Publican Breaks 20 Year's Record

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 665, 17 May 1929, Page 1

Publican Breaks 20 Year's Record

FIRST CONVICTION OPEN AFTER HOURS Whether an American sailor who had been in New Zealand only one day had obtained six bottles of beer at a sly-grog shop in Grey Avenue or in a neighbouring hotel after hours was a question that had to be decided by Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., at the Police Court this morning. As a result of the decision the first conviction was entered against John O’Sullivan, who enjoys an otherwise unblemished record extending over 20 years. O’Sullivan, licensee of the Carpenters’ Arms Hotel, was charged with keeping his hotel open after hours and selling liquor after hours. Mr. A. J. Goldstine appeared for defendant and entered a plea of not guilty. The evidence of Frederick Holmes, a seaman from the Canadian Britisher, was taken last w-eek and his deposition was read. He stated that he had gone to the hotel shortly after 8 o’clock on Sunday, May 5. He had asked for some beer and the man who had let him into the building had gone to the bar and got six bottles, for •which witness had paid 24 cents a hottle. ‘‘The man then let me out and I went up the street,” continued the statement. “A constable accosted me and took me up to the police station. Afterward we went back to the hotel, but I am not prepared to swear that the man I saw the second time was the man who had given me the beer.” SEEN COMING OUT There was no doubt in the mind of Constable McElifinney that Holmes had been in the Carpenters' Arms. “I was standing across the road,” he said, “when the door of the hotel opened and a man looked up and down the street. He let another man out, and I crossed over. I accosted the man, who had started along the street, and discovered him to have a parcel containing several bottles of beer under his arm. Hater I took him back to the hotel, when the same man that had let him out answered the door. It was the licensee."

The constable recalled that the licensee , had denied ever seeing Holmes before, and said that he must have remembered had he seen him before on account of the red lumber jacket he was wearing. “There was no delay before we w.ere admitted to the hotel,” said the constable. “Mr. O’Sullivan said that there were two other men in the hotel, but that neither of them could have served Holmes." SLY-GROG SHOPS The constable admitted, under cross-examination by Mr. Goldstine, that it was a dark night and that the hotel was a black building with no street lamp by it. Witness had not seen Holmes go into the hotel. He knew that there were two sly-grog shops in the street. Holmes had not endeavoured to correct O’Sullivan when the hotel-keeper had denied ever seeing him before nor would he swear that O’Sullivan was the man who had served him.

In the opinion of counsel, an honest but grievous error had been made. In 20 years’ experience as a licensee, defendant had never been prosecuted, let alone convicted. Nobody had ever been arrested on his premises for being there after hours, and not a single “drunk” had been arrested in the house.

Mr. O’Sullivan referred to the neighbouring sly-grog shops as a source of annoyance to him. He had seen men get beer there and open it in the enclosure adjoining his hotel. “I hare had to order them off the premises," he asserted. “Sometimes they have even tried to open tha bottles on my window-sills. Defendant stressed the strict manner in which he always respected the licensing laws. Sub-Inspector McCarthy: Have you heard that a man named Shepherd was caught coming out of your hotel that Sunday? O’Sullivan: I heard that he had beep caught, but not in connection -with, my house. Mr. Goldstine: I object to the veiled suggestions of the Crown. Shepherd is not here, and there is no reason why he should be mentioned. Mr. Hunt: You were making such a fuss about the man’s character that the sub-inspector has a right to ask a anything that is relevant. Two boame.s at the hotel denied that the licensee had left the sittingroom at any time within half an hour of the time" he was supposed to have received Holmes. Mr. McCarthy stressed the remarkable fact of two men both taking such i keen interest in O’Sullivan’s movements above all others. Further evidence of O’Sullivan’s good character as a licensee was given by Sergeant McDonald, retired sergeant of police, vho had been in charge at Thames when O’Sullivan had been in business down there “It is impossible to go past the evidence of the sailor," remarked the magistrate. “He was caught coming out of the hotel. The argument that he was mistaken in the place whence he got the beer might be feasible if he had been arrested in another part of the to-wn, but not in these circumstances.” The charge of selling was dismissed and O’Sullivan was fined £5 for keeping open.