SOURCE OF ILLICIT WHISKY

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 123, 19 February 1944, Page 8

SOURCE OF ILLICIT WHISKY

Evidence In Court Case

THREE MEN JAILED

Steps taken by the police to discover the source of illicit whisky being distilled somewhere near Wellington, and distributed from here to Auckland and other parts of New Zealand, were mentioned in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday, when Reginald Charles Fitness, 28, butcher, Cameron Smith, 38, slaughterman, and Ernest Keith Pateman, soldier and former finance company manager, were sentenced to 21 days’ hard labour, a month’s hard labour, and 14 days* jail respectively, for keeping intoxicating liquor for sale “without a licence to sell it. Pateman was before the Court earlier in the week, and appeared yesterday only for sentence. There were frequent references by Mr. W. Heine, counsel for Fitness and Smith, to the part of a man named Behan, of Auckland, and formerly of Wellington, who had been convicted of having uncustomed cigarettes in his possession. Sentencing accused, Mr. Stout, S.M., said that from what had been stated the police had not yet traced the source of supply. This might have been possible had Fitness and Smith told all they knew. A certain amount of this liquor, at least, was not fit for human consumption. He would order its confiscation and destruction. [There were 53 bottles in Court.] Chief Detective J. Thompson, the prosecutor: I should think so. It would blow your head off. Respecting Pateman, Mr. Stout said he must have known he was handling this class of liquor. He regarded Smith as the key man. Herbert John Wood, analyst, said a bottle of the liquor showed, on analysis, 69 per cent, proof spirit Detective-Sergeant E. H. Compton described a watch on a basement room in King’s Chambers, Willesden Street, when Patemen asked the other accused to supply 24 bottles. These were later found in the room. Subsequently that night Fitness was stopped and 29 bottles were found in his car. Smith was arrested at his home in Stokes Valley. Mr. Heine contended that Pateman had been used to trap the others. It was ridiculous to suggest that a former business man and licensed moneylender could be the agent for two men of the occupations of Fitness and Smith. To the prosecutor, Mr. Compton said that for a considerable time this type of whisky had been brought to Wellington in large quantities and sent to Auckland. Sergeant G. H. Callaghan said the basement room was watched through a hole specially made in the wall. Smith and Fitness spoke then of not having received a cheque from Auckland. One of them said, “I know what I’d like to do with a person like that.” When stopped later in his car, Fitness said, “I’m the mug; I’m just dropping it for another man.” _ , , Mr. Heine: Isn’t this man Behan, who has been convicted of having uncustomed cigarettes, the principal of Pateman? Witness: If you want an answer I would say that Smith is the principal. Mr. Heine: Then you suggest that a man who has managed one .of Wellington’s oldest finance companies could be duped by a butcher and a slaughterman. Detective W. Harper said that a fivegallon keg smelling of whisky was found in a garage in Witako Street, Lower Hutt, which Fitness and. Smith had visited on the night of their arrest. To Mr. Heine he said that Pateman was arrested last Tuesday, when 23 bottles were seized. Pateman had been seen six or eight months ago, but not about sly grogging. . . Constable H. Lisette, Criminal Registration Branch, said that a fingerprint of Smith’s was found on one bottle. Chief Detective Thompson said the police considered the whisky was brewed or distilled not far from Wellington. It was not, in his opinion, fit for human consumption. There was no doubt that Fitness and Smith were dealing with the supplier. , , , , For Pateman, Mr. Kent said he had been approached by B’ehan, who represented himself as dealing with hotels. He asked Pateman to consign goods to him, and this had been done openly. It was the discovery of Pateman’s statement to Behan, when the latter’s premises at Auckland were raided, which led to tlie inquiries.