H—3B

screen, which were in a large private bar, the supply system was disconnected and the dregs poured in through a funnel with a towel over it. The licensee was often present and was fully aware of the practice. 555. At another managed hotel of the same company in Auckland, where . the witness worked for about two and one-half weeks between 17th April, 1942, and 4th May, 1942, the barmen were instructed by the head barman that the slops were to be collected in buckets, including the dregs in the glasses (R. 3370). Every night the dregs were put into a barrel on the counter, and that barrel was turned on end so that the barmen in the morning would know which was the slop barrel. In the morning a keg of chilled beer was used to give life to the dregs. The resultant " Wompo " was then served to the public on the instructions of the head barman (R. 3370 and 3371). The witness had not seen the licensee present when this was done (R. 3371). 556. A similar practice was adopted at a hotel then leased by a company on a two years' lease, during the period of a month in 1942 when the witness was employed at that hotel. The drips from the pans under the taps were run into a bucket. After 6 p.m. the, head barman knocked the top out of a barrel on the counter and put in a funnel with a towel over it and poured in the dregs. The witness stated that on several occasions when the barman had had a busy day, no towel had been placed over the funnel, with the result that he had seen a fly or several flies, or bits of tobacco coming through the tap in the barrel into the glass. If customers had complained to the witness, he had replenished the glass without charge. The pouring-in of the slops into the keg was done overnight. The licensee at the time was often present and was fully aware of the practice (R. 2582 and 2556). 557. The same witness gave evidence of a similar practice which was in operation during a period of one week in February, 1944, at another hotel, which was under lease from a company (R. 2651). The witness gave a week's notice as soon as he observed the practice (R. 2558). The pouring of the slops into the barrel, which was at that time placed on the counter of that hotel, was done after 6 p.m. on week-days and after 2 p.m. on Saturdays (R. 2583). The head barmen was a party to the practice, and the licensee was fully aware of it. The customary way of using the dregs at this hotel was to fill a glass two-thirds out of the dregs barrel and then top off with fresh beer (R. 2564). This witness explained how he had not sold any of the slops up till 12 o'clock, and the head barman, after he had disposed of his lot of slop beer, came down to the witness and said there was a fresh barrel on the keg, that the witness could go there, and it would be quite all right. The head barman then worked off the slop beer that witness was intended to work off (R. 2564). 558. The same witness gave evidence concerning another managed hotel near Auckland. The slops were here kept in two or three white jugs (R. 2568). On two occasions, each on a Saturday after 2 p.m., the witness saw the licensee-manager putting the dregs back into a barrel (R. 2583 and 2580). 559. The evidence given in Auckland was sufficient for our purposes, and we did not ask for evidence concerning dregs in any other centre. 560. One of the strange circumstances is that most of the barmen with whom the principal witness spoke appeared to accept the practice. The witness suggested to us that the reason for their failure to join him in exposing the practice was that, once a barman became a head barman, his aim was to become a licensee, and that he would not wish to damage his prospects (R. 2590). No evidence was produced to show that barmen made a pecuniary gain by selling the " Wompo "on their own account. If, however, the returns of waste asked for by the hotel company on dregs slips which it supplied were duly made by the hotel to the hotel company and the latter allowed for the waste in the hotel returns, the hotel would have some fund in hand which could be disbursed without the necessity for account to the hotel company. Another reason for the practice was given by Mr. Paterson, S.M., when he said (R. 122): — A common practice to help to keep up bar percentages is to empty the dregs of glasses into the buckets under the bar and later run them back into the casks —a most undesirable and insanitary practice.

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