H—3B

trade, looking at these figures, would have come to the conclusion that prohibition either with or without compensation was not a reasonable probability for a long time to come. This is shown by these facts — (а) That immediately after that poll Hancock and Co. took over the Hotel Auckland (through a separate company, Hotel Auckland, Ltd.) (R. 3779); (б) That Dominion Breweries was formed in April, 1930 ; (c) That Hancock and Co. built the Station Hotel at Auckland during 1931 ; and (d) That the big brewery companies began their purchasing of hotels in 1933. All these expansions occurred before the poll of 1935. 598. In further proof of the fact that the brewery and hotel companies did not fear prohibition from 1929 onwards, and also in justice to the improvements which these companies made, we refer to the amounts expended by some of the largest companies on new buildings and on substantial improvements since 1929 so far as they are disclosed by the statements submitted to us. 599. Hancock and Co. submitted the following statement of capital expenditure for the period of fifteen years ending in 1944 :

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— New Buildings and Additions. Hotels purchased. £ s. d. £ s. d. 1929 Ye Jolly Farmer Inn .. 7,185 1 5 1931-32 .. The Station Hotel 63,069 18 11 Waiotapu Hotel 396 12 9 675 0 0* Duke of Marlborough— £ s. d. 1932 Building .. .. 7,753 13 1 1941-42 .. Additions .. .. 1,369 6 3 , 9,122 19 4 1933 Albion Hotel City Hotel Gleeson's Hotel Windsor Castle Hotel 7,839* 1 6,083 1 3,339 1 6,931 16 6 6 9 0 1939 99 • • • • 145 0 0 1934 Lake House Hotel Whangarei Hotel — £ s. d. 1,002 10 3 1,480 6 2 1935 Additions .. .. 1,856 13 7 1939 Purchase—• Bedrooms .. .. 4,687 16 0 Additions .. .. 236 8 4 6,780 17 11 1935 Empire Hotel .. 10,152 12 0 1937-38 .. 402 2 11 1935-36 .. Carlton Club Hotel 741 10 0 1938 Commercial Hotel, Whangarei 245 0 0 45,627 4 0 1935-37-43 Kaitaia Hotel 4,973 10 0 1936 Commercial Hotel, Te Awamutu .. 18,589 16 0 1937-39 .. ,, 40,354'13 7 1937 Waver ley Hotel 84,481 6 5 1937 Kaikohe Hotel .. 25,369 17 0 1938 99 6,892" 0 3 1937 Hobson Hotel 6,661 2 6 1938 Hotel Cargen Royal Mail Hotel, Paeroa Whakatane Hotel 32,848' 6 9 33,787 16 2,559 7 6 lit 1940 Grand Hotel, Rotorua 2,349 15 3$ Palace Hotel, Rotorua 1,436 5 oj 1941 Ambassadors Hotel 500 0 0 1943 Rob Roy Hotel 552 17 11 259,694 8 5 172,874 3 1 * Half purchase. t One-flfth interest. t Freeholding.