LICENSEE FINED

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20313, 24 May 1934, Page 11

LICENSEE FINED

Liquor Was Sold After Horn's. As the result of a visit to the Lower Riccarton Hotel by Sergeant F. C. Harrison and two constables early this month, the licensee, Mrs Annie Isobel Laurence Hancock, was charged in the Magistrate’s Court this morning with selling liquor after hours. She was fined £2 and costs by Mr E. D. Mosley. The barman, James Leo Carrington, for a similar offence, was fined 20s and costs, and Frank Atherton Kennard and Arthur William Brown, who were found on the hotel premises, were also fined 20s and costs. Mrs Hancock pleaded guilty and was represented by Mr Sargent. Sub-Inspector Powell said that a complaint was received on May 5 that after-hours trading was going on at the hotel, and a sergeant and two constables were sent to investigate. The front door was locked. One constable was posted there, and the sergeant and the other constable went to the back door, where they found two men in the act of going out. An attempt was made to close the door, but the constable prevented it. The licensee had some friends in one of the rooms and the sergeant was satisfied of their bona fides. The bar door was open, but there was no evidence of after-hours trading. One of the men, when questioned, said that he had come to have a “ blue peter ” filled, and that was later found. When the police first went to the premises they noticed one man crossing the yard. Mr Sargent said that Mrs Hancock had been conducting the hotel for three or four years and kept a very good house. It was not a bad case of its , sort.