BEER ON CHRISTMAS EVE

Taranaki Daily News, 9 February 1928, Page 6

BEER ON CHRISTMAS EVE

NAUTICAL CELEBRATIONS SAILORS KEEP ENGLISH CUSTOM. FROM ROCKS TO THE SERGEANT. Weighted down with 11 full 'bottles of beer, a sack attracted the attention of Sergeant Martin on Christmas Eve. It was 11.40 p.m. Th© sack was', on a man’s back. Th© man seemed to be coming- out of a hotel. The sergeant stopped him, and the sequel at the Alagistrate’s Court, New Plymouth, yesterday' morning, before Mr. R. W. Tate, S.M., was that Michael James Tomlinson, a seaman, was fined 20s, with 10a costs, for being found on licensed premises after hours. Sergeant Martin, said that while on duty in St. Aubyn Street his attention was drawn to a crowd of young men on the footpath near th© hotel. Ho and Constables Butler and Davis started to clear them from the vicinity. While engaged in this proceeding, th© sergeant saw Tomlinson coming from th© back entrance of the hotel with a sack apparently containing bottles. Tomlinson went along St. Aubyn 'Street towards Fitzroy. The sergeant called him to stop, but lie took no notice. H© was subsequently stopped by Constable Davis. “What have you got in that sack?” asked the sergeant. “Bottles of draught beer,” was the reply. At first Tomlinson hesitated, but eventually said he bad had the 'bottles planted over the railway line. Th© sergeant took him into the hotel and the position was explained to Mr. Gardiner, the licensee. Mr. Gardiner said the man was a customer of his, but that he knew- nothing about the beer. In reply to further question Tomlinson said Edgar Meredith, the ‘barman, had supplied th© beer 'before six o’clock. Meredith was then called and denied having given Tomlinson any bottles that day. There were eleven bottles in the sack. Tomlinson had said he was going home, but the sergeant noticed he was walking in the wrong direction. He said he was going to catch a tram, but he was heading the wrong way for that. SOME ANIMATED BOTTLES, “I would not believe anything that night after what I saw,” said the sergeant, in reply to a question by Mr. A. A. Bennett. Mr. Bennett: Nothing in regard to hotels or beer? The sergeant explained that bottles of beer seemed to be coming out of hotels everywhere that night. It was hardly safe to walk along the road because of the risk of a “eraek on th© head” from a bottle, he added facetiously. “Mr. Gardiner was a bit irritated at you bringing a man into his hotel with a sack of beer at that time of night?” suggested Mr. Bennett. “I don’t think so,” replied the sergeant. “He told me he was amused.” Senior-Sergeant McCrorie said that was the complete case. As the other constables did not actually see the man eome out of the hotel, he would not call them. "I’m rather surprised at this,” said Mr. Bennett. “I should have preferred him to call one of the constables. However, I shall do so myself.” After describing this as an extraordinary attitude for a solicitor, the seniorsergeant said he would call a constable. Constable Butler then said ho saw the groups of 25 or 30 men drinking in the road. The first group of four was shifted from a doorway. A PARTY ON THE ROCKS. The defence was an absolute denial that Tomlinson came out of the hotel alleyway at all, said Mt. Bennett. There was admittedly a number of men in the vicinity at the time and they would interrupt the vision of the sergeant from the position he was standing in. He thought Sergeant Martin honestly believed Tomlinson had eome out of the alleyway, but contrary evidence would be called. It was most unlikely at the hour that a man would deliberately and openly walk out of a hotel with 11 'bottles of beer in a sack. If he had had a couple of bottles in his pocket the circumstances would have been more suspicious. It would be proved that the beer was purchased before six o’clock in order that Tomlinson and his friends might have drinks for Christmas Eve. They were all English seamen accustomed to finishing Christmas Eve at midnight. Tomlinson said his wife lived in England. There it was the custom to drink beer on Christmas Eve. He and his friends bought three lots of six bottles and planted them among the rocks. Then they parted, having decided to meet at nine o’clock at the Cenotaph, “so that we would be nice and fresh for what was over there.” They found so many men on the rocks with gallon jars and demijohns, however, that they decided to go somewhere else more private. A quartermaster off n. Home boat in port railed the others in the party when they were by the railway bridge, Tomlinson went on and was eaught by the sergeant. It was not Edgar Meredith, but another Edgar who had sold the beer. After the trouble they all went to a place near the gasworks and finished their party. He'arrived home about 2.15 a.m. Mr. Bennett: Did you finish the beer? “SEAMEN DON’T LEAVE BEER.” “Oh, seamen don’t leave no beer,” explained Tomlinson. Having drunk seven bottles earlier in the evening, the three of them finished the other 11 at the gasworks, Tomlinson told the senior-sergeant. “As God is my witness, that man was never there,” said Alexander N. Wallace, a seaman working on the wharf, when asked by counsel whether Tomlinson had come from the hotel. He and William Jack Bell, he said, had been with Tomlinson. They had sailed together and they decided to keep up th© East End practice of celebrating Christmas Eve. There, of course, there would have been no need to plant the beer, as it could have been bought from the public-houses at night. Edward Beattie, barman at the Grosvenor Hotel, said ihe was commonly called by a number of names, including that of Edgar. Hb saw Tomlinson in th© bar on the afternoon of Christmas Eve and he thought he had bought beer. Beil the third member of the party, corroborated the evidence of the other two, being emphatic that Tomlinson had come over the railway bridge with the beer, and net from the hotel,

Mr. R. W. Tate, S.M., said he would convict Tomlinson as he was satisfied Sergeant Martin saw the man emerging from th© alleyway. Senior-Sergeant McCrorie said Tomlinson had a previous conviction against him. James Wilson sent a letter pleading guilty to being found in the Royal Hotel at 11.20 p.m. on December 24, and was fined 20s, with 10s costs. Lionel Swan and Bernard Shorter admitted being found there too. They did not appear, but their solicitor explained they were farmers bn th© coast; 1 and as it .'was a busy season they had been advised to allow counsel to explain the eircum-

stances. They were friends of Wallis, i th© licensee, and had returned to the I hotel at his invitation. They had made themselves look suspicious by running | away. Fines of 20s, with I2s costs, were | imposed in each case.