A SUDDEN CALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 220, 14 September 1923, Page 7

A SUDDEN CALL.

ON HOTEL PREMISES. LICENSEE FUMED TEN POUNDS. WITNESS WHO WAS "IN THE WIND." On a charge of trading on a Sunday. Allien Neville, licensee ol the Alexander Hotel. Federal Street, appeared in tlie Police Court ibis morning before .Mr. .1. W. i'c.MUon. S.M.. and was fined £ln. For keeping open on a Sunday he Was convicted and discharged. Mr. McVeagh represented defendant. j The case arose as the resuli of a visit lo the ho-.e! on the night of Sunday. August mi. by Sergeant Joyce and Con- ; stable MeWhirter. Their evidence was; that they waited for a time, out of sight I of the hotel, till they judged the constable on beat duty to be past the premises. : They then ran along the street and met the licensee at the Kingston Street door. Sergeant Joyce intimated that he wished to inspect the premises. The licensee weni upstairs by himself. Afterwards, ! in company with defendant, the sergeant inspected the upstairs liar, which was in order, and also the downstairs bar. While the latter was being viewed ( onstable McWhirter was standing in il orridor. anil he saw a man pop his I head in at a door, giving access from a side corridor to the backyard. The head was Quickly withdrawn when the tint- ■ form was seen. Thereupon the two olli- i errs went into the yard, which was coin- | pletely enclosed with an iron fence se\en feet high. To reach the street from the road one bad to climb two fences. A man was found in a shed in the yard with six bottles ol" beer bulging ' his "pockets. Later be informed the police that he had bought them from the licensee ol" the hotel at a .-hilling per bottle. After leaving the premises the police returned, and found three bottles in a sack in the shed where the | man was found. Mr. McVeagh cross-examined Sergeant ; Joyce: Why did the licensee go upstairs?— Well, if you want to know, in order to get rid of bottles of beer he . had in his pocket lor three men wailing at the doorway. | Mr. McVeagii: That is only hearsay] evidence. ! In cross-examining the constable, Mr. t McVeagii asked if the main bar was ; empty. The constable replied that Ser- | geant Joyce had remarked. "Yes. it"s empty, but they could have gone out the j side door." "THREE SHEETS IN THE WIND." ' One of those witnesses who occasion- ' ally provide humour of the unconscious ■ variety was then called by Seuior-Ser- | geant Raw !e. He described himself as a carter, and resided in Grey Street. ! Answers to the sergeant's questions ' came very slowly and quietly. "On I Saturday night i was three sheets in I the wind, and on Sunday night I was a bit in the wind." he said. (Laughter.) He had "a slight idea" of the Sunday night tinder review. He clearly remembered being in the back yard of the hotel, trying to dodge She police. "From whom did you buy the liquor" queried the Senior-eSrgoani. "Off the man what give them lo mc." (Laughter, i "And who was that ':" "Dunno." "(an you see him in Court?" "That gentleman there" (indicating defendant i. ! Mr. MeYengh: You seem pretty hazy about this night. j No response. "How much did you drink at home on i Saturday afternoon':" i "That's a hard question." Reflective .pause, then: "I had a three-gallon jar. | (Jot it at 4 o'clock. Saturday, and it was all gone bhv 10 a.m. Sunday.'' ■•What did you do on Sunday afternoon?" "I was sleeping off the effects. I i think." 1 "The point is. can you trust your ; memory when muddled with so much drink:"'' "1 dunno. hut T do remember being caught with ten bottles of beer!" Pressed further, the dreamy witness said "it was possible, but not probable" that he had bought the liquor elsewhere. "Did you go into any other hotel that night?" "Yes. 1 think I did. after that." | Mr. Poynt.m. S.M.: What: After the I police had caught you": "Yes. but 1 don't remember where!"' I (Laughter, i Mr. McYeagh submitted there was no ! ca=e. He did not call evidence. A conviction was entered in both cases.