LEGAL & MAGISTERIAL NOTES

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XI, Issue 527, 30 August 1900, Page 19

LEGAL & MAGISTERIAL NOTES

In the Police Court, Wellington, on the 24th, Mrs Richards was fined £4O and costs, on a charge of sly grog-selling. Notice of appeal was given.

At the Palmerston North Magistrate’s Court on the 20th, Annie Quinn, licensee of the Central Hotel, was charged with permitting gambling on her licensed premises. Before evidence was heard Mr Loughnan, defendant’s counsel, contented that two witnesses, Paterson and Turner, were accomplices, and that their evidence could not be admitted until corroborative evidence was called. This contention being upheld, the prosecution decided to take the matter to the Court of Appeal. The information was’ then dismissed.

At Bloomsbury County Court, before his Honour Judge Bacon, Q.C., a barman named Sutton, sued a Mr Briggs, a publican, for £l, a week’s wages in lieu of notice. The plaintiff Said he was turned out at 12.30 one night, as the defendant said he was drunk. The defendant used frightful language. His Honour : Give me an idea ?— He told me to clear out of the housel His Honour : I wonder what caused him to use such an epithet to his own house. (Laughter.) Were you drunk? —I was not as drunk as Mr Briggs. Well he might have been helpless. A publican may get drunk on his own premises ; it is his privilege, but not the barman’s. (Laughter.) —I wasn’t nearly drunk. Were you comparatively drunk ?—No. He’s always sacking his employees. He’s had five barmaids and six potmen in four weeks. His Honour : It must be a busy house. (Laughter.) The Governor was always swearing at you, too, you say ? Well, it may not be gentlemanlike, but it is another of his privileges to swear at you, but you musn’t at him. (Laughter.) A barmaid was called for the defence, who said that the plaintiff was “absolutely blind.” His Honour : Now we are getting something definite. (Laughter.) The witness : And he chased all the barmaids round the house with a quart pot. His Honour : Oh, he was capable of doing that ! The witness : He was mad. His Honour (to the plaintiff) : I think you were drunk. Take the pledge. Judgment for the defendant.