GERALDINE LICENSING CASE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 1045, 17 March 1910, Page 20

GERALDINE LICENSING CASE.

At the Magistrate’s Court, Timaru, Mr. V. G. Day, S.M., gave judgment as follows in the case Police v. Kennedy:— The facts in this case are not in dispute. One Michael Scully, sent from Geraldine, which is in the nolicense district of Ashburton, to the National Mortgage and Agency Company, of New Zealand, Limited, at Timaru an order for beer in the words following:—“Kindly send me out one ten-gallon keg of Hole’s beer. Please send addressed to me In care of Mr. John Kennedy, your Geraldine agent, whom I shall pay when I take delivery.” The company has a branch agency in Geraldine, of which the defendant is an employee. The point to be decided is whether the sale was complete in Timaru or whether it was completed at Geraldine. Defendant is charged with “selling,” which charge I think must fail. He has however, committed the offence of “assisting” in the commission of an offence punishable, which, under section 53 of the Justice of the Peace Act, 1908, is a substantive offence. I therefore amend the information from the charge of “selling” to that of “assisting to sell.” The defendant, in my opinion, has acted innocently in this matter without any intention himself of committing a breach of the law,

but he has, nevertheeless, broken the law. The defendant is convicted of “assisting to sell,” and fined 20s and costs of Cour: 7s and one witness £1 6s 2d.