Massey’s alcohol sale mishap

Massey University is plugging a gap in its liquor practices, after finding serving drinks on campus except at Wharerata is not allowed.

The university has applied for a variation of its liquor licence to make it legal for the Wharerata caterers to host functions including the serving of alcohol anywhere on Palmerston North’s Turitea campus.

Massey spokesman James Gardiner said it had only recently been discovered that the footprint of the licensed premises was restricted to Wharerata’s building and grounds.

While the restaurant, cafe, event and function catering business was permitted to cater other venues around the city, it could not technically sell alcohol anywhere else at the university.

‘‘Now that we are aware of the loop hole, we need to close it.

‘‘We do not want any further technical breaches to occur.’’

He said it appeared the licence conditions had been breached over many years whenever Wharerata catered for functions including alcohol at university venues such as the Sir Jeffrey Peren building or at departmental functions.

‘‘There are some events coming up that we will try to relocate to Wharerata so there is no further breach, or we will not be able to sell alcohol at those events.’’

Palmerston North City Council district licensing inspector Sue Mitchell said the new definition of Massey University’s licensed premises would include almost all of the campus, including the Sport and Rugby Institute, but exclude the student hostels, and the farms.

She said the application to vary the licence conditions made sense, and was about correcting an anomaly. The deadline for objections is November 23, and she expected the application would be able to be referred to the District Licensing Committee for approval the next day.