OPEN AFTER HOURS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 88, 11 October 1934, Page 4

OPEN AFTER HOURS

LICENSING OFFENCES

A visit paid by the police on the night of August 18 to the Provincial Hotel, Upper -Hutt, was described by Senior-Ser-geant G. Sivyer in the Upper Hutt Court yesterday, when charging Harry Marshall, AATlfred Ralph; and Jack Fothergill with opening licensed premises after hours for the sale of liquor. Mr. J. G. L. Hewitt, S.M., was on the Bench. Mr. A. J. Mazengarb entered a plea of guilty on. behalf of the three defendants. The police withdrew charges of exposing liquor for sale. . ■. Senior-Serge.ant Siyycr-'said that at,9.15----p.m. on, August 18' Constables Joss.I'!and Stewart visited the Provincial Hotel. They noticed the licensee (Marshall) com-ing-out of a room connected witli the bar, and they asked him if there was anyone' there. He showed thetn, two men in the room, but said there was no one in main bar. The bar was iv darkness, but when they 'opened the door there Was a "scatter." Four men . were seen, but they were not identified. Two. barmen were behind the bar, and there were glasses on the bar, one containing liquor. Precautions had been taken against discovery, a. towel being placed under-the door to prevent the light showing. The licensee was'fined £5 in October, 1033, for selling liquor after hours,' and iv April of last year he was fined £2 for a similar offence. Mr. Mazengarb admitted that it was a "fair catch." The. occasion was a Saturday night, always, a "big night" in a small town. The hotel was well run, apart from the offences mentioned by the seniorsergeant. The times were somewhat hard, and as the present licensee had notice to quit and had not done anything in recent months, ho was more or less forced into after-hours trading. Ralph was the barman, and Fothergill just happened to be behind the bar. Marshall was fined' £5, and Ralph and Fothergill £1 each. For being found unlawfully on licensed premises after hours one man was fined 30s and two others £1 each.