OUT OF HAND

Evening Star, Issue 23354, 25 August 1939, Page 8

OUT OF HAND

AFTER HOUR LIQUOR SALES SIXTY MEN FOUND IN BAR [Pee United Peess Association.} WELLINGTON, August 25. Mr Luxford., S;M.. in dealing with ft charge of liquor selling out of horns, said there was no doubt the sale of liquor in licensed premises in Wellington was getting out of hand. The facts showed that at the time of the raid there were about 60. jnen ia the bar. Mr Lnxford remarked that prosecutions brought by the police every Friday disclosed- that after-hour trading was becoming' a usual thing, instead of exceptional. ; The case was against Thomas Wolfe, licensee of the Imperial Hotel, and before imposing sentence the Magistrate asked to see the registr. Later he said he nad decided not to endorse the license as the defendant came before the court as a first offendter, and there was a clear record against the hotel. He imposed a fine of £lO.

“ Where.there is a specific law,” said Mr Luxford. “ the court cannot countenance deliberate breaches of that law.” ' He said that the whole facts negatived counsel’s explanation, and in any case it showed a lack of control, lack of management, and) lack of responsibility that was quite inexcusable. Counsel’s explanation was that defendant had gone to bed early with influenza, leaving the hotel in charge of an employee. Shortly before the police arrived he was informed that the. bar was full of men. _ He and his wife dressed, and he was actually ordering the men but when the police entered. 'The police statement included on* that there was a scout out.