HOTEL LICENSEE CHARGED

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21324, 17 November 1934, Page 6

HOTEL LICENSEE CHARGED

DECISION RESERVED BY MAGISTRATE VISITORS AND GUESTS (FSBS9 ASBOCUTIOB TELEOBAM.) AUCKLAND, November 16. "Hotelkeepers are not clairvoyants into the inner intentions of visitors posing as bona fide guests, and if a conviction is made in this case licensees in Auckland will be placed in an Impossible position," said Mr J. F. W. Dickson, counsel for the defendant, when Albert Edward Neville, licensee of the Ambassadors Hotel, appeared in the Magistrate's Court on three charges of opening licensed premises, exposing liquor for sale, and selling liquor after hours. The house porter at the hotel, Donald Wilson, was charged with aiding and abetting. Pleas of not guilty were entered. Mr Dickson submitted that if a man entered hie name as a lodger, gave his address, and affirmed his intention of staying the night at the hotel, the licensee had no alternative but to accept him at his word. He could not see into the man's own mind. The magistrate (Mr F. K. Hunt) suggested that the licensee might ask a man for his board money first. Mr Dickson: That would be a piece of impertinence. It is not done in Auckland. He added that even if, at the worst young men booked in to stay at a hotel over the week-end merely for the sake of drinking, that would be perfectly legal if they were bona fide lodgers. Mr Dickson suggested that the aourt should not let itself be swayed by allegations made by the New Zealand Alliance, but should judge each case solely on its merits. The defendant said in evidence that all the men he booked in said they were going to stay the night. It was! unusual to demand board in advance. Mr Hunt: So a man can go into a hotel, get a meal, drinks, bed; and breakfast, and then next morning say he has no money? Witness: He pays for his liquor as he goes along. Mr Hunt: Is the rest thrown in? . Mr Dickson: If your Worship is going to ask questions like that, I had better abandon the case. Mr Hunt: As you please. In reply to a further question from Mr Hunt, the witness said 22 men had been booked for that night, and only two had not stayed. Judgment was reserved.