SLY GROG SALE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24875, 22 April 1944, Page 8

SLY GROG SALE

PENALTY REDUCED SUPREME COURT APPEAL An appeal by Roy William Spencer, barman (Mr. Haigb), against his sen--1 teuce last month on a charge of slv ' grog-selling was heard by Mr. Justice Fair yesterday. On March 24 Spencer • was convicted by Mr. J. FL Luxford, S.M., of selling liquor without a licence, ' and as a person twice previously convicted of this offence he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour. The appeal was based on the grounds that the sentence was too | severe, that it was not proportionate | to the offence, and that all the facts were not taken into consideration by the magistrate. The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. V. R. Meredith, appeared for the { Crown to oppose the appeal. Mr. Meredith said the sentence had been imposed for the sale of a bottle of whisky to an American serviceman. Spencer had admitted selling the bottle for £'6. Spencer had 21 previous convictions. including two for this class of offence. Sly grog-selling was rife because of the ease with which liquor could be sold at exhorbitant prices. It was clear that the previous penalties on this man had not been sufficient. Mr. Haigh said there had been an error in principle in assessing punishment. In the circumstances this could not be regarded as a bad case, ft was an isolated transaction, and there was no suggestion that Spencer had any stock of liquor or had been engaged in the business of sly grog-selling. His Honor said this type of offence was rife in Auckland and it required stern measures to repress it. _ This promiscuous sale ot wine and spirits in the street led to general laxness, immorality and misbehaviour. Magistrates who were constantly in touch with this class of offence were specially fitted to determine the appropriate penalty. Most of this man's _ previous offences had not been of this nature, and there was no evidence that he had been associating with bad characters, j The sentence would be reduced to three months' imprisonment with hard labour. OFFENCE BY MAORI TERM OF IMPRISONMENT Convicted on a charge of keeping liquor for sale, a Maori, Johnny Ilipi, labourer, aged 24 (.Air. Aekins), was sentenced to one month's imprisonment with hard labour by Mr. J. M. Luxford, S.M., vesterday. He was convicted and discharged on a further charge of assisting in the supply of liquor to a native. Accused pleaded not guilty to both charges. The magistrate made an order for liquor found at accused's home to be forfeited. CONVERSION OF CARS GAOL SENTENCES SEVERAL CHARGES HEARD Two half-caste Maori labourers. Reuben To Waiti Repia, aged 24, and George Ahitahi Duncan, aged _ 25, pleaded guilty when they were jointly charged before Mr. .J. 11. Luxford, S.M., vesterday with the conversion of a motor-car valued at £225 and with the theft between Auckland and Rotorua of 12 gallons of petrol valued at £1 13s (id Detective-Sergeant Kearney said that on March 20 the two men took a small car from a street in Auckland and drove to Rotorua, returning on March 24. They travelled 685 miles, taking petrol from cars on the roadside. The accused were sentenced to nine months' imprisonment with hard labour on the conversion charge. On the charge of theft they were sentenced to three | months' imprisonment with hard labour, I the sentences to be concurrent. .lack Johnson, a quarter-caste Maori driver, aged 23 (Mr. Noble), appeared before Mr. J. Morling, S.M., and i pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully converting a motor-car valued at £3OO. Accused stated that the Chinese owner had lent him the car for a night and he was to return it the next morning. The owner denied this. Stating that he believed the Chinese, the magistrate sentenced accused to three mouths' imprisonment. Repia, who had been sentenced earlier on a similar charge, then appeared before Mr. Morling charged with converting the same car concerned in the charge against Johnson. He pleaded not guiltv. Accused was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, the sentence jo j be concurrent with that imposed earlier | bv Mr. Luxford. TWO CHARGES DENIED LABOURER FOR TRIAL | Pleading not guilty to two charges I of the unlawful conversion of motor-cars | valued at £SOO and £3OO respectively. J Thomas Lyell O'Brien, labourer, aged il7 (Mr. Lvnd Mitchell), appeared ! before Messrs. C. H. Moses and E. j Smith, J.P.'s. He was committed to the j Supreme Court for trial. Bail was allowed. THE PUBLIC SERVICE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM The opinion that it would improve the Public Service Commissioner's scheme of classification of officers if the salary limit of £765 was removed or increased was expressed by the secretary of the Public Service Commissioner's office, Mr. G. T. Bolt, and the president of the Public Service Association, Mr. A. 11. O'Keefe, when speaking at a meeting of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Institute of Public Administration. This barrier did not exist in the general division, they said, but in the clerical and professional divisions salaries above £765 required to be ratified by Parliamentary appropriation, which might lead to a delay of years. One of tiie most pressing needs in the public service, Mr. Bolt said, was the classification of positions in the administrative division to remove anomalies. He regarded the regrading of the public service in 1937 as having been successful and having given more satisfaction than previous regradings. Out of 9311 affected, only 656 appealed, and of these only 43 were successful. SCARLET FEVER A warning to parents and school teachers to be on the lookout for scarlet fever has been issued by the Department of Health. The incidence of this disease, which is highly infectious, has shown a fairly steep upward trend in many districts, particularly Wellington and Canterbury, since the beginning of the year, and indications are that unless parents take steps to check it the outbreak* may reach epidemic proportions. Children, who earlier were not greatly upset, are now going down for a week severely ill.