EXCELSIOR HOTEL RAIDED.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18253, 11 December 1924, Page 5

EXCELSIOR HOTEL RAIDED.

LICENSEE CONVICTED. As a result of,a police raid on tlio Bior Hotel during Carnival .Week, ■ Thomas Tansey, the licensee (Mr O. T. J. Alpers), appeared and pleaded guilty. -before Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M.. yesterday, to charges o£ having sold liquor after hours, having exposed liquor for Bala after hours, and 'having kept his licensed premises open after. foouM. . , The evidence of tlio police -was to the eSect that, at about five minutes past nino o'clock 011 Show night—Sfovsmber 12th-two sergeants and two constables visited the hotel. One of tho constables' superior oflicera went to tho front entrance of the hotel, where lie discovered Hie licensee apparently nn «mard. When. Tan=ey observed the sergeant, he ran "around tho sido of the T" laco fcTgivo warning. When he «mved at the door, which would give him access to his house, he found two constables m tho entrance. "I'm too late!" he exclaimed ana the police entered the hotel. thirty and forty persons were found loitering :n and around the private bar. Many of then wero drinking and tome were under tlw mfiuenco o£ liquor. Glasses half-idled with intoxicating boverages and oti?r», empty but Tvct. were found on the bar counter. Laneey's son and his eon's wife wr.ro behind the bar dispensing iho liquor. (Pao Afagistrate remavked that iho son '' as perhap onlv endeavouring to increase the parental friendship, "Not a had idea, either -he added; "it might come in handy some day. ) The Kxcelsior Hotel had Kiven the police a Rood deal of trouble at different times in tho past, and it pleased the sub-Inapectoi of Police (Mr A. Cameron) to know <hat tho licensee liad not put up a defence which, had he dono so, would probably have 1-cl (o someone committing perjury. Counsel for the licensee said his client was not a bird of passage, for he had been in the liauor trado for 25 vcare and had stuck to his job in several parts of the South Island. Ho intended to retire from the business at tho end of this year, and it was regrettable that ho should end twentyfivo years' work with a conviction. On Show night, when the offences wero committed, his house was "chock-a-block • iuil ot lodgers all of whom had a perfect right to be Eerved with liquor, but other men who had no right, but who had told the barman that they were lodgers, had also | ooen served The houso was very difficult, to manage, for it was continually besieged by many men at all hours. Counsel asked the Magistrate to take into consideration tie fact that Tansey had never been convicted before. His Worship said that Tansey waa entitled to the fact that he had never been convicted, but it ended there, for the fact remained that a number of people had been found in his hotel. Many men went to the place and it was suspicious. Storeys and Coker's Hotels wcie very near the Kxcelsior Hotel, and vet they were "never continually besieged at" all hours" by men m search of liquor after hours. Tho house had caused tho police a considerable amount of trouble at one time aixl another,, and it was known to have an unsavoury reputation. Probably it was the unsavoury reputation that made men besicgo it at all lioura. All tho men had been found in tho private b;ir. the situation of which was very unsatisfactory, for there wens far too many doors ne3r it, and when there was a crowd caught in it by officers it was possible lor some oi the guiltv ones to get away. Had Tansey not been going out ot tho business at the end of tho present month, ho would acrioualv have considered tho matter of endorsing his publican's license. Peopla must know that such illegal trading was not allowed in Christchurch. He would convict ajid inflict a substantial monetary penalty. Tansey was convicted and fined £lO on each of thre9 charges. His son. Cyril Grafton Tansey, who was also represented by M■■ Alpeis. and who admitted having sold liquor after hours, he being a person other than the licensee, was convicted and fined 403 and cost 3. The Magistrate said, aa stated above, that he did not think that the defendant had done anything other than endeavour to increase his friendship with, his father.