ILLEGAL TRADING

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 98, 23 October 1934, Page 8

ILLEGAL TRADING

SUNDAY ENTERTAINMENT

£15 FINE IMPOSED

(hy Telegraph— Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, This Day

Convicted on each of six charges of Sunday trading, Douglas Palmer Claridge, proprietor of Claridge's Country Club, was fined a total of £15 and costs in the Police Court this morning. Claridge was charged on six counts with keeping an open house known as Claridge's Country Club on different Sundays for tho purpose of transacting business. Tho case was heard on October 11.

In a reserved judgment Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., described Claridge's premises as "an alleged club," and said he did not attach any legal importance to tho allegation that it was a club. Mr. Mosley said he considered that Claridgo, by providing an entertainment show on Sundays, as was shown in evidence, was transacting his business within the meaning of the Act.

The Magistrate added: "It is noticed, that tho alleged rules of the club do not appear to have ever been adopted. No mention is made of the adoption in tho minutes of tho meeting taken on August 31, 1933, being tho date of the alleged adoption. The minutes as taken do not appear to bo a proper record of the proceedings. It is also noticed that an alleged member of the club may take in three male visitors, together with partners. These visitors indulge in dancing, drinking liquor, and the consumption of refreshments."