LICENSING CHARGES

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30058, 16 February 1963, Page 13

LICENSING CHARGES

Akaroa Man Fined £l5

Charges of being unlawfully on licensed premises .after hours against five of seven persons found in the Grand Hotel, Akaroa, on January 18 were dismissed by Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court ait Akaroa. The five persons were David. Ernest Owen Woodill, Doris Woodill, Ronald Alfred Miller, Joyce leobel Miller and John Tainui. They were represented by Mir J. G. Leggait, and pleaded not guilty. The licensee, William James Chambers, also represented by Mr Leggat, was convicted and fined £l5, the police aaying that he had had four previous convictions. Lloyd Robert Todd and Louis Patrick Walker, charged with being unlawfully at the hotel after hours, were each fined £3 with costs.

Sergeant V. F. Townshend, who prosecuted, called Constable J. Rudhall, who said that when he visited the hotel at 10.50 pm. on January 10, Todd and Walker had no excuse to offer. Tainui was listening to the radio with the licensee, and the Woodills and the Millers were in the private bar. Tainui, said Constable Rudhall, admitted that it was “a fair catch,” and both WoMUI and Miller admitted that they had paid for drinks, and did not claim to be guests of the licensee. As they were leaving, Miller handed Chatoben a IQs note which was lying on the bar. To Mr Leggat, Constable Rudhall said he did not then know that Miller had been a hotel licensee at Lyttelton, and that both he and Chambers were members of the committee of the Canterbury Hotels Association. When Mr Leggat expressed surprise that Miller had said he had bought liquor, Constable Rudhall replied: "He told me, all right”

Paid For Liquor Mr Leggat told the Magistrate that Tainui had placed a bet for Chambers on the night trots at Auckland, and had called at the hotel to confirm the bet, and to listen to the running of the last race. The Millers and the Woodills were guests of the licensee, and would deny that they had bought drink*. Tainui had bad two drink*, paid for by Chambers. Tainui, Miller and Woodill gave evidence along these lines, and each denied that he had paid for drinks. Chambers, in evidence, said that he had paid tor the liquor consumed by his guests. Chambers denied in crossexamination that he had asked Constable Rudhall to drop the charges. When asked why he had not told the constable that those concerned were his guests, he said: "It was one of those things. I thought I would be all right without claiming them as my guests.” The Magistrate said that the defendants were not required to prove their story beyond reasonable doubt, only to show that it was probable. He did not doubt the constable’s evidence, but three persons of repute had given sworn evidence to the contrary. In the circumstances, he did not think the case against them was proved beyond reasonable doubt, and the explanation of Tainui also stood up. The charges against the Woodills, the Millers and Tainui would be dismissed.

Chambers was then charged with selling liquor after hours. He pleaded guilty. Charges of exposing and opening for sale were withdrawn. Chambers was convicted and fined £l5.