MAGISTRATE'S COURT, HOKITIKA

Hokitika Guardian, 16 December 1920, Page 2

MAGISTRATE'S COURT, HOKITIKA

THUKSDAY, DECEMBER 16. (Before C. It. Orr-Walkgr, Esq., S.M.) RESERVED JUDGMENT. His Worsliip gave his reserved judgment in the case of Police v. J. E. Fowler (Mr Sellers), a charge of failure to promptly admit the police. His Worship said he hud no difficult} in convicting, even on defendant’s own evidence, he apparently allowing himself to lie made a figure head. Convicted and fined £4 and costs 7s. WANDERING CATTLE. Borough Inspector (Mr Park) v. Jas. Duncan, a charge of allowing a horse to wander at large. Fined 10s and costs 7s. LICENSING ACT. The Police charged two offenders with being on licensed premises (Southland Hotel) after hours on Dec. 11th. No appearance. * Fined £2 and .costs 7s each. A similar oharge against another offender (Keller’s Hotel) on Dec. 11th was defended,, defendant alleging that he had business at the hotel, waiting | for an hour for the arrival-of a friend whom he wished to see. His Worship stated defendant had not satisfied him. He-would be convicted and fined £2 and costs 7s.

An affiliation case was called, Mr -Murdoch asking that it be adjourned .sine die. Agreed to. A KUMARA CASE. v. Richard N. B. Birkin (Mi Murdoch) manager of the Commercial Hotel, Kumara, charges of failure tc admit the police, without unnecessar} delay, and did aid in the commission pi an offence, three mqn. who were found on the premises during prohibited ■hours. Mary Birkin was also charged with wilfully obstructing the police. A plea of not gulity was made in al charges, which were heard together.

Constable Fox, deposed at 11.30 p.m. on 16th Oct., lie heard loud talking in j the back yard of the Commercial Hotel I Kumara. Two men were outside and | two inside the gate. All were under the influence of liquor. -After speaking j to them for a few minutes witness ; knocked at the back door. Mrs Birkin who was immediately inside the door, replied hullo,' hullo. Witness called out, open the door please. Mrs Birkin made no reply, but at once ran along the passage to the front of the house. Immediately there was a hurrying of footsteps inside the house. Then Mrs Birkin came back and opened the back door. As the door opened Mr Birkin was coming out of the bar and closed the slide behind him. When the door was opened witness asked Mrs Birkin why she did not open the door at once. She replied that she had gone to tell her husband that you (witness) was at the door. Witness said—You went to warn those who were in the bar. Mrs Birkin said there was no one in the bar. Witness said perhaps not in the bar,, but in the bar parlor. Mr Birkin said he was in the bar parlor, but no one else. Just then witness saw a man crossing the sitting room. Went in and saw three men there, who had no legal right to be there. They were subsequently convicted of being on ’licensed premises during prohibited hours. Returned to the passage, and asked Mrs Birkin why she allowed these men in at that time of night. She replied that she could not get them out. Mrs Birkin took an active part in the management of all parts of the hotel.

To Mr Murdoch.—The two men in the yard were subsequently charged and the cases were dismissed. When ho knocked at the door he did not warn Mrs Birkin that it was the police who were knocking at the door. He did not get time. He hardly had time to. .do so. From her conversation he gathered that she knew it was witness at the door. The voices thnt«he heard as he passed outside, were in the bar parlour. This was the case for the police. Mr Murdoch held that the Constable had not proved that Mrs Birkin knew it was the police who was knocking. Mary Birkin deposed she was tlio wife of Richard Birkin, who was manager of the Commercial hotel. On 16th Oct. three men walked into the hotel by the hack door. They asked for drinks and wero refused. AVitness and her husband were just going to bed and she had partly undressed. The men were in the dining room. They were ■there 3 or 4 minutes, before the Constable came in. When the knock cam o she went up to the front of the hotel to tell her husband. When she heard the knock she did not know who was at the door. She did not know'who it was till she opened the door and saw it was Constable Fox. The men outside had not been in the Hotel. From the time she heard the knock till the time she opened tho door was from 11 to two minutes.

To Sergt McCarthy.—Knew Constable Fox. Ho Had been at the hotel two or three times. Tho three men found in the hotel found the door unlocked and locked the door when, they got inside. She could not say if there To the Bench.—She was partly undressed when the knock came. That were others in the house at that time, was the reason sfie did not open the door at once. She went up to tell her husband, at the same time putting on a coat. She did not have any idea that it was Constable Fox at tho door. His Worship said he would reserve his decision of the charge of failure to admit the police, but would dismiss the other charges. That of aiding and abetting raised a novel point and there would have to be a strong case shown before he could convict under this section.