ALLEGED SALE OF LIQUOR

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25629, 19 October 1948, Page 3

ALLEGED SALE OF LIQUOR

OF OTAGO i GOLF CLUB I I MAGISTRATE RESERVES DECISION (P.A.) DUNEDIN, October 18. William Thomas Wight, secretary and the professional of the Otago Golf Club, pleaded not guilty in the Magistrate's Court this morning to a charge of selling liquor without a licence. The police stated that when a visit was made to the premises at Balmacewan at 6.15 p.m. on September 18, they found about a dozen men in the sitting-room drinking liquor. There were empty bottles on the tables. A cupboard acting as a counter had £3 5s 6d on it, and inside were three dozen bottles of i ale and three empty spirit bottles. Counsel for the defence (Mr A. J. H. Jeavons) asked that the charge be dismissed. It had not been proved, he said, that the liquid found by the police in the bottles and glasses was alcoholic liquor, and there was no proof that a sale had taken place or, if a sale had taken place, that Wight had made the sale.

Counsel contended that under the "honour” system there was no sale within the meaning of the licensing regulations, and added that Wight was not present when the police made their inquiries. Mr J. D. Willis, S.M., said he would reserve his decision while he examined the authorities quoted by counsel.