LICENSING CASES.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12420, 9 December 1908, Page 2

LICENSING CASES.

Richard Thwaites pleaded not guutj' to a charge of being found unlawfully on the premises of the Central Hotel on November 29th during the time when such premises should be closed. Sergeant Dougan conducted the prosecution, and Mr Atkinson appeared for accused. Constable Hickcy stated that at 1.25 a.m. on Sunday morning lie saw accused and another man came out of the Central Hotel. He asked accused what he was doing there, and he replied that he had been to see the licensee, Mr Swindale. He took the two men back, and saw the licensee. Accused said he had gone to the hotel to fix a bell. He asked the licensee, who came from the direction of the bar, what business accused had there, and the licensee said, "None whatever." He asked the licensee if ]i<? had engaged accused to do a job, and the licensee said something had been said about ■i boll, but lie never meant it had to be done on Sunday morning. Thwaites • aid it would not have been so bad hr»inrr caught if they had had a • Irink. Thwaitos said Hounsell followed him into the hotel. Mr Atkinson, after outlining the defence, said that accused went to She hotel for a perfectly lawful purpose. FJe called — Richm-'l Thwaites. who stated that :>•■ was a tnleirr^nh linesman in the ■ ■>plnv of the Telegraph Department, •ml Ill's duties were to attend to telephones, repair lines, etc. He went !o repair an extension boll from the f"l"V>hfvio a+ the Central Hotel on ■;.. i ,: r ,i.. "fi.cmririn. but there were '.••■' !.'■•.'■'■ p'opV iiV.nt. and he told : '" hi--: — .■ lie v. ■■•ii!'' por> in flip next ■'■'./• '•'■■'■ S;:ndnyp lie worked from ° ?0 to 10 n.T!'.. and in tix irornin.r in Tjostion he went into the hotel to sco the licensee in reference to the bell. On Monday he reported to his superior officer that he had been spoken to by the police for. being on licensotl promises tlxu-Jnf; j>rol*iT>i-fco<3 hours. He went to the hotel with no other object than to attend to the bell. By Sergeant Dougan : He was only three minutes in the hotel, and could not find the licensee. The constable knocked for nearly five minutes before the licensee came. George H. Parmenter, foreman telegraph linesman, stated that he instructed Thwaites on Saturday morning to repair the bell, and Thwaites told him he had been unable to do it. He did not know that Thwaites had been to fix the bell on Sunday until the Monday morning following. He fixed the bell himself on Monday. By Sergeant Dougan : He did not know of another case where a hotel telephone had been attended to on a Sunday. Thwaites, re-called, in reply to the Magistrate, stated that lie had the necessary tools with him when he went to the hotel on Sunday morning to effect repairs to the bell. Witness explained that he knocked off work on Saturdays at noon. The Magistrate said in the circumstances he would not be justified in recording a conviction, and lie found accused not guilty. Frank Edgar Hounsell pleaded guilty to a similar charge. Mr Atkinson said accused had committed a technical offence. He went into the hotel with Thwaites. and sat down in the passage to wait for him. Sergeant Dougan said that Houn■=oll and Thwaites were preat friends, "■nd its the Magistrate hnd believed Thwnites' story, he asked leave to withdraw the charge. The . Magistrate consented to this course being adopted, and the Court adjourned.