SUPPLYING OF LIQUOR

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 12, 14 July 1939, Page 11

SUPPLYING OF LIQUOR

MAGISTRATE'S VIEW

SAFETY ON THE ROAD

HOTEL RESPONSIBILITY

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

HAMILTON, This Day,

The responsibility of hotel licensees in relation to the supply oi! liquor to motorists was. referred to by Mr. S. L. Paterson. S.M.? at the Hamilton Police Court when giving decision in a case in which a hotel licensee was charged with selling liquor on Sunday.

Mr. Paterson said that the evidence was of a somewhat grave .nature. Not only was the liquor sold after hours on Sunday, but it was supplied to two young men who were not in a sober condition and who were in charge of a car. The toll of life levied by the reckless driving of intoxicated motorists was a matter exercising the minds' of the responsible authorities in New Zealand. It was incumbent on hotel licensees, in common with other members of the community—and, perhaps, having regard to the privilege and monopoly enjoyed by licensees, their duty was, somewhat heavier —to assist in this matter by refusing to supply motorists who were obviously unfit to drive, and particularly by refusing to supply it in unauthorised hours. Mr. Paterson said his experience was that in no inconsiderable number of cases intoxication in charge of cars occurred during hours when licensed premises were required to be closed. In many of these cases the liquor might have been obtained during authorised hours; it might have been obtained) from sly grog-sellers. The defendant was fined £5 for selling liquor after hours and a conviction was ordered to be recorded on the register of hotel licences.