NO "OPEN DSESAME"

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 9, 10 July 1931, Page 8

NO "OPEN DSESAME"

LODGER IN HOTEL

DRINKS FOR FRIENDS

That the law does not allow a lodger in an hotel to become a means of access whereby other people may , reach the liquor in a hotel during closing hours was made clear by Mr.- E. Page, S.M., to-day, when delivering his reserved judgment in. the case in which Myjes Barrington Williams was charged with having aided, assisted, counselled, and procured the commission of the offence of two men being found after hours on licensed premises. The facts, said the Magistrate, were not in dispute. The defendant, who was a' lodger at *the Prince of "Wales Hotel, met a friend in the street near the hotel after closing hours on sth June Jast, and was introduced to a third man who was with the friend. He afc onco invited • the two of them to conic into the hotel to have a drink with him. Inside the hotel , he: found another friend of his, and the four men went into the bar and were supplied with liquor. The" defendant and the fourth man left the hotel very shortly afterwards, . leaving -the other two men in the bar. The police arrived, and, finding these two men in the bar, subsequently prosecuted them, for being unlawfully on the premises, and they were convicted. ' After dealing with the law on the point, Mr. Page said that the foundation of the right of a lodger to entertain his guests was based upon the fact that the hotel is for the time being the lodger's home, and, as a reasonable attribute of such a position, the lodger might entertain his friends there. •'The law does not, however,": he said, "enable-a lodger to become a mere means of access—a kind of 'Open Sesame' —whereby his thirsty friends and casual .acquaintances and others may roach tho liquor in a hotel during closing hours. "In the present case it seems to me clear that the two men in the street were invited, and went into, the licensed premises for the sole purpose of procuring liquor. I think, therefore, that they were unlawfully on tho premises and that,' as the defendant aided, assisted, counselled, or procured their unlawful presence there, he must be convicted on the present charge.". "Williams was fined &". Remarking that the case was of some importance to licensees, Mr. W. Perry, who appeared for the defendant, asked for security for appeal to bo fixed. The amount was fixed at £7 7s.