HOTEL LICENSEE AND WIFE FINED

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 126, 25 February 1928, Page 26

HOTEL LICENSEE AND WIFE FINED

LIQUOR SOLD TO INTOXICATED MAN.

Percy Haywnrd, licensee of the Forresters’ Arms Hotel, pleaded not guilty in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to selling liquor to a person already in a state of intoxication, while Marguerite Hayward, his wife, entered a similar ptea to a charge of having supplied liquor to the man in question The police evidence went to show that when two constables entered the hotel at 5.10 p.m. one day they found a man named Johnson leaning over the counter, in a state of intoxication. He was trying to lift a. mug of beer to his mouth but was in such a condition that lie could not do so. Mrs. Hayward stated to them, however, that Johnson was not drunk, but simply had a peculiar manner. He would always bend over the counter and take a. long time fo consume his drink. One. of the constables got the man to walk out of the hotel, which he did unsteadily. Johnson was later arrested on a charge of drunkenness, and convicted in the Magistrates Court on the following day. ITe did not appear in the Court, but forfeited his The licensee and his wife staled that in their opinion Johnson was sober. He was a foreigner, and a man of very eccentric habits. When he was told to leave the hotel by the police he did so. walking quite steadily. The police might have mistaken his manners for drunkness He was very slow of - pencil, and would at times talk to liintself while bavin- a drink. He had been in the hotel lor nearly an hour, and was only having his second drink when the police arrived. . Two other witnesses gave evidence to the effect that Johnson was sober when the police entered the bar. The Magistrate (Mr. W. G. Riddell) said that on the evidence he would have to convict the two defendants. They may have had an honest opinion in servin'' the man when he was intoxicated, but at the same. time the police did not make a habit ot arresting people for drunkenness if they were sober. Several constables and the watchlioiise keeper had given evidence that Johnson was intoxicated, and the Court proposed to believe them. The police had often walked through the hotel before ahd had found nothing to complain of. As the mistake in seining the man might have been a genuine one, it did not seem a very serious offence. Each of the defendants would be fined £2 and costs.