LIQUOR AFTER HOURS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 19

LIQUOR AFTER HOURS

PAEKAKARIKI HOTEL

VISIT BY POLICE

;-.Wlieri a party o£ police from Wellington visited "tHe Paekakariki Hotel on Sunday ' afternoon, ■ 13th October, a number of wen were found on the premises, some holding glasses of liquor. <s- Their names were taken,' and yesterday, with the licensee o£ the. hotel, Gerald John liacGormac, they were charged before Mr. E. Page,.S.M., in the Magistrate's Court. /.> fi, charges deaiu,Bt MacCormac were: (1) Allowing liquor to be consumed after hours; (2)' exposing liquor for sale; (3) opening for sale after hours; (4) and selling liquor after hours. Edith Eleanor MacCormac, wife of the licensee, was also charged with having supplied liquor after hours. ■Ten .of those charged with having been found unlawfully on the' hotel did not appear; four others pleaded not guilty. Sergeant Paine said that he visited the hotel in company with Constables Warren and Long. All were in plain clothes Constable Warren entered the hotel by the back door, and witness and Constable Xiong by the front door. Sergeant Paine then gave evidence as to the parts of the hotel where the defendants were found. As soon as he entered the hotel he heard Sidney Boulton, William Williams, and another man talking about having a drink. Harold Gordon Bly was in the private bar with two men named Lane and Payne, and they air had liquor. While witness was in the bar a Dalmatian named Joe Kacich, came in. When asked what he ■wanted, Kacich said he had come in for a "spot." After taking the names of those in the bar witness went out into ' the passageway, where he saw Alfred Bateman with a friend named Barnett Bateman said he had come for a coat, arid on hearing this the licensee handed Bateman a coat, and he went away with Barnett. THE THREE THIRTEENS. "Your number is 13?" asked Mr. W. P.erry, counsel for the licensee and his •wife and.two other defendants. "Yes," replied the sergeant with a smile, "and the date was the 13th, too, and there were 13 men in. the room." . .. -•'With regard to the charges against the licensee,' and his wife, to which pleas of not, guilty were entered, Sergeant Paine said he saw MacCormac and Mrs. MacCdrmac standing behind the bar slide. MacCormac was in his shirt sleeves, and several of the men had glasses of liquor. Asked later if he wished to say anything about the amount of trading he had .been doing, MacCormac said he had nothing to say except that he had not been;in the bar and had not.served any liquor. MacCormac maintained that his \rife had been jn the bar alone, andvthis statement was supported subsequently by Mrs. MacCormac. , • Constables Long and Warren also said that when they went into the commercial room they saw the licensee and his wife behind the bar slide. The defence was that on the afternoon of the.raid Mrs. MacCormac wate sitting in the office with her husband 'and her sister. While she was there a boarder named Morgan came to the door and asked whether he and another boarder named Richmond, arid sonic friends could have a drink. Mrs. MacCormac said they could, and she then went into' the bar and lifted up the slide, Morgan, Richmond,' and the friends going into the commercial room. Morgan called for drinks, and they were _ supplied by Mrs. MacCormac. It -was contended that" apparently while Mrs. MacCormac had her back turned getting the drinks, four other men'came in, and they were riot seen' by Mrs. MacCormac until the police came into ■ the commercial room, bringing with them three men found in the passage. Mrs.: MacCormac maintained that her husband was not in the^ bar when the drinks were supplied. . i UNSATISFACTORY FEATURES. 'In giving his decision, the Magistrate ■aid he'fbund the whole of the evidence on behalf of the defence unconvincing. The licensee's^pwn and his wife's acr count pf" what happened'•■• seemed to him to have /unsatisfactory features. He had come to; the conclusion that the police had established the charge against the licensee's wife. The proper deduction to be drawn, he thought, was that liquor was unlawfully: sold by Mrs. MacCormac on the Sunday afternoon. With regard to the licensee, he considered MacCormac was liable for his wife's acts, and he proposed to' convict him on the charge of having exposed liquor for sale. .Regarding the question of penalty, Senior-Sergeant Ward, who conducted the prosecution, said that'the visit was paid to the hotel as a result of complaints having been received from the district. He understood that MacCormac, when in the Hawkes Bay district; had been convicted for selling, and his license on that occasion had been endorsed. .'■' Mrs. MacCormac was fined £5 and costs, arid on, the charge of having exposed liquor for sale, MacCormac was fined £10 and costs. Senior-Sergeant Ward withdrew the other charges against MacCorinac..:.;..- , < On a charge of having. been found unlawfully on the premises, the following were each fined /£2 and costs: Charles Major Barnett, Alfred .Collins Bateman, Harold Gordon Bly, Sidney Boulton, William Boyd, Victor Carroll, Donald Thomas Cross, v Thomas Patrick Lane, Harold Hoare, Joe JCacich, Alfred Charles Payne, . William Williams, and William Henry Wilkes. A similar charge against Frank Marshall, a printer, was dismissed. Bar--'nett was also fined £2 for giving a false name and address.