A CHRISTMAS DINNER

Gisborne Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1366, 30 January 1905, Page 2

A CHRISTMAS DINNER

LICENSING CASE AT WAIHL'.M Waihi, Thursday® A case under the new Licensing whioh has excited considerable interestlj Waihi, came on for hearing at the Maw trate’s Court after the tea adjournm® last night, when Harold Lewis aH Richard Spratt were oharged with b.s* found on the Central Hotel premises ■ Christmas Day, being a time when J premises were required to be closed, OB Court was crowded. ;B Sergeant Sheehan, in opening the caS said that on the day in question, just ii fore one o’clock, he saw the two ctefeiß ants, with another gentleman, Mr Fra* Barber, who is a boarder at the Oentw Hotel, enter the hotel hy the front_ dots way on the main street. He consider! they entered quickly, as if they <|id n | wish to bo seen.- He followed them I shortly afterwards, but could see nothin of them. He inquired of the son of til licensee, but was told that as far as U knew no one had entered the hetekf* Tn sergeant did not believe this, but went uj stairs. He then proceeded to search th bedrooms, and the three h wsb looking for in a bedroom smokin oigarettes. Mr Barber told him thftt th defendants had come down at his ievitatio to have Christmas dinner with him, an this was corroborated by 'Mr Spratt. Hi however, did not believe these statement! One of the defendants resided at the I Hotel, and the other at a bachelors’ eßtab lishment. They could have had dinner at home. Mr Wm. Jackson, who appeared for the defence, in opening the case said thfe.. the defence, shortly, was that the defendants were in the hotel for the purpose of having their Christmas dinner with Mr Barber, who was a boarder, and for no other pur-1 pose. If this was so, and it would bej proved without doubt that it was so.Ythen there had been no contravention of thu! law. Mr Jackson submitted that to bring a person within the meaning of the section under which the charge was laid the circumstances must be such as to lead< the Court to infer that he was there for' the purpose of breaking the law, or practically that he had come in to get drink. As to the facts, it would be shown that Mr Spratt had gone to Mr Lewis’ residence on the morning of Christmas Day to see him. Mr Lewis was alone, the housekeeper and the other boarders being away for the holidays. As the dinner , hour approached Mr Spratt suggested thathShey should go to the Waihi Hotel, where he lived, and try and get some dinner. On the way to the hotel they met Mr Frank Barber, who invited them to have dinner with him at the central. The invitation was accepted. The defendants and "Mr Barber would all swear positively that their only purpose in hotel was to get dinner, that intend® tion of getting a drink, «>rd had been said about getting a driSjt to being found upstairs in a bedroi^S, 5 defendants had simply gone np atlkft|fe Barber’s invitation to the bedroom to ~wsjife;.. their hands before dinner. The parties - concerned were all particularly well kntfwn c and respected citizens of Waihi, Mi-Barber . : beiDg head clerk in the Waihi Company's . office. v 3sV

The evidence given bore out the openfe? statement by counsel, Mr Warden, in giving judgment said tnat until there were Supremo Court decisions on the section, there would be a doubt as to tho proper construction to be placed upon it._ Ho, however, would tafS. what ho ooueidored to b 8 tbe common- yi flense moaning and dismiss the cases*Auckland Herald.