Magistrate Warns Hotel Licensee

Northern Advocate, 18 May 1943, Page 5

Magistrate Warns Hotel Licensee

“Your good-nature is liable to get you into, serious trouble. You have four convictions, and if you come here again for any breach 1 will have to consider taking action respecting your licence.” This warning was given by the magistrate (Mr Raymond Ferner) in the Whangarei Court to James Lewis Nelson, licensee of the Commercial Hotel, Mangawai, who pleaded guilty to unlawfully sellling liquor at a time the premises were required to be closed. . _ Going to the hotel at Mangawai. Constable A. R. Rimmer had found Nelson supplying two bottles of beer to another man, said Senior-Sergeant A. Henderson. This man, the licensee had explained, was not a regular customer but had been suffering the effects of drinking the previous night and had pleaded for some liquor. Nelson taking pity on him. Except, for three previous convictions against Nelson the hotel was well conducted. Remedy For “Hangover” Appearing for Nelson, Mr. L. A. Johnson said that the man concerned had Jjbeen obviously suffering from a “hang-over” and had been in such distress that Nelson had taken pity on him and supplied him with two bottles of beer. The constable had paid about 25 visits to the hotel and had found it to be well conducted. As far as the last conviction against Nelson was concerned, in September of last year, this had been when a new section of the regulations had been invoked and, much to Nelson’s surprise, it had been ruled that 1 a licensee could not supply liquor to his own bona fide guests, this privilege being confined to lodgers. Nelson was fined £ls with 12/- costs. Drunk On Wine The man concerned in the previous case, Arthur Graham, did not appear to answer a charge of purchasing liquor when the premises were required to be closed. Evidence was given by Constable Rimmer that when he visited the hotel on Sunday, April 25, he had found Graham at the back door with the licensee, Graham having two bottles of beer in his possession. In a statement to the police Graham admitted going to the hotel to purchase beer and said he had done so because he was suffering from the effects of having been drunk on wine the previous night. Graham was fined £2 with costs. Outside Town Hall

Possession of intoxicating liquor in the vicinity of The Whangarei Town Hall where they were attending dances was charged against eight servicemen. Henry George David White and James Phillip McWatters, two soldiers, were handed over to the army authorities to be dealt with while Bernard Joseph Thomas Chapman, Geoffrey Edward Moore. Frederick Joseph Hanfling. William Garth Harwood, Lindsav David Hutto'n and George William Lewis, all air force, personnel, were handed over- to the military authorities. All the cases were adjourned by the civil court, the magistrate asking that copies of routine orders containing sentences should be sent to the*civil court.