to 18-would finally legitimatise the present situation of 1 8 year olds drinking," states the council' s submission to the Liquor Review 1996 Discussion Paper. "At present there are so many exceptions to this, experience has shown that the general public, licensees and enforcement authorities are generally confused on this issue. The only ones not confused are the minors themselves," states the submission. The council accepts that a problem could follow with a de facto minimum age low-

ered to 16, so they propose an adequate identification system — which would include a photograph — be introduced. The council supports Sunday saies of liquor, stating: "It is agreed that there appears to be general community support for the sale of liquor from holders of offlicences on Sundays." "The demand is such that one supermarket operation within our community believes 50-60 customers are inconvenienced and dissatisfied on a Sunday. With a large overseas visitor population to the Ruapehu areq dissatisfaction with the current law is very evident. Each off-licence should be treated equally to avoid any commercial advantage of one operation over another," continues the submission. Mayor Weston Kirton did not support Sunday saies, saying it was a tradition that there was no drinking on Sundays.