SLY GROG AT RACES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19254, 17 February 1926, Page 14

SLY GROG AT RACES.

LIQUOR HIDDEN IN CREEK. SMALL " BREWERY" IN BUSH. UNUSUAL TE KUITI CASE. (by telegraph.—own correspondent.] TE EUlTl,'Wednesday. An interesting sly grog case, in which one of the main exhibits was 16 bottles of liquor, found on th<i Te Kuiti racecourse during the recent race meeting, was heard at the Police, Court to-day, when Alex.# Greatbatch, Louis George Grsatbatc'ii, and' George Arthur Burling, three young residents of Oparure, were charged with keeping unlabelled liquor for sale, bringing liquor into a proclaimed area, and failing to give their names and addresses in writing when ordering liquor. The accused, for whom Mr. Inder, of Auckland, appeared, pleaded not guilty. The police-sergeant said he had had the throe xnen under observation for some time. On the first day of the races he saw the accused enter the course and go toward the bush. The two Greatbatches were carrying suitcases. When they came out of the bush they mingled with the crowd, and later Louis Greatbatch and Burling went* back into the bush. Witness sent a plainclothes "constable to follow them. Presently ho returned with Louis Greatbatch and Burling, and two suitcases filled with bottle straws. They said the straws were from bottles of beer which they had drunk. The sergeant did not beKeve them, and told vßurling to show the constable where the liquor was. Burliiig did so, and later the sergeant followed and ' assisted to find 15 bottles of liquor hidden in the creek under several feet of water.

The sergeant continued that the accused were taken to the police station, where they made statements in writing. On a later date the sergeant and a constable went with Burling to_ja place at Oparure, where on a Crown section five miles back on the hills they found what he would call a small brewery. There were a 3C'-gallon copper, empty stacks of bottles, a number of line sieves and glass measures. The wooden floor had been removed, and the sergeant found two bottles buried in the earth. I He also found .two recipes fox the manufacture of whisky, in which the use of & still was mentioned. ; /ifei • Written statements made by , Louis Greatbatch and Burling were produced. After examining* the statements and conferring with his clients Mr. Inder pleaded guilty on behalf of the signatories. When Louis Greatbatch was called as a witness against his brother Alex, the latter also pleaded guilty. Counsel pleaded for leniency on. account of a. previous good record. Alex Greatbatch was fined £3O for keeping liquor for sale, and £5 for being illegally on the racecourse. Louis Great batch was fined £25 for keeping lic|uoi for sale, and George Arthur Burling £l6 for the same offence.

In giving his decision the npgi&trate stated that he had made the fines smalleias the accused had given an undertaking not to repeat the onenoes,