LIQUOR AFTER HOURS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 92, 28 March 1922, Page 6

LIQUOR AFTER HOURS.

CHARGE AGAINST LICENSEE.

At the Napier Police Court yesterday, before Mr. R. W. Dyer, S.M., Peter J. Murniug (Mr. Dolan) pleaded not guilty to selling liquor after hours. The case was one following charges heard last Monday in which three men were convicted of being on hotel premises after hours. The defendant is licensee of the Clarendon Hotel. The police evidence was that the licensee had provided drinks from a private bar to the men in the office. The licensee told the jiolice the liquor was for boarders The police did not see an actual sale or money pass. The Magistrate declined to dismiss the charge on the grounds that nothing resembling a sale had taken place, after hearing the evidence for the prosecution. Evidence was called for the defence to show that the defendant believed two of the men were to have been boarders, and were waiting for the proprietor’s wife who was arranging shakedowns as all the usual 22 rooms were full. While the men were waiting he offered them a drink as a kind of salve for the waiting. He was a new man in the hotel and did not want to offend his customers or any prospective customers. He did not sell one drink to the three men concerned that evening. After hearing the evidence the magistrate decided that there was not a satisfactory’ explanation, and there was prima face evidence of a transaction, m the nature of a sale. A conviction was entered. Fined £lO, costs 7s. The license was not endorsed. Security for appeal was fixed at £2O 7s.