BROKEN BEER BOTTLES

Grey River Argus, 27 March 1928, Page 2

BROKEN BEER BOTTLES

LEADS TO COURT CASE. A STILLWATER MISHAP. He who would not come in contact with the law among other things must not throw bottles, no matter what they contain, nor no matter in what spirit the bottle is thrown at a train, for it is an offence. Thomas Hartigan Rogers on the 14th day of February, 1928, was in his car at Stillwater when the Otira train came in. The day was hot, exceedingly so, and in a spirit of benevolence, and no doubt with a knowledge of the pangs of thirst ho threw a bottle of beer to a friend who was standing on one of the carriage platforms. Either the pass was bad, or badly accepted and the bottle was shattered on the platform. The loss of the liquid would in itself appear to bo misfortune enough, but evidently it was not Thomas Hartigan’s lucky day, for the eagle eye of E. A. Le Fevre, a railway employee who was on duty at the time, saw the inedient, with the result that a charge was laid against Rogers, the hearing of which came up before Mr W. Meldrum, S.M. at the Magistrate’s Court. Some slight hitch arose at first as to the date of the offence, but it was finally decided that February 14 was the day. The defendant did not appear. E. A. Le Fevre gave evidence that he was on duty on the day in question and he saw defendant throw the bottle to some one on the train. The bottle did not reach the hands of the man standing on the carriage platform, with the result that it dropped on to the platform and broke. A copy of the rgulations dealing with this offence was handed to the S.M. who remarked smilingly that “the bottle was thrown for a mate to catch and was not thrown at the train, which appeared to be a different thing.’’ Defendant was fined 5/- with costs amount ing to £l.