SLY GROG AT MATAWAI.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13103, 17 June 1913, Page 4

SLY GROG AT MATAWAI.

FINE OF £100 IMPOSED. Patrick COorinell pleaded not guilty at the Te Karaka Court yesterday to charges that, on June 10, at Matawai, he ,did sell liquor,: to wit whisky, to Thos. Kerr and James Devery, without being duly licensed to sell the same, and with exposing liquor for sale, displayed m a counter of a tent where he was carrying on business, without being duly licensed to sell liquor. Accused said this was his second offence, and he desired to be tried before a judge and jury. ■ ■ ; His Worship: You have no right. Accused: Have I a right to be tried by' jury at all? Hb Worship : No, not at all. The Magistrate pointed out that the maximum punishment m the charges m question was three months. An accused only had a .right to be tried by jury m a case where the penalty exceeded three months. In introducing the case, Senior Sergt. ffutton said accused had only been convicted of- sly-grog selling recently. Since his return to Mata-w-ai ;h.e had been selling liquor. 'Constable J. H. Williamson, of Motu, stated that acting on information ..received, be proceeded von. the 10th inst. with Constable Buttiworth to accused's tent. . While proceeding along Taranaki street, they noticed a man standing on the railway line. The man signalled to' accused by whistling and waving his arms. Accused thereupon came out of his : tent, returned immediately. Witness went over to the tent, and met accused at the door. Witness told him who* he was, and that he had a warrant to>' search .his premises. ■At accused's request witness read the warrant. Accused said he wanted • to go up town to. get. a witness, but witness insisted on executing the warrant straight away. Accused's premises" consisted of an bft x 10ft tent on a wooden frame. Un pueoing--6pe.il the door (canvas on a frame) witness found two men, James Devery and ,Thomas Kerr, sitting by the fire: Witness asked them what they w«re doing 1 there. They hummed and hawed for a moment, and Devery said accused had, asked, them m for a drink. In reply to witness, Kerr said he had a whisky, but did not pay for it. A glass which had contained whisky was alongside Rerr. Both' men were under the, influence of , liquor. Witness ' searched the" tent, and; found a bottle and' a half -of at the bottom of a stretcher^/ 'He ; pulled a sack from off a Gladstone bag, and found a dozen bottles (produced); It was all Johnny Walker's whisfcyi..u Constable Buttiworth then opened a biscuit tin, and found seven moje ' bottles of whisky, and another bottle was found between the rugs on a bed. -Witness asked defendant if he owned.* the whisky-. ■'■ He i' said he owned the -bottle and a half tlfat were found at the foot of the bed. The bottles m

the bag, he said, belonged to a man named ;■ Flowers. He said he did not know*, who owned the whisky m the biscuit tin or the bottle found m the bed. They proceeded to another tent about, a yard- and a half away, which accused used as a draper's store. In th 6 middle of the tent was a long box used- as a counter. Under the counter was a bottle of whisky and four glasses, but accused said he did not know who owned it. At first accused said the Vi bottles m the' bag belonged to Constable Butfciworth! (Laughter.) Witness had 'seen Flowers, v m consequence of what accused had said. In all they got 22£ bottles of whisky, and there were also 13 spare straw wrappers. Asked ff he owned the latter, accused said he did not, and that somebody must have placed them m the tent. Witness took charge of the liquor. When witness served accused with the summons last Friday, he said he was not a slygrcg seller, and what he did he did so openly. He asked witness how long it would be before a conviction was removed,' and witness said he thought five years. Witness taxed him with serving men "with little children. Accused said he . always turned married men away. Witness told him he would be wise to leave it alone altogether. Accused said, '"They have stamped me a sly-grog seller, and pui 4 nie m gaol. I will sell whisky until hell freezes." Hia Worship: H'm. That is a peculiar expression. I have heard a few expressions, but I have never heard that belore. ■ ' ' - . j Senior Sergeant Hutton : He evidently intends to do a good business, your Worship. (Laughter.) Iti reply to accused, .witness said lie was 1 sure the two men were under the influence of liquor. Accused : 1 want your Worship to understand that these arc two respectable men. His Worship : That may be so, but respectable men sometimes get under the influence hi liquor. Constable Buttiworth corroborated the testimc-ny of the previous witness as to what took place on June 10". Witness said) he had kept accused under observution,since June 1, and he produced notes made. regarding his having seen men go to accused's store and go- away with liquor." Some of the men were "drunk. There was no light, m the store on these occasions. '■'"''■■'-"■'' .: . '..' / .: ... Senior Sergeant Hutton : So you could not see any shadows on <■ the lent as on the previous occasion ♦ — No. Witness said, the number of men that visited -,the ' tent on the various dates ranged from 1 to 17. To aiJcused': Flowers, when first interviewed, disclaimed ownership of the dozen bottles, but a <lay or two afterwards, after he had seen accused, he said, he did own them. A man named Collins did hot claim any of the whisky. After I the luncheon adjournment, accused' applied for an adjournment. He stated, the- time had been so short, and he ,wished, to engage a solicitor. His ' Worship: I can't adjourn the case for that now. If you had made that application at the beginning, I probably would have granted it. Accused: I am not versed m the la\v, as you see, but f have been doing my best.

His Worship : You had a, solicitor on ] the last occasion,'- and I tKink you are, well acquainted with the law. . ] Abrfiisedf ; ; .said ' :he ' 'wanted to call v?itite^se's:' "'.',' V . l . >... ." ..' ' !H}s, Worship : WJhy did you not think of .that before ? : ■ : - Accused ,v<l, had no time. Senior Sergeant Hutton pointed out that » accused' had got to work quite early after the vißit of the pplice, and ht> coiiM'haVe got his witnesses if he had =iUced. r ''" ' ■ : . ; "'".'" i .'' i .'\ v , '■''Ap<s&)d : I am not ' a^kfhg for aiiy-. thing unreasonable. '••'•" „ v ' ECTs ' Worship : I , shail".iiot grant the application jusi now. ..You Jiavet liad pleriiy^f iime. • • AccuiSed : Very well ; I suppose I shall hard tito.toke the world as I find it. •SeflioH; Sergeant Hutton pointpd out^ that ■ • accused :jtia& he&id • the evidence, and fo'ij^^'bii^-yrliat.he had to meet, and> now b^V'friirted an adjournment. It would" be; unfair to the pr/oseoutipn if it w^a granted. . . • , AcOjised. :■ I did: not know before how seriousiwie charge was. Hißv^vorship 1 : Do you desire 'to call

evHreiuJet?' ■ ■ ' Ac<7TT^£d : Yes, but your Worship will nofc atip# me". : , , , .. Do^yoti desire to give evidence' your-' Belf^pfo:. ■•• ■ . .. ' What,Widence do you wish to callV — i jJlgytery.- --' Hfl^^.'flJoU trie<l to get him before thiftY^Jjji •■■•■• ' ' Aaridr-vafter three or four days you think of calling him?— l did riot kn<)w thef'cttwge wafs so seriotis. 1 ' ' . His 1 ' •>y<>'rship : I shall not grant an. adtptiriinH^nt. : Do you wish to give evjdejqtdti" ybiirself !?— Yes,; that la as to aJL'thrif liquor found not b«ing my prqperiyi'; ;>».,-' „■■■■■■ Accnjsed gave evidence that he was a draper. He" denied " the - ownership of the vrhisky found on his premises, excepjtiiig tivs bottle and > ;half , and that, he sajd,; was given; to him as a present. Senior JSergeanfc jjutton : How do you accovijjti\for that quantity of liquor being on.; yptir, premises ? Accused' replied that Buttiworth left

the portmanteau there. Senator- Sergeant Hutton : Do you mean Conßt#.le Buttiwortn? Accused: ;I beg your pardon. I have got mixed m the names. Buttiworth has ibfdn at ray place as often as anyone ■•clie. ■ I mean Flowers left it there.

His Worship : 'What did he say when he left it? — Nothing at all; he simply left it there. / Did he. say what was m it? — No. Questioned closely by Senior Sergeant Hutton, accused maintained his statement that Flowers left the whisky. He did not tell Flowers next day to claim it. Accused said Collins left the other bottles ; he left a case of it. j His Worship: It seems extraordinary that these two men should leave their liquor m your tent. Accused : I did not know what Avas m the bag. , -.Senior Sergeant Hutton : What about flic other bottles? Accused : That is all, is it not? His Worship : What about ,the bottle • m the bed? Accused : Collins gave me that out of his case. His Worship: Very kind of him. To 'Sergeant Hutton : He (accused) had recently been imprisoned for slygrog selling. He had- been m business; at Matawai for -about 12 months. He did not remember telling a man that he would go on selling liquor, and the Grown of England would not stop him. He. invited Devery into his tent. Senior Sergeant Hutton pointed out that the quantity of liquor found on the premises was more than could be reasonably consumed by the occupier. He would leave the matter with his Worship to believe the accused's story or not. "I am perfectly satisfied," said his Worship (Mr W. A. Barton, S.M.) to accused, "that you are guilty of this offence, and I am equally satisfied that the liquor found there was your property, and that it was there for illicit trading. lam determined to put a stop to this sort of thing. You were convicted on February 17 last for a similar offence, and you were then convicted and fined £50, or one month's imprisonment. I then told you if this sort of thing was riot stopped I would increase the penalty. I now convict you and fine you £100, with costs 13s, m default three months' imprisonment. I also order that the liquor found on your premises be confiscated. '•' * Senior Sergeant Hutton : I apply for immediate payment. His Worship : Very well. The Magistrate said he believed a great deal of this, sort of thing was buing carried on. This offence was most difficult of and when a case was proved, as this one had been,- he considered vt?4he dwty^of the Court to inflict a 'substantial penaljty as a deter rent to others.? ■ .*•••■■ •Senior Sergeant Hutton applied for the withdrawal of the second charge, that of exposing liquox* for sale. The application was granted. Accused .elected to serve the sentence.