THE LICENSING ACT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3004, 11 October 1911, Page 6

THE LICENSING ACT.

t EVASIONS AT OAMARU. '(From Oxjb Own Correspondent.)

OAMARU, October 2.

The fact that illicit dealers ia liquor resort to devious devices in order to get supplies into a no-license district received further emphasis at the local Magistrate's Court to-day. Margaret Andrews, who has previously been convicted of a variety of breaches of the liquor law, was charged on two informations with giving to Thomas Tansey, hotelkeeper, of Glenavy, orders for liquor without giving her own name and address. Four bottles of whiskv were involved in each case, and in respect to one the name John Maginnity was used, and in the other the name used was J. F. Shaw, but in both cases orders for delivery by the railway authorities was given to the same messenger by Mrs Andrews. The defendant, who had a few weeks ago been convicted on two similar charges, and fined £5 and £2 respectively, was defended by Mr Hjorring. The evidence in the first case was pretty conclusive, but the defendant went into the box and disclaimed any knowledge of the whole business. But the S.M. (Mr T. Hutchison) told her plainly that he did not believe her, and entered up a conviction. On the second case being called on, counsel for the defence said he was in a dilemma, as he had been instructed to plead "Not guilty," and felt disposed to plead the other way after what had already taken place. However, after the first witness had been examined, the plea of " Not guilty " was withdrawn, and the impeachment admitted. Counsel then urged that the offences were committed at the same time as thcee for which the defendant had already been fined, and hs all the offences had been dealt with at one time, his Worship would no doubt have viewed them as one breach or part* of a series of similar offences. His Woi ship, however, replied that he would probably have viewed them as showing that the practice was systematic, and he imposed a penalty of £lO in each case, with costs. An aspect of the whole of thcsa cases is that the law-breaker used her ow-. son—a small boy still attending school—to write the orders fox the liquor and forg-j the signatures, and the little fellow appeared in court as a co-defendant.