LIQUOR AFTER HOURS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19736, 8 September 1927, Page 15

LIQUOR AFTER HOURS.

HOTEL LICENSEE FINED. WIFE SUPPLIES TWO MEN. [BY TELEGRAPH. OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] PAEROA, Wednesday. Whether the evidence of a hotelkeeper's wife, who regularly presided in the bar, could be used against the licensee in the case of police allegations of trading after hours, has been dealt with by Mr. F. W. Platts, S.M., in a lengthy reserved decision. The ouestion arose in a case in which Ernest Fathers, licensee of the Commercial Hotel, was charged with selling, and his wife, Mrs. E. Fathers, with supplying, liquor after closing hours. It had been proven, said Mr. Platts, that Mrs. Fathers assisted her husband by regularly serving in the bar, and that she had authority to sell liquor. She had served two men under the impression that they were guests of boarders, but under cross-examination admitted she would not deny having told the police she did not know who the guests were.' The licensee was away at the time, but had issued instructions that no one was to be served until his return. The magistrate did not think the legal opinions quoted by Mr. E. A. Porritt, for the licensee, assisted him greatly, because they were not- on all fours with the case under review. Mr. Porritt had relied on an opinion that the statements of the licensee's wife could not bo used as evidence against her husband. , In the present case there was legal proof of the sale of liquor, and the evidence was just as conclusive that the wife of the licensee was his agent to sell liquor on his behalf. There was also proof that his wife regularly presided in the bar, and had control of the liquor on the night of the sale to the men concerned. Ernest Fathers would be convicted and fined £5 and costs, and the charge against his wife would be dismissed.