SMOKING REQUISITES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3881, 31 July 1928, Page 16

SMOKING REQUISITES.

SALE BY SMALL SHOPKEEPERS. z EFFECT OF TOBACCONISTS’ REQUISITION. AUCKLAND, July 27. A reserved judgment of considerable interest to all small shopkeepers who stock smoking requisites as a side line was delivered by Mr F. K. Hunt, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court to-day. On June 8 last the Labour Department (Mr Hollows) proceeded against D. K. Kenny and Mrs Coughlan, both of Dominion road (Mr Tong) for having kept their shops open after hours. Both the defendants had obtained exemption from the closing hours fixed by the award of the Arbitration Court. The exemption entitled them to keep their shops open until 8 o’clock on the first four nights of the week. In March, after the aboive exemption had been granted a requisition of tobacconists came into force which required all shops selling smoking requisites to close at 7 p.m. It was for an alleged breach of the requisition that action was taken. The Labour Department contended that despite the exemption the defendants were obliged to close at the hours stated in the requisition. If they wished for exemption from the requisition they would have to make a fresh application to the court under the Shops and Offices Act. Mr Tong interpreted the section of the Act in dispute differently, contending that the exemption held. He also submitted that the requisition wa’s not valid in that it was ultra vires. In delivering judgment Mr Hunt held that the Labour Department’s interpretation of the section was the correct one. He viewed the proceedings as a test case and entered a conviction without .a penalty.