BREACHES OF LICENSE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 81, 3 October 1923, Page 6

BREACHES OF LICENSE

PROSECUTION AT LOWER. HUTT.

The visit of the Lower Hutt police officers, Constables Kelly and'lA-ost, to the. Taita Hotel on 17th August, resulted in ten charges under the Licensing Act being heard before Mr. E. Page, S.M., at Lower Hutt to-day. There were four charges of selling after hours, one of keeping open after hours for the sale of liquor, and one of selling to a youth under 21 yeaTs of age, all against the licensee, Mrs. L. M. M'lnness, and a charge of being found on licensed premises after hours against R. G Mason, F. G. Hally, K. J. Greville, and A. F. Leslie. The evidence of the police was that on Friday, 17th August, at 9.10 p.m., they visited the .Taita Hotel, remainih K outside until 10.40 p.m., when the licensee opened the front door to let out two of the accused, Mason and Halley. These, when accosted by the police, admitted' having each .bought a bottle of beer, which was found in their possession. On these charges the men and the licensee all pleaded guilty the licensee being fi ned & and 7% costs on one charge, and costs only on the other, while Mason and Hally were each fined ±■1 and 7s costs. • :

After getting statements from these men the po ice entered the sitting-ro^m of the hotel and found there Greville and Leslie, each with. a gl ass of liquor before them. In these cases the defence was that the men had arrived about 9 10 p.m. on a motor-cycle from Wellington on the way to their homes in Trentham. butihat the roads bemg yery rough they decided to stay the night at the hotel* and when the police arrived, they were bona fide lodgers and entitled to receive liquor. , ■Hi,?' ■th te/J2' !ec« ti? n ' Seni°r-Sergeant Bird-quoted the finding of Mr. Justice Hosking in the case of Monnyhan v Andrews, which stipulated that a mere contract to supply lodging was not sufficient to show that a person was really a lodger, but that actual evidence of his being a lodger must be given. After hearing the evidence of all the parties, the Bench held that the' men had not established that they were lodgers, and it seemed reasonable to believe that had the police not arrived, the men would have travelled the other six miles to, their homes in Trentham. The road was not so bad as to cause them to stop, after having come all the way out from Wellington. At the request of Mr. J. J. M'Grath, who appeared for the defence, the Bench fixed the fine against the licensee at £5 Is and costs, in order to allow for an appeal. On the second charge of supplying, Mrs. Sl'lnnes was convicted and discharged. The two men were each fined £1 and 7s coats. The charge of keeping open after hours was withdrawn, by the police,' and the charge of supplying a youth under 21 years of age adjourned to Wellington.