UNCUSTOMED SPIRITS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24879, 28 April 1944, Page 4

UNCUSTOMED SPIRITS

MAGISTRATE'S SENTENCE j AN APPEAL DISMISSED The appeal of John Patrick Beehan, pressor (Mr. Goldstine), against his sentence to 12 months' imprisonment by Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., for having an interest in 12 bottles of distilled spirits on which customs duty had not been paid, was brought before Mr. Jus-; tice Fair yesterday. Opposing the appeal for the Crown, ] Mr. V. R. Meredith said the appellant] was a pressor in business in. Upper . Queen Street. The police found on his] premises a letter from a man in Well-j ington referring to liquor._ which obvi-j ouslv had been illegally distilled, that I had been railed to Beehan. A piece of ; paper which he was seen to crumple up proved to be a telegram from this man stating that 12 bottles of spirits had been consigned to Beehan. Mr. Meredith said it was obvious that the appellant was carrying on almost as a wholesale spirits merchant. He had a record of 30 previous convictions, including some for sly grog-selling in Wellington. This type of offence was especially difficult to detect, and that illegal distilleries were increasing was shown i by the fact that six had recently been I discovered in Auckland and one _ in Wellington. Under present conditions! the temptation was very great and the money was big. Consequently to offset the temptation the punishment had to he such as would, in criminal language, "make the stuff too hot to touch." Mr. Goldstine submitted that the evidence had to be considered by itself and not in the light of mere suspicion raised hv a letter. The appellant's premises had been under observation for some time, but there had been no sign of liquor being sold there. His Honor said that under the Distillation Act the lightest penalty was a fine of £SO or six months'_ imprisonment. That was what the Legislature regarded as fitting for normal times, but these times were not normal.< s He considered the sentence imposed qiiite appropriate. and would confirm it. The appeal would be dismissed, with £7 7s costs. NORTH SHORE WATER FURTHER COSTS INCURRED Further provision for increases in the cost of the North Shore water supply scheme over the original estimate was approved-by the City Council last night. In the first instance a loan of £125.000 was raised for thc_ project. _ This I was overspent, requiring an additional j loan of £30.000. It was reported last night that at the end of January expenditure had exceeded the amount of the Joans by £267. A recommendation was made that over-expenditure to the close of the financial year be j met out of revenue and that provision j for completing the work be made in the 1944-45 waterworks estimates. The waterworks engineer, Mr. A. D. Mead, estimated that the completion of the Birkenhead service reservoir would cost £5500 and the laying of the duplicate submerged pipeline £SOO. He recommended that these sums be provided from revenue. The recommendations were adopted. WAGES TAX CHECK AUCKLAND CAMPAIGN Several members of the staffs of other Government departments in Auckland have been made acting-tax inspectors to assist in a scheme to check employers' wages records. The campaign is to detect failure to affix and cancel wages tax stamps within three days of the payment of the wages. "It has been known to the senior officers of the department that laxity, either in deducting wages tax, or failure to account when deducted, lias been on the upgrade," said Mr. A. D. Small, senior income tax inspector of the Auckland district, yesterday. _ Early action would have to be taken in fairness to the regular contributors and to protect the revenue of the social security and national security funds. The scheme, which was comprehensive and would be put into immediate operation, followed the recent example of the department in Wellington, said Mr. Small. Fifty-six officers descended on Wellington city and environs, with n resulting immediate and substantial gain to revenue, apart from penalties. PROBATION FOR FRAUD (0.C.) HAMILTON, Thursday A Maori, George Smith, aged 68, appeared for sentence to-day before Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M., on ten charges of obtaining £66 by falsely representing to a woman in Morrinsville that she had an interest in certain blocks of land, and that she had £BOO held for her by the Native Trust Board in Wellington. He was admitted to probation for two years and ordered to make restitution of £66. FIRE BOARD CHAIRMAN Agreement that the chairman of the Auckland Metropolitan Fire Board was entitled to an honorarium of £2OO a year was expressed by members of the board yesterday. The chairman, Mr. B. Brigham, said such action could not he taken by the Auckland board alone. The meeting decided to approach the Fire Boards' Association to find out if an honorarium could be paid to the chairmen of the four main boards, or whether Auckland alone could do so.