AFTERNOON TEA.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 62, 14 March 1911, Page 2

AFTERNOON TEA.

IS IT A NECESSITY?

SUPPLY ON SUNDAY.

(N.Z. Times Special.)

AUCKLAND, March1 8. Whether or not it is legal for the proprietorsl of tea-rooms and small shops to supply other people who find themselves a#ay from their homes on Sunday with afternoon tea, ice cream, strawberries and cream, and such other light refreshment as may be available, is a question which the police sought to have decided some six or eight weeks ago. In order to do so they laid informations against a number of proprietors of tea-rooms in and around the city. When the cases came on for hearing on February 10th it was arranged that one case, that of Police v. Cross and Rahmann, priprietors of the. Islington tea-rooms, in Customs Street, should be heard as a test case, Mr Cutten,

S.M., reserved $|S decision* which he delivered to-day. The following is ; the judgment, slightly abridged:— ! "The defendants axe prosecuted ,[ under section 17, of the Police Offen- & ces Act for supplying refreshments tfo :$ customers on 1 Sunday. oec«t^bn v 17, in aiming to, prevent unnecessary work ; on Sunday, uses language extremely i wide.. There is a proviso to the sec- i tion, however, which- .i.eiipfessly exenipts s from its operation works of necessity or charity^ and a number of other works specially mentioned. It is contended for the defence that it too strict an interpretation be given to the.words of the section it will lead to results that are obviously absurd. For example, the work of hotels, boardinghouses and restaurants is not expressly exempted, and unless the work of these businesses is held to be a work of necessity or charity persons dependent upon such places for their meals will go without food on Sunday. So, too witH stables. Driving carriages and cabs is expressly exempted from the operation1 of the section, but the use ot such must be very limited unless either the horses are to work unted on Sunday or keeping stables open to feed them is to be considered a work of necessity or charity. PREPARATION OF MEALS A NECESSITY. To get over the difficulties raised by ibbese considerations it has been decided in America that preparing needful food for man or beast is a work of necessity or charity. A perusal of the authorities quoted, by counsel sho,ws that the word necessity in the Acts dealing with, Sunday trading does not mean an absolute or physical necessity/ but a moral fitness and propriety of the woris; done in the of the particular case; and, further, that whether or not a particular act will come within this I extended meaning of the word 'necessity' is a question of fact. The question to be decided here then is whether, giving this extended meaning to the word 'necessity, 3 the supply to customers of refreshment such as afternoon tea is a work of necessity. •'. ' DEFINITION OF MEALS. ■» There i$ no difficulty in admitting that the supply of ordinary meals ttf persons in hotels,, bdardinghpuses and restaurants is a work of necessity in this sense. Indeed,, to ■ decide others wise would lead tc&y<eiults never conf templated by the fr,amers. of, the Act^ Is there, then, itny'logical-distinction between the act if supplying a dinner in a restaurant and the act of supplying afternoon tea in a refreshment .topm-P For the prosecution it is contended th4t the supply of afternoon tea,, strawberries and cream, and such like1, cannot by any. reasonable interpretation of the words of the section be considered a 'work of necessity.' On the other hand, the defendants contend that the word 'necessity' should be interpreted to mean, 'reasonably convenient and needful, having regard to the methods and manners of the people.' . "So long as the work is restricted to the supply of refreshments fox . consumption on the premises I do not see, baying once extended the mean- ; ing of the word 'necessity' to cover the supply of meals, upon what logical principle the line can be drawn anywhere m short of giving the word • the meaning the defendants contend it should have. My views of the matL ter is that the courts having been , driven to hold that # the supply of ; meals to persons requiring them is a work coming within the meaning of , the phrase 'worE^jof necessity,' no good end wilL bel bttained by an en- > deavor to ascertain what particular i meals and what kinds of refreshments are needful to people and what are not."

His Worship dismissed the informations.