RESALE OF JAM JARS

Taranaki Daily News, 6 November 1934, Page 5

RESALE OF JAM JARS

RULE FOR SECOND-HAND DEALERS. CASE AGAINST McKAY DISMISSED. He did not feel justified in holding that bottles and jam jars were not sec-ond-hand goods, especially when they were tendered by an urchin to a secondhand dealer in small numbers and bore in some cases the domestic labels of householders, said Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., in a reserved judgment given at New Plymouth yesterday. The case was heard last week when David Alexander McKay, second-hand dealer, New Plymouth, was charged with failing to enter ■ the name, address and description of a person who sold him 13 jam jars and with receiving the jam jars from a youth under 16 years of age. In dismissing both charges as trivial, the magistrate said he appreciated points raised by Mr. A. A. Bennett, for the defence.

The charges arose from the theft of 13 jam jars from a house at New Plymouth. The police traced them to McKay’s second-hand shop. In his defence last week Mr. Bennett raised the question whether bottles and jam jars could be classed as second-hand goods provided they were washed clean and had no cracks or chipped places. He also pointed out that firms other than secondhand dealers were in the habit of regularly purchasing bottles in small numbers from small boys without having to keep a register. After making his opinion clear upon Mr. Bennett’s first submission, the magistrate stated that the practice of secondhand dealers buying bottles in. small quantities from boys would make it most unreasonable to convict, and, ing the form in which McKay was charged he felt he should dismiss the charges. He understood after the case was completed that the police had notified sec-ond-hand dealers that purchases of more than 12 bottles must be registered and he thought that was fair. However, the fact had not been given in evidence. He wished it to be understood that any further cases would be convicted. Mr. Bennett suggested that the police should indicate what they intended to do about purchases from children under 16 years of age. Senior-Sergeant Turner stated that instructions had been issued to secondhand dealers that where children under 16 were concerned written authority to sell would be required from parents.