APPEAL DISMISSED

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21245, 17 August 1934, Page 5

APPEAL DISMISSED

WOMAN FINED £IOO ON OPIUM CHARGE U'IIBSS ASSOCIATION TBLIiQaAII.) WELLINGTON, August 16. Without calling on the Crown to reply, Mr Justice Ostler to-day dismissed an appeal by Mary Greathead from her conviction by Mr W. F. Stilwell, S.M., on a charge of permitting her premises to be used for the storage, or concealment, of prepared opium. The fine imposed by Mr Stilwell was £IOO. The allegations which were held to have been proved were, shortly, that Mrs Greathead, who was the mother of two sons, who were employed on the Monowai, dropped a brief bag out of a window when a police raid was made on June 30. The bag contained 78 tins of prepared opium, stated to be worth about £350. A parcel of opium seconds was also found on the premises. One of the sons was lined £IOO for being in possession of prepared opium and the other £5 for being unlawfully in the possession of an automatic pistol and ammunition, which, together with the opium, were confiscated. Mr Justice Ostler said that it seemed to be clear that Mrs Greathead knowingly permitted the opium to be concealed. He amended her conviction by deleting the word "storing," after remarking that he appreciated counsel's subtle argument as to "store" and "conceal," which was too subtle to his mind. * . . . =3