LICENSEE AND GUEST

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 May 1943, Page 4

LICENSEE AND GUEST

FULL COURT’S DECISION WELLINGTON, May 21. A question whether the liquor given by a licensee on his licensed premises gratuitously to a bona fide guest, by way of hospitality or entertainment, constitutes a supply of liquor within Regulation 3, has been answered in the affirmative, by three of four Judges comprising the Full Court, who recently heard a police appeal on the subject. The respondent was Daniel Sloan, licensee of a Wellington hotel. According to Chief Justice Myers, an offence was committed when liquor was supplied in the circumstances of the case, and similarly the guest committed an offence if he consumed the liquor. In his view, to hold otherwise than that an offence had been committed would be to ignore what he considered the plain meaning of ordinary English words, and disregard the very strong current of English and Scottish authority. He could not think it possible to read the regulation as meaning that every guest of a licensee was one to whom the licensee was permitted to supply liquor a guest was not permitted to consume. That would be too sardonic a joke to attribute to the author of the regulation. He was conscious the result of his conclusion was that a licensee of a hotel was prevented /from entertaining his guests as other /citizens were allowed to do in their ! private houses, but these regulations | were emergency regulations, and one (must assume this result was intended, I and that there must be some good reason for it.

Judges Smith and Johnston agreed. Judge Blair differed, and the appeal was allowed on a majority decision, the case to be remitted to the Magistrate with direction to convict.