ILLEGAL LIQUOR

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4171, 11 August 1939, Page 5

ILLEGAL LIQUOR

TAKEN INTO PROCLAIMED AREA. PENALTIES IMPOSED AS A WARNING. Many people do not know that it is an offence to take liquor into the King Country, a proclaimed area, without the package being properly labelled, and the vendor of the liquor being informed of the intention to take it into the proclaimed area, so that he may notify the police of the fact. Furthermore- the boundary of the area is very close to such centres as Kihikihi, Te Awamutu, and Pirongia, where hotels are licensed. This became evident during the prosecution of three men at Te Awamutu Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The first defendant was Harold W. Lee. who admitted a police charge that on 22nd July he placed an order for liquor with the licensee of the Alpha Hotel, Kihikihi, such liquor to be sent or taken into the proclaimed area without proper notification to the person from whom the liquor was ordered. A second charge was that he failed to notify the police in writing. Sergeant Clist, who prosecuted, said that Constable Shaw, on duty at Kihikihi, had found Lee on the road in the proclaimed area a few miles south of Kihikihi, with two dozen bottles of beer in his possession. The parcel was unlabelled. He added that in fairness to defendant it should be stated that Lee did not know the law; he was a new-comer to these parts. The offence of having liquor in his possession occurred about five miles south of the Puniu River—the boundary-line. His Worship, Mr W. H. Freeman, observed that anybody with liquor in a car passing through the area would be liable. The sergeant said prosecutions were being instituted only where a resident of the area had the liquor—not if a motorist was passing through the area.

A penalty of £1 and costs 12s was imposed on the first charge, and costs only was the penalty for the second offence.

The next man charged was James S. McEwan, on similar charges. Mr Hill entered a plea of guilty for his client. Sergeant Clist said McEwan was employed on the lands development scheme at Wharepapa, and lived at the camp there. Complaints had reached the police about liquor being taken to the camp and abused. McEwan, when questioned on the subject, had frankly admitted ignorance of the law’s requirements. He understood that the cases were the first for several years instituted in Te Awamutu Court. Mr Hill said the sergeant had been very fair in his prosecution of the case. The magistrate imposed a fine of £1 and costs on the first charge, and required payment of costs only on the second. Michael J. Feeney, who, when he entered the box, appeared to be a very sick man, admitted two charges of a like nature to those preferred against Lee and McEwan, and also a third charge of supplying liquor to a native, Henare Tai. Sargeant Clist said Feeney had supplied Tai. who later was involved in an accident with his car that resulted in the death of a passenger. At the inquest it was shown that Tai was sober at the time of the fatality. Feeney had since lost his job as timekeeper at Wharepapa, and was about to re-enter hospital for treatment. He was a sick man, but that was really no excuse for supplying liquor to a native. The magistrate said he would have to regard the matter as serious. He then imposed penalties similar to those inflicted on Lee and McEwan, but on the third charge he could not overlook the results. After some deliberation His Worship indicated that he proposed to adjourn the fixing of a penalty until the sitting of the November Court, but Feeney told the Court he would prefer to have the matter disposed of now—the worry of the case was enough as it was in his weakened condition*. A fine of £2, with costs 10s, was decided upon, and Feeney thanked His Worship for meeting his wishes.