SLY GROG SHOP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23181, 29 October 1938, Page 11

SLY GROG SHOP

STATIONER FINED TWO CHARGES ADMITTED PENALTY OF £3O IMPOSED A plea of guilty to two charges of sly grog-selling was entered by William Hesketh, who appeared in the Police Court, before, Mr. C. R. Qrr Walker, S.M., yesterday, as a sequel to a raid on his shop by Sergeant Tocker and Constable Emery on September 16. Sub-Inspector Fox prosecuted and Mr. Turner appeared for defendant. Mr. Fox said a constable acoompanied by another man went to a shop occupied by defendant at 41 Mount Eden Road on September 13. It was a small shop and defendant sold mostly stationery, and lived on the premises. The constable had no difficulty in purchasing a few bottle of beer, and on September 16 he returned with his companion apd handed defendant a suitcase and asked him to put some bottles of beer into it. Defendant complied with the request and was paid for the beer.

The same night at 8.40 o'clock a search warrant was executed by Sergeant Tocker and Constable Emery, added Mr. Fox. They found one.box with 38 full pint bottles of beer and another containing 31 full pint bottles of beer. There were also a large number of empty pint and quart bottles, but it was admitted that some of them were the property of a brewery lorrydriver who had left them there the same day. The defendant had a previous conviction in 1932 for sly grog-selling, when he was fined £25, added Mr. Fox. He had also been fined £25 on one occasion for bookmaking. The district' in which the offence was committed iru not a no-license area. Counsel submitted that the circumstances showed the case was not, as serious as it might at first appear. There was no suggestion that tha premises were a meeting place for undesirables, or that there were any particularly bad features about the case.' 1 The defendant was merely selling some' beer at the price he could buy it to oblige a few friends. The Magistrate: He ought to be fined for being such a fool for making no profit on it. Defendant was fined £3O, with 10s costs, on one charge, and on the other ; he was convicted and ordered to pay 10s costs. Two men who were found on the premises, Hugh Crawford (Mr. Townshend) and George William James (Mr. Turner), were fined £2, with 10s costs, each. • i - 2