AN ACTOR'S BEER.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 181, 2 August 1929, Page 10

AN ACTOR'S BEER.

CAIXED FOR AT 10.30 P.M. HOTEL LICENSEE FINED. Because he forgot about three bottles of beer which an actor ordered from his hotel on a recent Saturday afternoon and handed them over after his hotel closed, instead of before 6 p.m., E. P. Coyle, licensee of a city hotel, was fined £2 and costs this morning, at the Police Court on a charge of selling liquor after hours. Mr. R. S. McVeagh appeared for defendant, who pleaded guilty. Sub-Inspector McCarthy said) an actor who was appearing at His Majesty's Theatre on Saturday, July 20, at 3.30 p.m. ordered three bottles of beer, and paid the licensee for them. The actor could not find time to call back for his liquor before the hotel closed, and he accepted delivery at 10.30 p.m. the same day. The licensee had been very frank about the whole matter. Mr. McVeagh said there would have been no prosecution had the licensee labelled three bottles when they were first ordered and left them for the purchaser to collect. The offence was created because Mr. Coyle forgot all about the'transaction. When the actor called, defendant obtained the beer from tho bar. Counsel said that the case was one of the cleanest of its kind he had ever had. The. licensee had told the truth about the matter and been candid all through. As the breach was really only a technical one, he asked the magistrate to deal with it under Section 92 of the Justice of the Peace Act. In fining defendant £2, Mr. Hunt said he could hardly do what counsel had asked. Tho actor was also- fined £2 and costs for. being found on licensed premises after hours.