Control Commission Sits

But the decision on what form the liquor outlets would take and where they would be located, lay with the Licensing Control Commission. It sat in May 1973 but because there was legislation before Parliament it could not do anything.

Six months later it sat again and because of strong advocacy from the breweries it authorised the building of two hotels as well as the three taverns that were proposed The breweries argued that there was a need for hotels because of the acute accomodation shortage in the area, whereas all the Trust wanted to do was to supply the immediate needs in the form of locally acceptable bottle stores and taverns.

But the people would still have to vot on who would operate these outlets, and this meant another long wait. In fact it was nine months before a suitable returning officer could be found, with the vote finally taking place on October 8, 1974.

The electorate at this stage firmly voted for Trust control. But, once again, as soon as the result was declared there was a call form the Western Park Tavern for a magisterial recount. They produced the required 50 people, who were prepared to testify to voting irregularities. But when the roll was checked by the Trust's solicitors, it was discovdered that seven of them did not live in the district.