SEQUEL TO TRAGEDY

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1928, Page 3

SEQUEL TO TRAGEDY

HOTELKEEPER FINED.

(Special to “Star.”)

CHRISTCHURCH, December 6.

In the Magistrate’s Court to-day, Grace Ann Moore, licensee of the Heathcote Arms Hotel, and Joseph Lewis Gestro, barman at the hotel, •each faced three charges of having served liquor to persons under 21 years of age. Sub-Inspector Fitzpatrick prosecuted, and Mr C. S. Thomas appeared for the defence. The Spb-Inspector said that four youths, three under the age of 21, went to the Heathcote Arms Hotel late on the afternoon of Saturday, November 17. After getting drinks, they set out for Taylor’s Mistake. Three of them arrived there, but the fourth, named William James Mowbray, did not, his body being found at the bottom of a cliff.

Bruce Lionel Heatley, shop assistant, aged 17 last April, said that he and his companions met at the Heathcote Bridge, by an arrangement which had been made previously, and went to the Heathcote Arms Hotel. They obtained drinks from the private bai’ off the passage. For the first round, witness had a medium shandy. He could not say whether the person who served them was a man or a woman, because there was a fairly large crowd present. Witness had four more drinks, making three shandies and two portergaffs. He had not ordered the drinks. They had been brought to them by others, including Mowbray. To Mr Thomas: On the day in question witness would be wearing older holiday clothes.

Mr Thomas asked witness to put on a slouch hat, which was produced, to see how witness looked. There was laughter when the slouch hat was seen to cover not only witness’s head, but his eyes and nose as well. Finally, witness was requested to put on his own hat for a moment.

Mr Thomas: Without wanting you to give anyone else away, I should say you had had shandies at other times? Witness: Yes. Mr Thomas: It is usual for anyone going to bach for a week-end to be able to sink a shandy. “Drinks of shandy,” corrected the IVT ag I s i* te • Mi- Thomas: I beg your pardon, your Worship. Leslie Palmer Smith, of Cashel Street, said he was aged 19, and was employed by a motor firm. He gave evidence along the lines of the previous witness’s evidence.

Gerald Belmont Goodenough, a clerk, eighteen years of age last January, also stated that he could not remember whether they had been served at the bar by a man or a woman. They then went to Taylor’s Mistake, but witness was not sure whether one bottle of beer had been taken with them.

Sergeant Kelly gave evidence that Gestro, upon being interviewed by the police, said he was the only person in the bar at the time. The bar was very busy. Gestro could not remember’ whether he had served the youths. Constable Bosworth, stationed at Woolston, admitted to Mr Thomas that the hotel had been considered a hard house. Mrs Moore had done a great deal to improve its condition since she had been there.

The Magistrate: That is within the knowledge of the Court. Addressing, the Court, Mr Thomas said that the present case was taken out of the usual setting because of the unfortunate happening which followed. What happened at the inquest should not be allowed to influence the Court. The case was somewhat of a phenomenon if‘all the witnesses were truthful. It rested with the prosecution to prove who had served the liquor. The youths in their holiday attire would look older than they appeared in Court.

The Magistrate said it was evident that the young men. had been supplied either by the barman or the licensee. If they were supplied by the barman, the licensee was responsible. The three youths were mere boys, and the onus rested on the person supplying liquor to ascertain that boys were over the age. In a rush, some slight excuse might be found, but not in law, which was always very hard. The Magistrate said he would be sorry to see a conviction against the licensee, who was trying to pull the hotel together. The matter was made more disastrous by the death of young Mowbray, whose death was due to the amount of liquor he had obtained, at that hotel or elsewhere. The licensee would be fined £3 with costs for supplying Goodenough, £3 with costs for supplying Heatley, and ordered to pay costs for supplying Smith. The charges against the barman would be dismissed without prejudice.

“You have brought convictions against an otherwise innocent, woman.” warned the Magistrate, in addressing the boys. “Don’t forget that in future.”