SMALL BOY'S CIGARETTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14144, 20 August 1909, Page 7

SMALL BOY'S CIGARETTES.

TOBACCONISTS in COURT. Several tobacconists were brought,, before Messrs. F. H. Pickering and H. A. Gordon, justices of the peace, at the Police Court yesterday, charged with selling cigarettes to a boy under the age of 15. The tobacconists charged were Ivy Urquhart, Alfred Bancroft, Ethel Max Sarguse, Frederick William Carter, and Frederick George Axenham, all of whom were represented by Mr. Mowlem. When Ivy Urquhart, the first to be charged, made her appearance before the Bench. Mr. Mowlem said the boy camo into the defendant's shop and asked for a particular brand of cigarette*. Defendant asked if he were 16. Messer replied that he was not 15, but the cigarettes were required for a man on the wharf. Mr. Mowlem understood that the lad had admitted this to the police. Miss Urquhart's instructions,; from her employer were not to serve any lad under 16. Mr.' Mowlem said the boy. had displayed considerable cunning in asking for a brand of cigarettes not often asked for. The defendants,' who all pleaded guilty, were let off with a conviction. -,- Margaret Johnston and Herbert Johnston, who pleaded guilty to selling cigarettes at Onehunga to a boy under 15 years of age, were also convicted.