SLY GROG IN OAMaRU.

Feilding Star, Volume II, Issue 321, 19 July 1907, Page 4

SLY GROG IN OAMaRU.

THE LOCKER SYSTEM. TRADESMEN IMPLICATED. Oamaru, July 16. The Magistrate's Court was occupied this afternoon with the hearing of a number of sly grog cases, which, implicating several well-known tradesmen and the proprietor of- the Queen's Hotel, have aroused an unusual amount of local interest. The cases have not their origin in the usual police raid on a suspected house, but instead are the result of a lengthy investigation carried out by special officers from the head office of the Canterbury police district, in which Oamaru is situated. It appears that about the end of May last a young policeman, whose name is Chant, came down from Christchurch and lodged at Tansey's Hotel under the name of Weston. He represented himself as an American on the look-out for suitable land in the Oamaru district, where he purposed settling, and he became friendly with a number of young men in the town. A number of sporting men lodge at Tansey's Hotel, and Chant became intimate with these. One day he asked one of them where he could most conveniently procure whisky. He was told Glenavy. He asked if he could not get it at any place in town. The other man said no but another young fellow named Wallace, standing by, remarked that it could be procured in Oamaru, and he asked Chant what quantity he required. The constable replied that he wanted one bottle of whisky for himself and one each for his two companions. Wallace agreed to supply them with the liquor, and later on he met them in the street with the three bottles wrapped up in a parcel, which they purchased from him for 18s. On other subsequent occasions Chant purchased bottles of whisky from Wallace. One night Wallace said he did not have any whisky when applied to by Chant, but he gave Chant an order on a shopkeeper named M'Bryde, and received from Chant 6s in cash. Chant took the order to M'Bryde, and received a bottle of whisky. Having established a connection with M'Bryde, he visited the latter's shop on other occasions after the first night, and bought whisky there. Chant had been sent from Christchurch with instructions to discover if possible whether illegal dealing in liquor was being carried on by the young men of Oamaru, as was suspected by the local police, and also to inquire into the locker system which was carried on by the proprietor of the Queen's Hotel. He became intimate with a number, of men who leased lockers in the Queen's and frequented the bar in which the lockers were installed. He noticed peculiar features about the system. A man would lease a locker, and a mimbtvr of other men, evidently by arrangement with the lessee, had access to this locker and its contents at all times. One locker the constable particularly noticed. Its owner kept it well stocked with liquor, and as it was seldom locked anyone had access to it. The Christchurch office was applied to for further assistance, and another constable named Cudby was sent down to Oamaru. This mail boarded at the Queen's Hotel under an assumed name, and gave the whole of his attention to the lockers. He found the "same peculiar features in the system that were noted by Chant. Thereupon the facts were reported, and the local police raided the premises and discovered that the proprietor of the hotel held the keys of twenty-two out of the thirty lockers that were in use. He did this by consent of the lessees, who applied to him when they required their keys. The proprietor had access to these lockers at any time. When liquor arrived at the hotel in bulk, consigned to any of these lessees, from Dunedin and elsewhere, he opened the man's locker and stowed the liquor therein. That the system might lend itself to abuse was evident, so the police pursued their investigations further by examining the Court and railway returns, which show the amount of liquor sent by rail into the Oamaru district. The information disclosed by these was somewhat remarkable, of which the following is an example: — The locker system in the Queen's Hotel came into use about the Ist of June last. Four men, it was shown, between 9th April and 31st May, received altogether from outside the district a little over three gallons of whisky; while the same four men, who took lockers in the Queen's Hotel when the system was inaugurated there, between them received from the 31st May to the Bth of July nineteen and a half gallons of whisky and forty-one gallons of beer. A number of the local police visited the hotel on the 9th July and demanded the keys of the \ockers from the proprietor, who gave them up. The greater number of the lockers were examined, and a list of their contents was compiled. The Christchurch constables left Oamaru about the end of Juno, and as a sequel to their investigations charges of illegally trafficking in liquor were laid against Wallace, M'Bryde, and White (the proprietor of the Queen's Hotel). These were heard in the Magistrate's Court to-day, and Wallace and M'Bryde were each fined £10, with costs amounting to over £2. The case against White, who pleads not guilty and who is defended by Mr E. P. Lee, is not completed, and this evening it was adjourned till Friday on tho application of the prosecuting solicitor (Mr Lucas). It is expected that further interesting information relating to the locket? system will be divulged by the witness Chant, who has not yet been examined. A local lawyer expressed the opinion to-day that if the present case makes clear the abuses to which it lends itself an Acfc will possibly be passed through Parliament this session which will either restrict or totally abolish the locker system, which is now in vogue in most of the Nolicense towns.