LIQUOR AT DANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24135, 29 November 1941, Page 14

LIQUOR AT DANCE

TITIRANGI CLUB CASE APPEAL AGAINST FINE I MEANING OF DWELLING HOUSE An appeal against tho conviction of Max Archer as manager of the dance 1 tiall of the Titirangi Country Club for i permitting liquor to be taken into the i hall during the progress of a dance ( was heard by Mr. Justice Fair yoster- i day. On July 15 Archer was convicted ( of this offence by Mr. F. K. Hunt, ] S.M., and fined £5 Is, and costs, 10a. Archer, who was represented by Mr. ( A. H. Johnstone, Iv.C., and Mr. ] Giesen, appealed oil the ground that < the magistrate's decision was errone- I ous in law. Mr. G. S. R. Meredith i opposed the appeal on behalf of Coil- i stable N. A. Petersen, who laid the ] information. _ 1 Tho case stated by the magistrate showed that two police _ officers and two women visited the Titirangi Country Club on an evening in April. Jhev ' paid for admission, took liquor in with 1 them and consumed it there. lluJre were about 60 couples drinking liquor and dancing. The appellant contended that the liall w&s -part of the dwelling house of Cordon Hunter who lived there with his wife and family. He admitted persons he knew to the dance, and claimed tha't he knew the polio© officers. Uso ol the Premises Hh® magistrate said he did not accept this last evidence. He found that the premises were Hunter s dwelling house, but he could not find that the people there were his guests. He found that Hunter used it also as a dance hall and restaurant. In supporting the appeal Mr. Johnstone stressed" a sub-section or the Statutes Amendment Act, 1939 under which the information was laid, ihat sub-section stated that nothing m tho section shall apply to any liquor in any licensed premises or in any dwelling house. The prosecution had not established its case, said Mr. Johnstone, unless it had proved that the liquor was not on licensed premises nor in a dwelh.ig house. It had done neither, and the learned magistrate had found that the premises were a dwelling house. It could, therefore, no longer be contended that it was a dance hall within the meaning of the Act. Mr. Meredith submitted that these premises were a hall within the meaning of tho Act, and that all the ingredients required in the charge had been established. "Dwelling house" here was used in the ordinary acceptation of the term as a. place where a man would entertain bona fide guests and friends. Question of Importance His Honor said the magistrate's attention had not been directed to the point whether the premises had been proved not to be a licensed house, lhe question involved in the appeal was one of [general importance and one that applied to a great number _ot cases. If tho appellant's interpretation of the meaning of dwelling house was accepted it was clear that there was a large loophole in this section, which was directed against the drinking of liquor at dances to which the public was admitted. As the magistrate had said, although the place was used as a dwelling house it was also used as a dance hall and a restaurant. His Honor decided that the hall was not a dwelling place. On the question whether it was open to Mr. Johnstone at that stage to raise the defence that it had not been shown that the premises were not licensed premises, His Honor reserved his decision and asked counsel to submit | written argument.