Before the 1960s, New Zealanders had a limited choice both of venue and of food if they wanted to dine out. Restaurants, cafes, dining rooms of hotels, tearooms, coffee shops and oyster bars served up a narrow menu of grilled meats and hearty desserts.
New Zealand's first elections were like small-scale replicas of those in Britain. Once the returning officer had set a date for the nomination of candidates, a temporary wooden stage, known as the 'hustings', was erected in some prominent public place.
Temperance was one of the threads of philosophy brought out to New Zealand with 19th-century settlers, along with many other aspects of British life and culture. The temperance movement had emerged in Britain and the United States early that century.
In mid 1947 there were rumours that the price of beer was about to rise. It was a decision that no publican wanted to take alone because customers might move to another hotel where prices were lower. So the local branch of the Licensed Victuallers' Association (LVA) on 29 September 1947 announced that the price of a 10-ounce beer would increase immediately from 6d to 7d in all West Coast hotels. Publicans were issued with posters saying 'All beer 7d'.