WARNING BELLS

Taranaki Daily News, 6 October 1931, Page 5

WARNING BELLS

■ 'SYSTEM in a hotel. ’ AFTER-HOURS TRADING. ' A system of warning bells operated from buttons under a window ledge outside the Prince of Wales Hotel in Wellington was revealed by Sub-Iris.pector Lopdell in the course of his cross-exam-ination of Samuel Lockhart Gilmer, licensee, who was . charged at the Police Court last Friday with selling liquors after hours. ' ’ Mr. Page, S.M., inflicted a fine of £lO on each of two charges, and ordered the license to-be endorsed. Although there -! was p&wer to cancel a license where there had been two convictions in six months;-Mr. Page said that in order to af'oid inconvenience he would adjourn the question of cancellation for four weaker "■ . Couh's'el , fdr the defendant said that the oiiily excuse he had to put before the Court was that Gilmer had paid ‘‘a reallyo.’staggering- price for the hotel,’’ Wlilclr.l was "not commensurate with the •trade;-"'As- time went on he found such a huge drop in the hotel takings that he could not meet the mortgages. “The circumstances leading up to the disclosure of the warning system arose during the hearing of the first charge jto which Gilmer pleaded not guilty. In .this 'instance a man was seen to come out of the front door of the hotel, look jup and ;dqwn the street and let out h man named McArthur, who had in his possession a large bottle of beer, [the. outside of which was wet. In the witness-box: Gilmer denied knowihg anything about the sale of the (beer. He was then cross-examined in joonnection with the conduct . of the Jibtel. ' Mr. Lovell: Why have you got bells (Under th* window-sill on the street t Witness: There are none. They were there last night then. — JThey are not in working order. When did you put them there ? —Some fcime ago. The Magistrate: What does that

mean? —Well, quite frankly, the meaning'of it was that it was a warning to ine that the police were coming. Mr. Lopdell: Does, not Stewart regularly stand outside .that window every evening when business is being done?— Not now. Mr. Lopdell: Are those bells there now? —T>h e buttons are still there, but ■tho wires were disconnected about a week ago. Then you have been regularly carrying on after-hours trading?—Well, up to recently that is true. Tho barman Stewart was also crossexamined closely by Sub-Inspector Lopdell regarding the working'of the bells.

Mr. Lopdell: Did you have any duties outside the hotel?—No, only to wash down the place. That’s all. 'Did any. of the servants have a job outside in the street? —-Not to my knowledge. Do you ever stand outside in front of the window near the front door? — Yes,, sometimes. Do you know of any .buttons that were under the. sill? —Yes, but they are not working now. Where did they ring? —One rang in the patesage and the other in the bar. Whose job was it to use the buttons outside? —They were never used, they were obsolete.

Questioned again as to the use of the bells, witness said that occasionally he had used them if he wanted the side door opened. The Magistrate:. Just explain what you mean—lf there, were any of the" servants going in at night, and there was no one in the street, they would use the front door, otherwise I would ring for the side door to be opened. The Magistrate: You seriously tell me that?—Yes. The magistrate spoke of the power which existed under the Act for cancellation of a license where there had been two previous convictions an in the present case. ■ He thought it waa perfectly

clear that Gilmer was a' man unsuitable to carry on a license, where ho set himself out deliberately to flout the law. For the sake of convenience, however, he proposed to adjourn' the question of power of cancellation for one calendar month. ■••■••■ 'The magistrate also convicted. Stewart and fined.'him £l.