A LEGAL CONUNDRUM.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVIII, Issue 58, 6 February 1928, Page 5

A LEGAL CONUNDRUM.

WHEN IS A BAR NOT A BAR? THE JUDGe7~“WHEN IT IS LOCKED.” CHRISTCHURCH, Feb. 4. When is a bar not a bar? was an interesting question raised in an appeal case before Mr Justice Adams. The appellant was Frederick Walter Edwards, police constable, and respondent Claude H. Piper, licensee of the Clarodon Hotel. Mr Donnelly said that the appeal was from a decision of Mr Lawry, S.M., who dismissed an information against Piper, licensee of the Clarendon Hotel. Piper was charged with having employed Stella Cadigan to serve in the bar, she nob being a licensed barmaid. The facts of the case were that on the night of August 19 last a lodger at the hotel named Bailey ordered some drinks for himself and friends who were visiting him. Mrs Cadigan was manageress of the hotel and was in charge when the licensee was away. On the night in question Piper was away from the hotel, and when drinks were ordered the porter went to Mrs Cadigan and asked her to get the liquor. When the police arrived at the hotel Mrs Cadigan was in the private bar behind the bar and the drinks were on a tray ready to bo served. In dismissing the summons the magistrate had held that the sale of liquor was to a lodger and not to any member of the public, and therefore the bar was not open for the sale of liquor within the meaning of the Act. The magistrate must also have held that it was not an offence to permit an unregistered barmaid to be employed in a private bar unless the bar was also open for the sale of liquor. Mr Donnelly said he wished to submit that the bar was open for the sale of liquor, that an actual sale of liquor was made, that Mrs Cadigan had opened the bar, that she made a sale of liquor, and that therefore she had committed an offence, and she was an unregistered barmaid. Mr Cuthbert submitted that on the facts it could not be said that the bar was open for the sale of liquor within the meaning of the Act. The 1910 Act did not aim at preventing a woman employed in an hotel from serving liquor. According to a decision by Mr Justice Stringer in a recent Christchurch case it is not illegal for a woman who was not a registered barmad, and who was not exempted under the Act, to serve in a bottle store while it was open for the sale of liquor to the public. His Honour: A bottle store is not a bar within the meaning of the Act. Mr Cuthbert submitted that a bar when it was closed for the sale of liquor to the public was not a bar in the legal sense.. A bar after hours became a pantry or storeroom for liquor. His Honour: The nature of the room changes with the sun? Mr Cuthbert: No; with the purpose for which it is used. His Honour: The answer to the conundrum, when is a bar not a bar, is when it is locked. Mr Cuthbert: When it is not open to the public. Mr Donnelly: The point in this case is that an unregistered person shall not serve as a barmaid when a bar is open for the sale of liquor. Mr Cuthbert: The point is whether the bar was open within the meaning of the Act. Decision was reserved.