LAW AND POLICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6937, 11 February 1884, Page 6

LAW AND POLICE.

SUPREME COURT.— Saturday. (Befora H. O. Brower, Esq., Registrar.]. - Adjudication of Bankruptcy. — James Robertson, of Newmarket,; pastrycook, and George Henry White, 1 late :of-Russell, now ofAuckland,- were -adjudged -bankrupts, on. debtors' petitions. POLICE COURT. —Saturday.' •Y'-fßeforo 11. G. Seth Hmitli, Esq., K.M.I ........ DfiUN KENNESS. —Two persons were;:punished for ordinary offences; and Rachel Volan, for habitual drunkenness, was sentenced- to three months'imprisonment. ; Larceny,—Kdward'Christian was charged with stealing a pair of watertight-boots and socks, worth . oi, the -property of. RobertiMcCullough; on the 26 th of January. He pleaded guilty. The boots were stolen from ithe'Good Hopo Dining-rooms, and were sold by'. : the .prisoner"to 'a second-band-.dealer. 1 The p;lsoner said he got the boots: from another man. JIo was sentenced to Seven days' imprisonment. ' • .Prohibition Order.—Mr. Cooper, on behalf rof Deßowera, .applied, for., an order prohibiting publicans from supplying liquor to her husband, Francis Deßowers, An order had been granted; against him last year,- but it expired on tho sth of January, and since then he had taken to drink again. Mrs. Deßower3 gave evidence; and the order waa granted.

Licensing Act.—Wm. Henry Gorbefctj licensee .of the. Royal George Hotel, New-: market; was charged with unlawfully selling liquor to one ..Robert. Gorman at a place known as Seccombe's paddoek, the same not ■being a .place for which .his license authorized: him, on the 29th January. There was-a •second charge against the.samo defendant of .exposing liquor for sale at the same place. ■ ■ Mr. Theo. Cooper appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. E. Hesketh for the defence. Thu second charge was taken first. Mr. Cooper opened tho case, which was ; laid, under section ,159 of the Licensing Act. On. the 29th. of. January there -were sports hold in the Domain, and the. Domain not being in any licensing district the attempt to get booths.iu the Domain was. frustrated. Mr. Corbett, however, seeing a chance to make some'money, procured from two members of : the Newmarket Licensing Committee a conditional license to sell liquor at Seccombe's paddock, closo to the Domain. The conten- • tion was that this license was bad, not being signed by tho treasurer, but the real fact which tliey should rely on was that the ■place at which tho Jiquor was sold and exposed did not como within tho terms of: section 36 of the Act, aud it could not project hinii It was not a place of public amusement. The sports were held in the, Domain, and a considerable distance from, this paddock, which was separated from the. Domain by a. road. ..He should prove the sale bf beer. The signatures of the tv.o -.committeemen were obtained, on the representation that Mr. Hesketh had advised that the. license, could' be granted, although Mi, Keetley, the Treasurer of the committee, the persoa appointed by the. Act to sign the license; had- refused to do so, and pointed out; that the license could not bo granted. His. instructions were, to .proceed with the two cbsea, and ask for penalties. The Act looked on this offence as of such a serious nature that a second conviction' involved the forfeiture of the license; Mr. Stoney proved the granting of the license of the Royal George Hotel, Newmarket, to ; W. Henry Corbett. Mr. Hesketh produced the license. Constable Graham, of isewmarket, deposed that on the 29th January there were sports in' the Domain, and a large I .number of people were there. He knew i Seccombe's paddock, Carlton Gore-road, and i pointed out its situation on the plan. There was a booth, there on the 29th January in which there were a couple of barrels of beer, J and some brandy bottles.. He saw people buying and drinking the beer.. The.booth : passed as tho property of Mr. Corbett. Mr. Boulter was there. He appeared to be a. waiter, and a young chap named Hope, a brother or half brother of the defendant, was also thero. There was a bar in the '.place;, and 'the usual glasses for drinking. In company 'with Constable Hobson,; ha asked them to produce their authority, and Mr. Boulter' produced a written document. After those inquiries; the sale was continued, up to about seven ' o'clock in the: evening.. Witness served two summonses on the defendant, • and the only remark he made was that he did not think he waa doing any harm. There were no sports iu that portion of the Domain near the i. booth; It was 300 yards, away from the pricket Ground, and furthor still from where : the-other sports in the Domain were being., held. There were no sports in Seccombe ; a I paddock. Cro3a-examinod : The parties conducting the booth told him they were employed by the defendant, but he said nothing of Mr. Corbett that day; The booth was .within two minutes' walk of the Captain.; Cook Hotel. Edward Hope, a dental pupil, deposed that on the 29th of January he was at the ' booth already described, taking all money that, came there.. There was 1 ' brandy, whisky, etc., in the bottle,, and.: .he believed they were Sold, but whose they were-he did not know. He was there by Mrs. Corbett's orders, and he believed they came from the Royal George Hotel. Witness lived at the Royal George, and was half brother d£ the .licensee. He handed the money- he received to Mrs, Corbett: Mr. Corbett was at the North Shore, and, had a booth there. There. .Were three others cmployed with witness at. the booth. Crossexamined : Mrs* Corbett gave !him his orders;, and to her he gave the money. Corbett. was not there at all that: day. Liquors were exposed for sale, and : sold. By Mr. Cooper: The words Royal.. George Hotel were on the booth. Joseph Boulter;, storekeeper, deposed that on the 29th of January he was employed at the booth in Seccombe's paddock. He could not, say whose the booth was, but ho had a written authority from, the. Licensing Bench and a licieuse, and was employed by an old lady. Thero were" liquors in the booth of all; descriptions; but where it came' from he did. not know. It was sold in the usual manner. He was: paid for.his sorv'ices by the old lady re/ fcrrcd to.. lio did not read the iicena'fe, and did not know in. whose name it was made: ; out. At thia stage: Mr. Cooper asked leave to re-call the constable to examine him as to the conteuts of the documents, of which he had given notice to produce;, and-, whiph were, ' not: produced. Mr. Hesketh coutonded that : sufficient evidence had not beon. laid .before the Court to prove that the defendant was iu any way concerned in..the transaction. His. Worship .held that , sufficient had been laid : to enable the prosecutor to obtain ..the , evidence. Mr. Hesketh contended, that : the notice to produce the. conditional iicense was- not specified. ...The license itself was specified, and that, ho had produced. His •Worship, liijwevor, overruled. Mr. Heskpth's ■ objection, and Mr.' Hesketh -then prodo'ce.d thu conditional licence, ".vhiea the countable . ideulilied as tho 0n.6 handed to him by . tho last witness, also; a written document, but ierUin blanks in the .conditional, license were: filled up since that time, One blank was ■ tilled, with, the name Of William Henry Corbett, aud the. dates had also been filled in since he.saw'it ;. but it was signed by Messrs.

Tait, McNeil, and Mason, members of the Licensing Committee, Mr. Boulter was. recalled, and said the documents . produced were the authorities under which he.sold. The William Henry tbrbett mentioned in them was the licensee., of the Royal Gcorgo; Hotel. Robert Gorman, an . engineer, deposed that on the 29 th of Jauuary, he. had some drink at the booth erected at Carlton Gore-road. He had three drinks of shandy-gaff. There were four of them together. There was beer in the shandy-gall", and he v.as served by Mr. Boulter.. ttobcrt .Field also deposed to having some, beer in the booth with the last witness. Constable llobson, of Parnell, corroborated the evidence given by Constable Graham, and further stated that. Air. Hope told him ho.was acting 33 treasurer for hiß brother, William Henry Ciirbett, the licensee ot the Royal -George Hotel. The words .'' Royal George Hotel" were painted on the booth. This was the prosecutor's case. : Mr. Heskuth contended that the 159 th section, under which this ease was laid, referred only to. the manual act of the person charged, rot that :of his. servant. He quoted tho Judge's remarks on the Waverly licensu appeal case, in support, of this .contention. He. drew attention.to ■the 36th and 73rd ; section:of. the Act, those which 1 referred to conditional' licenses. .The. 73rd seotion empowered two ;membors of the -committee to sign a conditional license, and 'he contended that neither of .the forms,, the certificate writhe 'conditional, license,; was ■necessary. .All tbo parties seemed to bti in a fog. • The committee men .did.not seem.to understand their position, the. defendant certainly did not, and Mr. Keetley refused t0..; accept;;the feo. They then found out that a conditional license could be granted

without payment of a fee, bo that they did not require to go to Mr. Keetley as treasurer. The documents, he contended, amounted to a conditional license, and the only question was as to its effect. Its effect was stated in section 35. v •• It shall authorise to sell at any public amusement, military .encampment, etc.,' for any;:period not exceeding;. seven days. The evidence was that the booth was a chain away from the'place of amusement; but was -it,' he asked,:imperative that the;booth should be •actually on the place of. amusement He contended the law did'not require i'that tha booth should be on the actualif spot;, where the amusements were going on. The whole thing, he added, was done by Mrs. Corbett, who had attended the gale and . bought the booth, and then she got a conditional iicense. The whole transaction was done- openly,. and with every desire, to comply -with the law,' and there was nothing of aggravation in the ciriramatances. Mr.Cooper .replied to. the three points raised. by.; Mr. 'Hesketh, after which' His Worship reserved judgment