ELEVEN CHARGES

North Canterbury Gazette, Volume 7, Issue 13, 25 June 1937, Page 5

ELEVEN CHARGES

Hotels Operr After Hours CASES IN RANGIORA Eleven charges concerning the serving of liquor after hours in the Junction (Rangiora) and Cust Hotels were heard by Mr E. C. Levvey, S.M., in Rangiora Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning. Four defendants pleaded guilty to being on the premises of the Junction Hotel at a* time when the premises were required to be closed, and each was convicted and fined 20/-, and orI dered to pay costs. They were: Frederick William Minchington, Percy James Pulley, Cecil John Palmer, W. I J. Bennett. John Robert Kaan, barman at the Junction Hotel, was charged with supplying liquor after hours to Minchington and Palmer, persons not entitled to be supplied. He pleaded guilty and I was fined £6 with costs. Martin Quirk, licensee of the JuncI tion Hotel, was charged with opening the premises after hours and selling liquor after hours. He pleaded guilty to both charges and on each was fined I £3 with costs. I Sergeant O. P. McEntee described a police raid on the Junction Hotel after hours. He had found the back door of the bar locked. He knocked, and the door was opened by the barman. He described signs that drinks were being taken. Two men said that they had arrived about 15 minutes earlier and had been admitted and served by the barman. Behind a partition he found two men —Bennett and Pulley—hiding. They said they had called at the hotel to procure tickets for a race meeting the next day from the licensee. The barman substantiated this statement. ! The licensee had gone upstairs to rest and had given the keys to the barman so that he could clean up the bar. He had not done so for any other purpose. Since he had been in Rangiora there had been no convictions against the licensee. He had had two previous convictions, in Dunedin, one 14 and one four years ago. There was nothing against the other men except Pulley, who had been convicted and fined more recently. Mr Smith, who appeared for the barman and the licensee, asked that leniency should be given in the circumstances. It was, he said, possibly unique that in his 12 years of service the barman had not previously been charged. The Cust Case Two men were charged with being on the premises of the Cust Hotel after hours. Each was fined 20/- with costs. They were Ron Davidson and Gordon Handley. - Douglas Oliver Lindsay was charged with supplying these men after hours. He was fined £6 with costs. Eleanor Miriam Lindsay, licensee of the Cust Hotel, was charged with selling liquor after hours. She was fined £6 with costs. Constable R. Drummond told of a visit to the Cust Hotel in which he found the two defendants. Handley had admitted he had gone there for a drink and received one. Davidson said he had gone there to look for a bed. Appearing for the licensee, Mr Smith said he thought the Police would agree that the hotel was generally well conducted. He explained the licensee’s circumstances further. “In the circumstances,” the Magistrate commented, “I shall not call on you to show cause, but usually I am not very patient with second offences in 12 months.”