LIQUOR NEAR DANCE

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20988, 15 December 1939, Page 8

LIQUOR NEAR DANCE

CASE IN TE AROHA TWO YOUNG MEN FINED (Special lo Times) TE AROHA, Thursday The first case of its kind to be heard in this district came before Mr W. H. Freeman, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Te Aroha, to-day, when Kenneth Hastings, aged 24, farm hand, of Tauhei, and Eric John Maber, aged 26, share-milker, of Tauhei, were charged with being in possession of liquor in the vicinity of a dance hall. Pleas of guilty were entered.

Prosecuting, Sergeant W. Monson stated that on the night of December 2, his attention was attracted by the use of bad language. He saw one of the defendants with his head out of the front window of a car, while the other defendant was in the back with a parcel of beer on the seat. Both defendants denied ownership of the beer, but later admitted that they had purchased it that afternoon. The defendants told him that they were about to return home when he accosted them. The man in the front seat appeared to have had some liquor. The sergeant said there was a good deal of that sort of thing going on and the police were doing their utmost to put it down. Mr F. E. Burns, for the defence, stated that the youths had bought the beer early in the day but had not consumed any. Although they knew that it was an offence to drink liquor in the vicinity of a hall, they pleaded ignorance of the fact that it was an offence to have liquor in a car. Neither was under the influence of drink, and they had given none to anyone attending the dance. A fine of £l, with 10s costs, was imposed in each case.