LIQUOR PROSECUTION.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15836, 5 June 1919, Page 9

LIQUOR PROSECUTION.

EfNG COUNTRY DECISION. TE KUITI, June 4. A decision of much importance to firms forwarding liquor into no-license areas was delivered yesterday by Mr K. W, Burton, S.M. * Charles Anderson, hotelkeeper, Te Awamutu, was charged under Section 147, sub-section 18, of the Licensing Act, that on April 26th he sold 19 packages of intoxicating liquor, for delivery in a proclaimed area, without furnishing ike clerk of the Magistrate’s Court at Te Kuiti with a statement in writing of the nature and quantity of the liquor so sent, and the addresses of the person ordering, and of the person to whom it was sent. Mr G. P. Finlay appeared for the defence. Ir. his judgment the magistrate said he did not think the, statement was posted practically simultaneously, or within a reasonable tyne, since the defendant lost the only mail remaining for him on that day. If the furnishing of the statement was to be simultaneous with the sale and delivery of the liquor, beyond all question defendant committed the offence charged. If the statement was to be furnished “immediately” or “forthwith,” taking the words “practically simultaneously,” employed by the judge as having one or other of those meanings, and they could not imply a lesser degree of expedition, then, according to other authorities defendant still remained at fault. “I regret exceedingly to have to come to this conclusion,” said his Worship, “because I quite believe the bona fid« of Ihe defendant. In view of defendant’s perfect good faith in placing an erroneous construction on the statute, he is fined the nominal sum of £1 and