H—3B

there is no inherent objection to a private bar upstairs, provided that it is a defined place and provided that the number of private bars is specified in the license. What the police most need to know are the exact places in the hotel in which liquor can be sold. We think also that there should be provision for both standing and seated drinking, both in the public and in the private bars, but more particularly in the private bars. 541. On the second question, as to whether these alterations are practicable, we think that many brewery and hotel companies could easily have improved the conditions for drinking in their bars in times past, if they had been so minded. They have made very large profits, but have not chosen to attempt to improve the drinking habits of their customers by providing enough space for chairs and tables in the public bars. 542. To-day there is, we think, more demand for leisurely drinking, while seated, as a man would drink in his own home and as is provided in licensed premises both in Europe and in America. An example of what can be done in New Zealand to-day was given by Mr. Luxford, S.M., who instanced the case of the Newmarket Hotel (R. 6537), where there was a public bar for some five hundred or six hundred people with room for all, and where some customers were sitting down, drinking quietly, and talking. To ensure, however, the improvement of all hotels in this manner would require an adequate form of control. CHAPTER 27.—THE USE OF DREGS AND OTHER INSANITARY PRACTICES IN BARS 543. The word " dregs " refers to the drippings from the taps in a bar and to the overflow from the glasses as they are filled. These dregs are sometimes called " swill" (R. 2295) or " slops " (R. 3388). When they are mixed with beer for sale, the resultant liquid is colloquially known as " Wompo " (R. 3370). The term has been in use among barmen for as long as one experienced licensee could recollect —from twenty to thirty years (R. 3399 and 3411), and it is also known to the man in the street (R. 3400). 544. The drippings may contain some froth or fob from the keg and also some sedimentation which might have to be run off at the foot of the keg. For the most part, however, the dregs consist of the overflow from the glasses as they are filled. 545. Dr. F. S. Maclean, of the Health Department, said that dregs may be grossly contaminated (R. 563 and 747), and that they should not be used for human consumption. A glass may have been used by a man with tuberculosis or with some other disease which could contaminate the glass. When a customer asks for another drink in the same glass, the glass is not then washed. On the refilling, the drippings may carry the germs of contagious disease into the drip pan. Dr. Maclean said that the Department had had complaints from time to time during the last five years, and also fairly recently, concerning the sale of dregs, but had not had the evidence on which to found.a prosecution (R. 747). 546. Other evidence has been given to show that dregs are sold to the public and that complaints have been made by customers to barmen. It is a common practice in hotels which sell beer from kegs to have a tray without a waste-pipe underneath the tap. A tray may hold half a gallon (R. 2559). If there is no reason for keeping the dregs, there is no need for a tray without a waste-pipe. 547. Where delivery is from a tank, there appears to be no need for the tray, and no complaint is alleged against that form of supply. 548. The daily quantity of dregs collected by means of the trays varies with the trade of the hotels. The licensee of one hotel at Newton, Auckland, indicated that the quantity of dregs at his hotel might be from 2| to 3 gallons a day (R. 2295). Another witness estimated that at another hotel in Auckland there were from 5 to 8 gallons a day, and on Saturdays as much as 18 gallons (R. 3371). Prima facie, gallons of beer are worth saving by those who can sell them for profit. The evidence shows that the

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