Spa seeks a new licence

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 48, 18 June 1974, Page 1

Spa seeks a new licence

The owners of the Spa Hotel are seeking permission to apply for a new liquor licence after the Bay of Plenty Licensing Committee declined to renew the existing licence last week. The committee gave no reason for declining the application. The hotel manager, Mr R. G. Manning, said it had come as a great surprise to him. "At 5 p.m. one day last week a clerk at the Rotorua Magistrate's Court telephoned and told me the application had to be in by 11 a.m. the next day," said Mr Manning. Mr Manning went to Rotorua after re-arranging his plans, filled in the necessary form and paid $80 — but he did not attend the sitting.

"I wasn't told to attend and they didn't tell me that the form had not been filled out properly," he said. Mr Manning has had no correspondence from the licensing committee and he believes he should have been informed of the committee' s sitting at least two weeks beforehand. But he does not blame the committee for failing to renew the licence. "I think those working under them should have done their job properly." The court clerk apparently told Mr Manning that a requisition had not been properly filled out. "He said he had a list of things which should have been done but it was not sent to me — and I still haven't seen it," said Mr Manning. If the application for a new liquor licence is refused, the hotel will have to close. Last month it was bought from Spa Properties Ltd by Sentinel Holdings Family Trust of Auckland.