STORING LIQUOR

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1638, 7 May 1925, Page 5

STORING LIQUOR

TE KUITI SHOPKEEPER CHARGED

(By Telegraph. Press Association.)

TE KUITI, Wednesday.

Before Mr F. W. Platts, S.M., yesterday, at the Police Court, Max Simon was charged with storing liquor for G. J. Mander. Mr NoMe appeared for •defendant and Sergeant Fearnley for the police. Sergeant Fearnley, in evidence, said that about 4.30 on April 17 he and Constable Annabell saw that two bottles of liquor on an order signed by Mander were lifted from the train by a man named Watkins and taken to defendant’s shop. Witness asked Simon what had been done with the liquor, and he said he and Watkins had had a drink out of it. Witness asked'for the bottles and labels. The bottles were produced. One had been opened. Witness took possession of the liquor and Mander later called for it at the Police Station. Witness handed it oyer to him. To Mr Noble: Mander was not a fictitious person. He was a drover. The package was properly labelled and witness had no difficulty in tracing it. Mr Noble said the facts were admitted. The case depended on what construction His Worship placed on the Act. Mander-had asked Simon to collect the liquor because he was called away and could not pick it up himself. It was a question whether one isolated case could be taken as storage. Defendant gave evidence on the lines of Mr Noble’s statement. Witness had been busy and had asked Watkins to go over and get the liquor. They had permission from Hander to have a “nip.” The liquor was in witness’ possession about half an hour. His Worship remarked that it was a dangerous thing for a shopkeeper to do to permit even a customer to store liquor. But the facts in this case were not strong enough for a conviction. The case would be dismissed.