PATEA S.M. COURT

Patea Mail, Volume XLIII, 21 March 1919, Page 2

PATEA S.M. COURT

SPECIAL SITTING.

A special sitting of the Patea S.M. Court was held on Friday afternoon before Wyvern Wilson Esq. S.M., when judgment in the recent cases against the license** of the Masonic Hotel, was deli’ll ered.

Mr Dunn (Clark, Jack and Dunn), who appeared for the defendant, said Section 247 of the Licensing Act, provided for the inspection of the Register of Licenses, which would go to show that the defendant had so far a clean record. He would suggest that if the licence were endorsed no fine be inflicted. As the offences were practically one and the same thing, he would ask that the full fine be not inflicted in each case.

His Worship in his judgment said the object of Section 247 of the Statute was to have the Register of Licenses examined by the Magistrate so that the latter may see what record there was against a lessee. In the present instance the licensee had a clean record, There were other considerations to be observed by the magistrate when fixing the penalty however. It seemed to him that in a case where the offence is such that the licensee acts personally and knowingly breaks the law, the license should be endorsed. It would require a long period of good conduct to induce him not to endorse the license. He had decided to endorse it, and on the first charge defendant would be convicted and fined £5, the conviction and penalty to be endorsed on the license. On the remaining charges the defendant would be fined the minimum penalty which was fixed by the Act, viz £l. He would not endorse the record of these convictions upon the license.