Folkestone Herald
18-12-1920
Friday, November 17th: Before Dr. W.J. Tyson, Mr.
G.I. Swoffer, Mr. G. Boyd, Mr. W.J. Harrison and Miss E.I. Weston.
Albert Taylor, landlord of the Brewery Tap, was summoned for
a breach of the Shops Order. Mr. A.F. Kidson prosecuted, and Mr. V.D. De Wet
appeared for the defendant, who pleaded Not Guilty.
Mr. Arthur John Wort said at 6.10 p.m. on Wednesday,
November 21st, he visited the defendant`s house. He asked for a
packet of cigarettes, and he was served by the defendant`s son with a 6d.
packet.
Cross-examined, witness said defendant`s son and he had
played football together. He did not know him personally as he did not speak to
him in the street. (Laughter)
Mr. De Wet submitted that the Order did not apply to
licensed victuallers. They were exempted under the schedule which exempted
other trades. The licensed victuallers were never asked if they wished to be
exempted from being allowed to open on Wednesday afternoons. Were 110 licensed
victuallers, not consulted, to be bound by a three-fourths majority of the
tobacconists?
Defendant was fined 10s.
Mr. De Wet said this was a trade affair, and he asked the
Magistrates to state a case, which request was granted.
Gertrude Florence Lucas (True Briton Hotel) and Ernest
Mainwood (Harbour Hotel) were each fined 10s. for similar offences.
Folkestone Express
25-12-1920
Local News
On Friday morning at the Police Court summonses were heard
against three defendants for a breach of the Shops (Closing) Order, for having
sold cigarettes on a Wednesday afternoon, which day is the recognised half day
holiday for shops in Folkestone.
The Magistrates were Dr. Tyson, Mr. Swoffer, Councillors
Miss Weston, Boyd, Mumford, and Harrison. Mr. A.F. Kidson (Town Clerk)
prosecuted, and Mr. De Wet defended.
Albert Taylor, licensee of the Brewery Tap, was concerned in
the first case heard, and Mr. De Wet pleaded Not Guilty.
Arthur John Wort said he visited the Brewery Tap about 6.10
p.m. on the 24th November, and asked for a packet of cigarettes. He
was served by the defendant`s son, Albert George Taylor. He paid sixpence for
the cigarettes.
Cross-examined by Mr. De Wet: No-one was in the bar when he
went in, and defendant`s son was behind the bar, and he thought he took the
cigarettes from a shelf. He used to play football in the school team with
defendant`s son. He did not know him personally – he did not speak to him in
the street. Mr. Pearson went to the door, and he gave him the cigarettes.
Mr. De Wet submitted that the Order did not apply to
licensed victuallers. They were a class which were exempted by the very
schedule the Town Clerk had referred to. Licensed victuallers were not
retailers of tobacco and smokers` requisites. Had all the 110 licence holders
to be bound if they were not consulted for the purposes of securing a
three-fourths majority of what they were not – retailers of smokers`
requisites? He asked the Bench to hold that the case was not applicable to
licence holders.
The Bench retired, and on their return to Court the Chairman
said the Magistrates had decided to convict, and the defendant would be fined
10s.
Mr. De Wet said it was a trade offence, and asked the
Magistrates would agree to state a case.
Mrs. Lucas was summoned for the same offence.
Mr. De Wet said the case was similar to the other, and he
must plead Guilty, with compunction.
A.J. Wort said he visited the True Briton, and was served by
Mrs. Lucas with a packet of cigarettes.
Fined 10s.
Ernest Leonard Mainwood was similarly summoned, and A.J.
Wort said he visited the Harbour Hotel about 6.15, and purchased a packet of
cigarettes, for which he paid 6d.
Fined 10s.
Editorial Comment
Probably we have not heard the last of the licence holders
and their action concerning the sale of tobacco on the early half-closing day.
The penalty inflicted on Friday last was not a severe one, but it shows they
are breaking the law if they serve to their customers after the hours for the
sale of tobacco. It, on the face, appears unjust, that when those hours were
fixed by the Town Council, following a request by the tobacconists of the town,
that the licensed victuallers were not consulted as to their wishes. If they
had been the voting would doubtless have been different to what it was. It seems
an anomaly that at Cheriton and Sandgate cigarettes and tobacco can be
purchased on the early half-closing day, yet on the Folkestone side of the boundaries
a smoker, if he has run out of his choice weed, will have to wait until the
following day before he can enjoy his pipe or cigarette again. There are always
officials ready to pounce on innocent offenders, but to the man in the street
it seems strange that so much time can be devoted to pin-pricking tradesmen,
who are endeavouring to make an honest living, yet at the same time such danger
spots as that brought to the light of day by an inquest held last week are
allowed to exist in a civilised community and in a fashionable town like
Folkestone. It would be of interest to learn what action the Sanitary
Department took in that particular matter.
Folkestone Herald
25-12-1920
Editorial
Bumble oracularly declared that “the law is a hass”. It is
not unlikely that many people, after reading the reports of the cases in which
three licensed victuallers were fined for the heinous crime of selling
cigarettes on Wednesday afternoon, expressed themselves in a similar fashion.
We make no reflection upon the Folkestone Magistrates who heard the prosecutions.
The law being as it is, they probably felt they had no alternative but to fine
the defendants. At the same time they would have shown a greater appreciation
of the fitness of things by imposing a mere nominal penalty of one shilling.
But the amount of the fine is not a very serious matter one way or the other.
The material point is the state of things in which it is an offence for a
publican to sell a cigar, cigarette or tobacco after one o`clock on Wednesday.
One satisfactory result of the proceedings is that the Magistrates consented to
state a case, and, as we understand, the licensed victuallers intend to take
steps with a view to securing the removal of this gross anomaly. We are firm
believers in law and order, but when the application of the law leads to such a
pass as this we venture to suggest that it is time to enquire whether there is
not some error either in the application or in the law itself.
The cases were the outcome of the operation of the Shop
Hours Act, containing provision for the closing of shops one half day in every
week. That measure allows a certain amount of latitude to tobacconists. They
are set apart in a class distinct from shopkeepers generally; they are under no
obligation to shut on the customary closing day unless a two-thirds majority
petition the Town Council to make an order that they shall do so. That is what
happened some years ago. The tobacconists wished to come within the scope of
the general order, and the necessary majority memorialised the Corporation accordingly.
But – and this is a big “but” – the licensed victuallers, who are also
tobacconists, were not consulted in the matter at all. Yet they are expected to
conform to an order in the making of which they had no voice! Could anything be
more unfair? Simple justice and common sense alike dictate that either they
should be regarded as “tobacconists”, and therefore consulted before the order
is applied to them or they should not be affected by the order. Licensed
victuallers are, indeed, provided for by legislation as a separate class, and
they are hedged about and harassed by many restrictions from which other
traders are immune. They have therefore the stronger claim to consideration in
this matter.
Possibly the result of the case to be stated by the Justices
will be a decision that they cannot be regarded as coming within the scope of
the order. If not, then it must be hoped that the powers that be will rule that
the publicans must be classed as “tobacconists” in so far as the matter of
petitioning the local authority for an order is concerned. In justice to the
tobacconists it must be said – so we are informed on good authority – that the
majority of them are not opposed to licensed victuallers and cinemas selling
cigars, cigarettes, or tobacco on Wednesday afternoon. But it is not merely the
tobacconists or the licensed victuallers who have a claim to be heard on this
subject. The public generally has a voice in the matter, and many people
consider it is a serious grievance that they are debarred from purchasing their
smoking materials at hotels and public houses on Wednesday afternoons when the
ordinary tobacconists are closed. True, smokers living at Morehall, at
Cheriton, at Sandgate, and at Hythe can get what they want that afternoon from
the ordinary cigar stores, these being open for business as usual. Viewed in
the light of this fact, the state of things at Folkestone is a still greater
anomaly.
There is another aspect of the case. We are convinced that
it is detrimental to the interests of Folkestone as a health and pleasure
resort that the tobacconists as a body close on Wednesday afternoon, especially
in the summer. If, however, they elect to close, they are free to do so. But
let those who wish to meet the convenience of the public by supplying them with
cigarettes and the like and also the public itself be likewise free to do as
they wish. Let us have freedom all round.
Comment
The recent prosecution of certain licensed victuallers and
the Managing Director of a cinema, for selling cigarettes on Wednesday
afternoon has been the subject of much comment since the cases were reported in
last week`s Herald. The state of affairs is anomalous in the extreme. Whilst an
innocent cigarette is forbidden to freedom loving Britons in Folkestone on
Wednesday afternoons, he can cross the border either to Sandgate or Cheriton
and purchase all he desires in this respect. Surely it is time that steps
should be taken to bring about some alteration.
With the object of securing the views of “The Trade” on this
subject a Herald representative waited on the Chairman of the Folkestone and
District Licensed Victuallers` Association (Mr. Rivers) at the Victoria Hotel,
Risborough Lane. Unfortunately he was confined to his room through
indisposition, but he kindly sent a message through his daughter to the effect
that it was a most absurd position that a body of about a dozen men (an
insignificant minority) should be able to control a majority as was done in
this case.
Mr. Albert Hart, the energetic Secretary of the Licensed
Victuallers` Association, on being asked his opinion on the subject,
emphatically replied “Absolutely rotten. In the first place I should think the
Health Committee of the Town Council would be doing a good thing if they
directed Inspector Pearson to get on with his duties as Sanitary Inspector,
instead of hiding up behind walls and doors whilst a boy is utilised to trap
honest traders. Here is the situation. Some time ago about fourteen members of
the tobacco trade (if indeed there was such a number) asked the Council to
apply the provision of the Shop Hours Act to the tobacco trade in the borough.
Now the enforcement of the Act means that 300 licensed tobacco dealers in the
town are prevented from selling tobacco in any form after one o`clock on Wednesday”.
In answer to another query, Mr. Hart said “Yes, it applies
to hotels and restaurants. All liberty-loving Englishmen revolt at such a
situation, and they revolt also at the methods employed in order to secure a
paltry conviction. We as a trade – combined with other tobacco licensees –
intend to take steps to secure the revocation of this absurd application of a
law, which was never intended to apply to the tobacco trade”.
Our representative also interviewed the manageress of a
large hotel, and she kindly showed him her written instructions that tobacco
could not be sold in any licensed house after one on Wednesdays, nor after
eight p.m. on other days, with the exception of Saturday, when the hour was
extended till nine. It was possible if a chance bar customer ordered a meal to
secure a cigarette or cigar, but as to what constituted a meal there was some
doubt. Some men, she remarked, could make a good meal off a hunk of bread and
cheese, whilst another would probably require several courses to make up a
meal. Hotel guests cannot be served after the hours mentioned above unless they
are sleeping in the house.
The Manager of the Leas Tobacco Company, Sandgate Road, said
it was necessary in the interests, not only of the trade itself, but the public
generally, that the vexatious restrictions should be swept away. It was
intolerable that an insignificant minority should rule, as in this case.
Folkestone Herald
26-2-1921
Felix
The Mayor (Alderman Reginald G. Wood, J.P.) at the recent
Licensing Sessions, after congratulating the local “Trade” on the manner in which
they had conducted their business, expressed the hope that the time would come
when the Continental cafe system would be introduced into England. And anyone
who had had experience of that system will agree with him. At the Elham county
Licensing meeting, Sir Clarence Smith, the Chairman, after noting the good
report of Superintendent Castle, amongst other things, suggested that licensed
victuallers, in order to meet a demand, should supply teas. Whether Mr. E.L.
Mainwood, of the Harbour Hotel, had been reading these remarks I cannot say,
but within the past few days he has launched out as a licensed victualler in
the true sense of the word. And I understand his effort has been crowned so far
with success.
Mr. Mainwood`s action deserves more than passing notice. Our
friend (who at one time conducted a boarding house in Langhorne Gardens) has
provided an example of what it is possible to do as a “victualler”. He opens
his establishment on the stroke of ten, and for those who need the beverage
there is tea, coffee, Bovril, and the rest, and also a big choice in the way of
eatables, from the homely crust of bread and cheese to the home made sausage
roll. And this kind of thing goes on all day during “closing hours”. If a
supper is required, there it is. This particular hotel being opposite to the
termini of the buses to Cheriton, and in close proximity to the Harbour, the
idea has “caught on” immensely. Mr. Claude Garling, at the Clarendon Hotel, is
also one of those who believes in providing this supplement to the ordinary
business. This new departure is one that might be emulated, according to the
needs of a neighbourhood, and because it is a step in the right direction. I
give this matter some prominence. If Mr. Mainwood`s example was followed more
generally, then the members of the “Trade” would be doing more good in the
direction of promoting pure temperance than all the “Pussyfoots” in the world.
Folkestone
Express 10-9-1927
Obituary
We regret to have to record the death on Sunday, at his
residence, 11, Limes Road, of Mr. Thomas Cornelius Hall, at the age of 63
years.
The late Mr. Hall, who was very well known in
Folkestone, and highly respected by a large circle of friends, was for 18 years
proprietor of the Harbour Hotel. He was also a director of several local
companies. He was a keen sportsman, and was the founder of the Wingate Cricket
Club, being the treasurer of the first Folkestone Cricket League.
The funeral took place at the cemetery on Wednesday.
Folkestone Herald
10-9-1927
Obituary
We regret to announce the death on Sunday at his residence,
11 Limes Road, of Mr. Thomas Cornelius Hall, at the age of 63 years. Mr. Hall
was a well-known and much respected figure in the town, particularly in the
neighbourhood of the Harbour, and enjoyed the friendship of a large circle. His
manner endeared him to all, and his passing is much regretted. Much sympathy is
extended to the widow in her bereavement.
For the past eighteen years he had been the proprietor of
the Harbour Hotel (sic), and prior to that he was, for a considerable period a
steward on the cross-Channel boats. He was a director of several local
companies, including the Central Picture Theatre and the Folkestone L.V.
Mineral Water Company.
The funeral took place at the Cemetery on Wednesday.
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