ILLICIT STILLS

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25581, 24 August 1948, Page 8

ILLICIT STILLS

TWO MEN CONVICTED AT AUCKLAND IMPOSITION QF FINES (P.A.) AUCKLAND, August 23. On charges arising from the discovery of the illicit manufacture of liquor in a garage at Epsom,’ fines totalling £375 were imposed on two men in the Magistrate’s Court to-day «by Mr H. Jenner Wily, S.M. Owen Robert Thomas, aged 40, a builder, was charged with having in his possession two stills, 14 partly full and full gallon jars, and 48 bottles of spirits on which duty had not been paid. Jack Rayner, aged 48, a carpenter, was charged with knowingly conveying spirits on which duty had not been paid. Both were charged with keeping liquor for sale without a licence. Both pleaded guilty to all the charges. The police said that when Rayner’s motor-car was stopped on August 6 in Epsom, 84 bottles of distilled liquor, some with the labels of a well-known brand of gin. were found. Rayner admitted he was acting as sales agent for Thomas. After locking up Rayner, the police visited a house at Epsom, where Thomas, who is single, lived with his mother. The police found two stills in the garage and 221 rations of spirits. Thomas admitted he had been making and selling liquor for six months. After hearing pleas by counsel, the Magistrate said Rayner had served a term of imprisonment in 1944 for keeping liquor for sale, but, in view of his health, he would not be imprisoned this time. He would be fined £75 on the first charge and £25 on the second. Thomas, a first offender, was fined £125 on each of the two charges under the Distillation Act, and £25 for keeping liquor for sale. All the plant and liquor are to be confiscated.