A BOTTLE OF BEER

Franklin Times, Volume XXX, Issue 91, 18 August 1941, Page 3

A BOTTLE OF BEER

LEADS MEN* INTO TROUBLE VISIT.TO DANCE PROVES COSTLY FINES AND COSTS TOTAL'£I4 5s A bottle of beer opened and consumed in a hotel, in the home, in the office "or on the job, costs a shilling or two, but take the same bottle to a spot in the vicinity of a dance hall when a dance is in progress and it might prove and does often prove to be a very expensive stimulating beverage. Many young men have found this out longago but beer is still taken to dance halls. On June 28 Constables Horne and , Johnston, of the Pukekohe Police 4 Station, visited the' Mauku hall and■soon after their arrival saw a bottle reflecting the lights. They approached the spot from where the reflection came and .there found two young men, Frank Jakeman and Richard James Naismith. Jakeman had the bottle in his possession. When questioned Naismith admitted giving the bottle to Jakeman knowing him to were told to the Magistrate, Mr F. H. be a> half-caste Maori-. These facts Levien. at the Pukekohe Court on Wednesday by Sergeant T. Kelly, when the two men appeared to answer the following charges : Jakeman was charged with being in possession of liquor in the vicinity of a dance hall at Mauku while a dance was in progress, and with aiding and abetting Naismith in the commission of an offence, that of supplying liquor to a native for consumption off licensed premises. Naismith was charged with having liquor in his control in the vicinity of the Mauku hall while . a dance was being held, and with ' plying liquor to Frank Jakeman, a native, for consumption off licensed premises. Both Plead Guilty The defendants pleaded guilty fo both charges.

Naismith, when questioned by the magistrate, said he knew he was doing wrong. The beer was not being consumed. Me had been at the dance for only half an hour and the beer would not have been in his possession had someone not given it to him just before.

The Magistrate to Naismith: You knew perfectly well that you shouldn’t have done what you did. You get no cheers for it and no one comes along to assist you to pay the line. Although you weren’t drinking I lie beer, the drinking of it ultimately might have caused similar trouble to that in the same hall a fortnight previously. The penalty might have been severe had it been shown that the beer was the cause of someone being injured in a fight. Mr Levien said the young men of the district should know by now that they could not take liquor to a dance. Jakeman was convicted and lined £2 10s and 15s' costs on the first charge and £3 and 10s costs on the second, and Naismith was convicted and fined £2 10s and costs 10s for the first offence and £4 and 10s costs on the :second count —a total of £l4 ss, rather -a -costly bottle of beer.