H—24a

The experience already gained by the Invercargill Trust was freely offered by that organization, and freedom from the effects of the restrictive time factor, under which the Trustees in Invercargill commenced, was regarded as of the greatest importance to the welfare of the Trust. The Trust has received valuable assistance and support from some of the largest importers of liquor and has had technical assistance oifered from many quarters. The Trustees were conscious, from their first meeting, of the importance of their responsibility—both to the citizens of the trust district and to the whole of New Zealand —in their position as the first administrators of the Licensing Trust wholly elected by the people of the district. While fully conscious that they were in duty bound to consider giving improved accommodation, they were quite clear that their first responsibility was to provide proper facilities for the purchase of liquor, and have given first consideration to this subject. The project of accommodation has been discussed as one of major importance, second only to liquor sales because of the imperative need for creating at the earliest possible opportunity a source of revenue for the Trust. As a result of the earthquake-wrecked state of the available buildings of the town and district there were, in fact, no buildings suitable for the Trust's operations and fit for immediate occupation without dispossessing existing occupants and disrupting business, and the Trustees were convinced that they had no mandate for such action. Policy Relating to Public Bars It was clear that the Trust could expedite operations by opening up, in a number of disused buildings, bars for public use. Apart from the difficulties of administration, the sites available were badly located, unhygienic, and too small, would have made proper service almost impossible, and would have been, in the Trust's opinion, the subject of severe criticism from citizens and the public throughout the country through reintroducing all the worst features of the period prior to no-licence being carried in Masterton. The Trust is agreed on the unsuitability of the conditions under which liquor is sold generally, is determined to effect the greatest improvements possible within the law, and —with the good will of all sections of the public—decided that there must be no return to the bad features of the pre-no-licence period, even at the cost of postponing opening public bars. Moreover, in view of the shortage of essential building-materials, the Trust realized that if temporary bar facilities were provided, justification for buildings of a more permanent type would be lost meantime. A policy decision was therefore made that the opening of bars would be postponed until a desirable type of buildings and appointments were available. This was a difficult decision which was made easier in the knowledge that the Trust had the expressed support of most organizations in the district. A survey of the available sites and buildings was made and wide publicity was given to the Trust's needs. A special problem was the substantial floor space required for the establishment of suitable types of bars. The Trust's architects and structural engineers investigated a number of projects, and from their reports it became clear that only one building was capable of a reasonably quick conversion to bar facilities, but that even this suffered from a number of deficiencies which would greatly slow down the work. It was therefore decided to acquire and convert the Cosy Theatre building to provide a public bar, lounge, and offices for the Trust administration, and negotiations were commenced for its purchase. In order to obtain the balance of the space needed for bar facilities it was found necessary to plan an additional building, and as the Trustees were advised that Oregon pine was the only material which would not conflict with the needs of housing, it became necessary to go outside the borough " brick area," and a site was selected which has since become known as the " Northern Approach Project," and the erection of a wooden-frame building was decided on. Here it is intended to erect a bar and lounge in an area which lends itself to landscape gardening and in a

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