LIQUOR IN CLUB

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 75, 30 March 1943, Page 4

LIQUOR IN CLUB

PROPRIETOR GAOLED SELLING CHARGE SUCCEEDS "The defendant has been carrying on selling liquor in contravention of the law, and ,in my opinion, all he has done in the way of analysis was to furnish himself with an alibi," said Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday afternoon, when he convicted Henry Robert Kennedy, proprietor of the Shortland Club, on a charge of selling liquor without a license on March 9. The defendant, who appeared on summons and pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to one month's imprisonment. Two employees, Angus Mclnness, barman, and Donald Charles Fountain, porter, similarly charged, were each fined £5. They also denied the charge. When" the hearing commenced a fortnight ago evidence was given by two policewomen that they visited the club with escorts and purchased a concoction of wine and apple juice which was sold by the glass. A sample of this liquor was found, on analysis, to contain,about 14 per cent, of alcohol. Mr. J. F. W. Dickson, who appeared for defendants, submitted yesterday that Kennedy had for over two years conducted a respectable club which had the approval of, and was patronised by, respectable people. Kennedy, in evidence, said he had previously sold a type of beer which was less than 3 per cent alcohol and was sold in shops as a soft drink. Patrons suggested to him that he sell a wine with a similar percentage of alcohol. .He had the idea of mixing grape juice and wine, and he obtained the services of an analyst, L. S. Spackman, to determine the ratio of grape juice to add to the wine to give the desired low alcohol percentage. When the supply of grape juice had run out he used apple juice instead, and he submitted the wine and apple juice to the analyst in order to obtain the correct ratio of mixing. "I did not for a moment think I was breaking the law, as I thought the portions I was mixing were all right," said Kennedy. - L. S. Spackman, analyst and chemist, said he had given Kennedy instructions as to how to mix the beverages in order to produce a drink with not more than 3 per cent of alcohol in it.